journal Entry 12
This week in English class, we discussed about the play, “A Doll’s House,” by Henrik Ibsen. It is an interesting story involved with money, morals, family, love, forgiveness, and friendship. Nora is Torvald’s wife, and she is considered as a gold-digger. She loves to spend money and uses it when she gets the chance, while Torvald likes to save his money. Nora seems to be a care-free person acts in a child-like behavior. She is often referred to as a squirrel or a sparrow. She believes that spending money once in a while is okay. It is winter time, and Nora and her family are preparing to celebrate Christmas. Her husband just got a job at the bank and is now the head boss there. Nora becomes overjoyed and is very happy for her husband to take on a high job position at the bank. However, Krogstad, who is also working at the bank, is worried that Helmer will fire him. He becomes paranoid and anxious, and even blackmails Helmer in order for him to keep his job. Krogstad is a stubborn man and will not stop at anything to get what he wants. Torvald dislikes Krogstad and wants to fire him because he is disrespectful to him by calling him by his first name and also because he has bad morals. Kristine is Nora’s closest friend and she tries to help Nora with all her problems throughout the play. Dr. Rank is a close friend of Nora and Torvald, but he also admires and loves Nora from afar. Since he suffers from syphilis and is slowly dying, he cannot have a family.
We also talked about foils. Kristine is the foil for Nora in the play. Nora is a spending thrift, while Kristine is a diligent person who works hard to achieve something. Nora is very childish and irresponsible in the things she does, while Kristine is responsible and has good morals.