Nora's Social Norms

Owning something means to possess and control something that belongs to someone. At the beginning Nora does not possess or control herself, Torvald does, so Torvald essentially owns her. Nora started to take ownership back once she noticed she had been wronged immensely. The social norms in the Victorian era were that women stayed at home, looked after the children and pleased their husband’s. The husband’s responsibility was to financially look after the family and if they did not their reputation would be tarnished. Nora was expected to be an obedient wife who follows all the rules expected of her. In a Doll’s house by Henrik Ibsen, Nora slowly starts to become less dependent on men and more independent and self-reliant on herself.

Nora

For the first time Nora expresses her own opinions and thoughts to Torvald after she realized he never loved her. She cannot even fathom that she has gone all these years trying to please everyone but herself, and doing whatever she is told. She has finally noticed that she has let herself stay childish and dependent for too long, so Nora starts to use her brain and show her personality more. Torvald reads the letter from Krogstad and they get into a big fight, although this is what Nora feared it turns out it was a blessing in disguise. In the midst of the fight Torvald tells Nora that she has duties and before all else she is a mother and wife and gets angry because the social norms at this time were very clear. Nora replies with “I don’t believe that anymore. I believe that, before all else, I’m a human being, no less than you – or anyway, I ought to try to become one… I have to think over these things myself and try to understand them” (Act 3. page 111). She also notices her entire life has been somewhat fake and a performance. She has acted the part of the happy, child-like wife to Torvald and before that she acted the part of the happy child-like daughter for her father. Although she did go most of her life acting as a doll, she broke out of that house and did what was best for