Culture

The final theme that i noticed in The Doll's House would be culture. It isn't too dominant of a theme but there are many little things that reference to the Norwegian culture. I noticed they mentioned eating truffles and oysters a lot and also a food called Strasbourg pate. Strasbourg pate is geese liver which they put into a bread and it's eaten in lots of places but very popular in Norway. Another food they mentioned was macaroons which is basically like a cookie and its eaten for dessert.

 

They also mentioned the Tarantella dance a lot which is a folk dance in which they are dressed in traditional outfits and its generally couples dancing or large groups of girls and guys dancing. These are important to know to fully understand the play. Nowadays it's really important to take the time and learn about other cultures because culture shapes peoples identities. Another significance of learning cultures would be; what people think and how they view things changes and shapes the world. 

Respect

Another theme or issue that I found was important in the play A Doll's House is respect. Although it may seem that Torvald does respect his wife by buying her things and keeping her company he really does not respect her. The definition I found for respect is : the state of being regarded with honor or esteem. Torvald does not honor his wife he does the opposite. When I think of respect I think of treating someone the way that I would want to be treated. I'm positive that Torvald would not have wanted to be caged up the way that Nora was so i don't think that he respected her. I found a really sad video on youtube that's on statistics about woman suffering that's going on right now that made me think about Nora.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp4K6dQe3lE

 After watching this video the first time I felt furious and wished I could help these women. I think its really sad that today with all the advancements that we have and all the progression we have gone through that there is still a large sum of women who are going through things that they do not deserve. Every human deserves respect and these woman definetly are not getting it. Although Nora's respect wasn't stepped on as much as the women in this video were, she was still disrespected by Torvald.                       

Free At Last

The second theme in the play A Doll's house would be women being oppressed. Torvald's wife Nora is very oppressed and looked down upon. The way Torvald talks to Nora shows it. He calls her his "little bird" and birds are usually kept in cages as pets as Nora was. Torvald also restricts her from certain things. For example he doesn't let her eat as many macaroons as she would like to eat. I don't think its right for any man to control anything a women does especially when it comes down to something like food. She should be able to eat whatever she wants whenever she wants he has no right to keep her from eating macaroons. I found a poem that really sounds like something that Nora would have written before leaving Torvald.

Why should I listen to you
tell me what to do?
You don't know who I am
or the things that I've been through.

I'm on the outside looking in,
somewhere you've never been.
So who cares who I am,
or what it is I think or say,
what it is I write,
or why I act this way;

You have no standards anyway,
never understand a thing I say.
Your mediocrity at it's best.
So who even cares about the rest?

I'm disgusted by your weakness
tempered with your fragile meekness.
You're just another tragedy,
a messed up lie was your gift to me.

I never have perfected
the tolerance you've expected.
It's so simple but you just can't see,
that you'll never understand
someone like me;

So different from everything
that you believe,
I'm sick of the life you've given me.
All I want is to be free.
POEM BY: CHRISTY Z

When I read this poem I instantly thought of Nora. Torvald really did not understand her and she wished he did. He never managed to so she got tired of the life he had given her and she wanted to be free. Nora broke out of her cage and soared away from Torvald. I have a lot of respect for her for doing that because its really hard to leave everything especially kids and she left hers in order to live a life that she never had but always desired. Oppression was a big issue back then and still is in some countries. There are places today where  woman still can not work, drive, they have to be covered, they get abused, and have very unequal opportunities because men are viewed as superior. I think these woman deserve to be set free and the only way they can is by doing what Nora did, leave everything behind and don’t look back.

'It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all". -Alfred Lord Tennyson

After reading an interesting play in my world literature class with my favorite teacher Ms. Israel  I found a few themes that I wanted to talk about. The play we read was A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. One of the main themes in the play is love. The main characters in the book Nora and Torvald end up separating. Nora realizes she wants to be free of Torvald's control and that she doesn't actually love Torvald so she leaves him. A song I found that relates to this would be now your gone by Basshunter. These are the lyrics to the song :

Now you're gone

I realized my love for you was strong

And I miss you here now you're gone

I keep waiting here by the phone

With your pictures hanging on the wall

Now you're gone

I realized my love for you was strong

And I miss you here now you're gone

I keep waiting here by the phone

With your pictures hanging on the wall

Is this the way it's meant to be?

Only dreaming that you're missing me

I'm waiting here at home

I'll be crazy now you're gone

There's an empty place in my heart

Without my Anna it will break apart

It won't heal, it never fades away

I'll be thinking 'bout you everyday

Are you ready? Now you're gone

I realized my love for you was strong

And I miss you here now you're gone

I keep waiting here by the phone

With your pictures hanging on the wall

Is this the way it's meant to be?

Only dreaming that you're missing me

I'm waiting here at home

I'll be crazy now you're gone

Now you're gone

I realized my love for you was strong

And I miss you here now you're gone

I keep waiting here by the phone

With your pictures hanging on the wall

Is this the way it's meant to be?

Only dreaming that you're missing me

And I'm waiting here at home

I'll be crazy now you're gone

There's an empty place in my heart

It won't alarm me, it will break apart

It won't heal, it never fades away

I'll be thinking 'bout you everyday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgFwiCApH7E&ob=av2e

The lyrics that mostly relate to Torvald would be the part when Basshunter says " now your gone i realize my love for you was strong and i miss you here". That is something that Torvald would say, he really didn't want Nora to leave and he kept asking her to stay but she didn't want to stay. The other part of the song that relates to Torvald would be when Basshunter says " Is this the way its meant to be? Only dreaming that your missing me and I'm waiting here at home ill be crazy now your gone". Torvald tells Nora that he will wait for her at home and asked if he could send her letters and help her out but she said no that she doesn't ever want to see him again. I think Nora did a good job of leaving Torvald she was caged up by Torvald and needed some freedom from everything. She will now be able to live her life according to how she wants it to be. Hopefully Torvald's broken heart heals with time.