Doll

Mitchell Simmons
Mrs. Bach
3R English
4 February 2015
1. The title Doll’s House, has many meaning behind it that symbolize events happening in the book. Torvald has never treated Nora as anything except for a doll, calling her a songbird, giving her money to spend recklessly, and just not taking her seriously at all. To the reader, Nora is Torvald’s doll that wastes money and talks too much.
2. A doll’s house is not an accurate translation of Doll’s House, because a doll’s house show possession. Nora obviously does not own anything because everything in the house is owned by Torvald.
3. Torvald calls Nora his little songbird, squirrel, extravagant little person, and spendthrift. This tells the reader that Torvald does not take Nora very seriously and is only married to her because of her good looks. To Torvald, the relationship is very simple Nora is extremely pretty, and he job in the relationship is just to be pretty while Torvald provides the money for the family.
4. The macaroons represent the desired separation from Torvald she so desperately desires. The macaroons will destroy her teeth, and by destroying her teeth, she is destroying her beauty which is the sole reason Torvald is married to Nora. The macaroons foreshadow that a major conflict is going to happen between Torvald and Nora by the end of the book.
5. Torvald believes Nora when Nora lies about not eating the macaroons, because Torvald doesn’t understand the relationship fully. Torvald trusts Nora and thinks she is reliable and doesn’t take her very seriously. It also shows that Torvald is very easy to manipulate, which may be a form of foreshadowing placed carefully by the author.
6. Nora tells Torvald that she wants a little bit of money for Christmas so she can save the money and then think about what she wants to buy. Even though she says this, and the reader may believe this for a few moments, it soon becomes evident that she wants the money for something else. As she is talking to Kristine she tells Kristine that she doesn’t use very much money, and she uses the rest of the money Torvald gives her to pay off her debt. A careful reader will note that this is foreshadowing as it helps develop the rest of the plot.
7. Last winter, while Torvald was still struggling to make money, Nora had to find a way to make money to pay back her loan. She was lucky enough to find a job where you copy books, and she locked herself up every night until midnight, and was very tired, but she was proud of it because she felt like a man. Torvald called this time in his life dull because Nora was not there every night to entertain him.
8. Kristine comes to Nora because her husband died three years ago and did not leave her very much money. Kristine then asks if Nora’s wife would help her find a position at Torvald’s bank. Nora tells Kristine that she will do whatever she can to ensure her longtime friend that she gets a position at the bank. Krogstad the figures out what is up and gets angry as he is the person who would be replaced.
9. Nora is not happy with her life in Act 1 because she feels like she is not able to do anything. Even though on the surface she seems light a happy singing lady on the inside she just rolls along all day, shops, tries to get Torvalds money to pay back her loan. That is why she is so eager to help Kristine get a job at Torvald’s bank because she can fell like she is doing something with her life.
10. To Nora Christmas is a time where she is excited, playful, and a time where she can burn through money like fire on wood. The way she acts gives the reader a sense of her being very playful towards Torvald, and she loves buying stuff for people.
11. Kristine thinks Nora is a simple minded pretty girl who is married to Torvald for the money. She does not really respect Nora rather she uses Nora as a way to get a job at Torvald’s bank. This all changes when Nora explains to Kristine that she was able to get her hands on a loan. Now Kristine thinks that Nora is actually very capable, and respects her towards the end of the chapter.
12. Nora becomes defensive because that is a part of Nora’s nature. She wants to be like a man, and women obtaining loans at the time were illegal. Because Kristine doubts Nora and thinks she is too simple minded to get her job, Nora feels like it is her duty to show Kristine that she is more than a pretty simple minded women. Nora is capable of being a man.
13. Kristine is surprised that Nora was able to obtain a loan not only because that doing so was illegal at the time but also because of Nora’s character. Nora is the last person Kristine would expect to get a loan because of how simple minded she is just like all pretty girls. The fact that she was able to get a loan does change Kristine’s opinion on Nora because it proves to Kristine that Nora isn’t so simple after all and she is capable of doing a man’s work.
14. Nora will wait until she is older and less attractive to tell Torvald that she borrowed money from the bank. She plans to do this because she believes Torvald loves her for her looks and not her personality, so by doing this she manipulates Torvald into thinking that he owes his life to Nora hereby saving the relationship. This tells the reader that Torvald is only into Nora because of her looks and nothing else, and he believes Nora a simple woman.
15. When Dr. Rank is talking to the two women, many examples of verbal irony appear that does a lot to help the reader better understand the plot. On page 20, Nora says “Oh, well, don’t be alarmed, you couldn’t know that Torvald had forbidden them, I must tell you that he is afraid they will spoil my teeth but, bah!—once in a way—That’s so, isn’t it, Doctor Rank By your leave” The example of the litotes is when Nora says “Don’t be alarmed”, and the verbal irony occurs when she says Torvald thinks they will spoil her teeth but she doesn’t care. What she actually means by this is she now refuses to live by Torvalds standards.
