Symbols In A Doll's House

Author Henrik Ibsen was a very brave man during his time period. He dared to be different and wrote about what people did not want to or desired to discuss because it was not the cultural norm. He mainly focused on women’s rights and their roles due to his startling upbringing and wanted the world to know that, in reality, everything was not always hunky-dory, especially when it came to women. This led to and fueled him to write in the Realism format which discussed real life issues. In his work, A Doll’s House, Ibsen metaphorically spoke of one of the main characters, Nora, as he used symbolism to expose the reality of women’s roles, along with a possible outcome of how women would end up if they challenged society’s view of them. To begin,
It was used to symbolize, firstly, through the Christmas tree, the underlying truth of women and how had to get accustomed to the way of living to fit in and appear to be perfect and, also, obey their husbands. Symbolism was also used through the toys that she had bought her children. She bought the boys a sword and horses each and the girl a doll, not noticing that the toys had represented how she saw their culture. It showed how she followed and was used to the custom of men having all of the power and control, while the women were not supposed to do anything but take care of home. Finally, Ibsen used New Year’s Day to symbolize Nora’s step forward from her life of a doll. Once she became aware of Torvald’s actual desires, which was to keep his reputation in good standings and not acknowledge even the fact that she sacrificed her life for him, she began to reminisce on how her entire life was based off of what others, mainly men, wanted her to do. It then dawned upon her that she had been a doll living a doll’s houses all of her life. Henrik Ibsen, as stated, was a very courageous to write about something so real. It was because of his staggering upbringing of an alcoholic father and an extremely religious mother that inspired him to inform the world that, in reality, everything was not always hunky-dory, or had a happy ending, especially when it came to women and their rights. His work, A Doll’s House, sufficiently spoke of Nora metaphorically as he used the literary element of symbolism to depict the reality of women’s roles, along with women possibly gaining enough courage, like Nora, to walk away from what’s “right” for the sake of