Tuesday, May 28, 2019
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 novel is considered a classic doesnt mean theMessages it conveys to its readers ar correct. Even though both TheAwakening by Kate Chopin and A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen are greatliterary works, close to of the ideas embodied in them arent appropriate. two works suggest that it is common for husbands to be condescending totheir wives that if a person has enough money, they can have someone elseraise their children for them and that if a marriage gets hard, the fitshould 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 Ibsen developed their char shapeers well, used excellent imagery, and toldinteresting stories. Both shared 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 idea s that are portrayed in these works arentideas readers should assume to be true or good. The first of these is thetheory that husbands will 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 skylark 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 height until she does what he wants. He also tries tomake her feel bad about herself. For example, he tells her she isnt agood mother 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 adult malesact, they will inevitably feel that they should act this way when they aremarried. Th e 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 business organisation of theirchildren for them. This is the same nanny who Noras parents had paid toraise her. Also, in The Awakening, Leonce and Edna not only have a personwho takes care of their children for them but, when Edna moves to the
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