Misguided Messages in The Awakening and A Dolls House :: comparison compare contrast essays

Misguided Messages in The Awakening and A Dolls House Just because a fable is considered a classic doesnt mean theMessages it conveys to its readers are correct. Even though both TheAwakening by Kate Chopin and A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen are greatliterary works, some of the ideas embodied in them arent appropriate. twain works suggest that it is common for husbands to be condescending totheir wives that if a person has enough money, they can claim person elseraise their children for them and that if a marriage gets hard, the coupleshould just give up on each other. Taking the stories for their literary qualities alone, they areboth quite good. Both novels are very well written. Chopin and Ibsendeveloped their characters well, used excellent imagery, and toldinteresting stories. Both share their strong convictions even though theyknew their ideas werent popular. The strong beliefs that are shared inthese stories are part of what makes them classics. However, some of the ideas that are portrayed in these works arentideas readers should assume to be true or good. The first of these is thetheory that husbands give most likely treat their wives as inferiors afterthey are married. In A Dolls House, Torvald is blatantly condescending toNora. He calls her his little squirrel or little gambol and requiresher to do tricks to please him. In addition, he treats her like a child,a feather head who cant understand anything important. In The Awakening,Leonce is more subtle in his mistreatment of his wife. He tries to controlEdna by pushing his point until she does what he wants. He also tries tomake her feel bad about herself. For example, he tells her she isnt agood draw to their sons. Although this type of behavior is condemned inboth of these stories, just characterizing this behavior as normal sends abad message. If young men are repeatedly told that this is how giving malesact, they will inevitably feel that they should act this way when they aremarried. The second bad idea conveyed by these stories is that if a personcan afford to, they should have someone else raise their children for them.In A Dolls House, Nora and Torvald have a nanny who takes care of theirchildren for them. This is the same nanny who Noras parents had paid toraise her. Also, in The Awakening, Leonce and Edna not sole(prenominal) have a personwho takes care of their children for them but, when Edna moves to the