16. Torvald agrees to hook up Kristine with a job, which will also mean that he will have to fire Krogstad. Krogstad figures out what is happening, and confronts Nora. Krogstad has a lot of power over Nora because Nora broke the law. Now Nora is stuck in an awkward situation between getting in trouble with the law or betraying her friend.
17. Since this family is a typical family in the 1900s, Torvald seems to think a father doesn't have any business hanging out with his kids at all. The man’s job is to provide money for the family while the woman is supposed to do the housework take care of the children and entertain her spouse.
18. Nora plays a game of “hide-and-go-seek” with her children after Mrs. Linde and Torvald leave the house. While she is in the middle of this game with her children, Krogstad walks in, starts to discuss the situation dealing with Mrs. Linde and the game ends. This scenario has also been played in a different context earlier in the book when Nora is hiding the fact that she borrowed money from Torvald.
19. When Nora says “…dogs don’t bite nice little dolly children” shows that she is playful to her children and treats them like dolls much like Torvald treats her. The tone of her voice makes it sound like she is the entertainer in the house, much like traditional families.
20. Krogstad is the antagonist in Doll’s House, and he holds a subordinate position at Torvald’s bank. In chapter one of the book, Krogstad figures out that Mrs. Linde may be a potential threat to job security. If Krogstad loses his job, then it will be very hard for him to find a new one, and he fears for his family’s wellbeing. In order to further secure his job, he blackmails Nora into convincing Torvald to let Krogstad maintain his position.
21. Because Krogstad sees Mrs. Linde as a possible threat to his job, Krogstad cleverly gets Nora to make Torvald secure Krogstad’s position. Krogstad figures out that Nora forged her father’s signature in order to obtain a loan. This is illegal, and instead of turning Nora in, Krogstad takes advantage of the situation, and blackmails Nora by saying that if he loses his job at the bank than he will take Nora to court.
22. Nora admits to Krogstad that is was her and not her father that signed the paper that granted Nora her loan. Krogstad then seizes advantage of the opportunity, and begins to manipulate Nora in a way that will secure his job. Krogstad informs Nora that forgery is illegal and that she will be punished if Krogstad decides to take Nora to court. Krogstad then informs Nora that if Torvald decides to replace him with Mrs. Linde, then Nora will go down with him.
23. Nora’s argument that it is legal to care for your family is very weak and ineffective, because it sounds so desperate. Krogstad is a lawyer, so Nora bringing up the law to Krogstad is like a guy brining a knife to a gunfight. Secondly, Nora is admitting to doing a misdeed in her argument, because she says there should be laws permitting it when she knows nothing about laws, and she basically said she forged her father’s signature in the process of arguing her point.
24. Krogstad threatens Nora with the very simple but effective method of blackmailing that will leave Nora in a very awkward position. Krogstad tells Nora that is he loses his job at Torvalds bank because of Mrs. Linde replacing him, than he will make sure Nora pays the price. Since Nora forged her father’s signature to obtain a loan from Krogstad, Krogstad tells Nora that if Krogstad loses his job, than he will take Nora to court.
25. Dr. Rank believes that Krogstad suffers from a diseased moral character because of his selfishness and his willingness to threaten people. He goes on to comfort Mrs. Linde by saying that there are people in the world who are jealous, morally corrupt, and one must avoid them at all costs.
26. When Nora states that everything she does seems so insignificant, she is speaking of her costume for the ball, but the meaning goes much farther in the play. When she gets the loan to save Torvald’s life, she felt like she was doing a good thing. However, Krogstad eventually finds a way to exploit her good deed with a blackmail and a harsh consequence. As you can imagine, she is becoming very frustrated with everyone around her, and what she felt like was a good deed actually turned around to haunt her.
27. In the conversation between Torvald and Nora after Rank has left is filled with dramatic irony that only the audience is aware of. First off, Torvald’s remark about Krogstad “I honestly feel sick, sick to my stomach, in the presence of such people”, shows his hatred of dishonest people, but he is unaware that is sweet little songbird had committed a similar crime, forgery. Torvald accidently condemns his wife, and his wife is now in an awkward position where she knows something bad is about to happen to her.
28. In the exposition and rising action, I learned that Nora is already betraying Torvald by eating the macaroons, so some conflict between the two of them is likely to happen. Krogstad on the other hand is introduced as a villainous character because of the way he blackmails Nora. Naturally the reader would start to care about Nora because of the great lengths she has gone to too save her husband. The reader doesn’t care about or hate Torvald because he cares about Nora but he seem suspicious, and everyone is hoping something good will happen to Mrs. Linde because of the background she is coming from with a dead husband and no job.
29. Critics call this play a realistic play because it could’ve happened very easily to almost all traditional families in the 1950s. The dad would provide the family, and the mom would make sure everything was running smoothly in the family. The characters traits are revealed through foreshadowing and symbolism. When Nora eats the forbidden macaroons, it is a symbol of her betraying Torvald, and foreshadows a grand conflict between the two of them.