Knowing Nora's seemingly frivolous and squandering nature at the beginning of the book, it's almost refreshing to see her true colors starting to appear towards the end of Act 1. Torvald/Helmer on the other hand, seems opposite of Nora and is strict with his morals and beliefs. Their marriage seems strange to me, considering how father-daughter it is portrayed. For example, "Helmer: [wagging a finger at her]" (pg 151) and "Helmer: has my little feather brain been wasting money again?" (Pg 148).
Although her husband treats her this way, Nora still proves her love for him through her revelation of her "little secret" to Mrs. Linde. It would be quite interesting to see Torvald's reaction of Nora's secret if he ever found out. This is of course, in consideration to Krogstad (a degenerate lawyer whom made a similar felony as Nora) whom is considered "a moral outcast" (pg 179) to Torvald. In Torvald/Helmer's words, "an atmosphere of lies like that infects and poisons the whole life of a home. In a home like that, every breath that the children take is filled with germs of evil" (pg 179), not only references to Krogstad but Nora as well, thus causes her to go a little crazy (considering she also has children she may "corrupt"). Knowing she doesn't want to see her children at the end of Act 1, was it fair or reasonable for her to react that way toward her children? I personally wouldn't have pushed my children away out of fear, but would have been more distant.
No, It was not responsible for Nora to completely distance herself from her children. She is their mother and she should be there for them. From previous reading it is seen that Nora does not spend much time with her children anyways. They miss her and she should be a better mother.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question I think it wasn't fair to ignore her children like she did. Even if she was afraid of corrupting them it would corrupt them as well thinking that their mom doesn't want to be in the same room as them. Keeping her distance would only let them grow without a mother figure. I think instead of keeping her distance she should try to make them learn from her mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI've commented on Noelle's, James', Jamir's, and Gordon's blog posts
ReplyDeleteYou made a good point in how despite the awkward father-daughter like marriage Nora displayed how much she loves Torvald through her secret. Although she didn't realize it at first this action was very risky and came with many possible repercussions. When Nora hears how Torvald views Krogstad it makes her realize what she had done. I think Nora pushing away her children after hearing this was founded because she wanted to protect them again showing how much she cares about her family.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you when it comes to how you would have handled the children at the time compared to Nora, but I feel it is also a part of her character. She breaks under pressure, and naturally overthinks things. So yes, I do think, as Nora, it must have been reasonable for her to act this way, but to us it must have seemed a bit over-dramatic.
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