Naturally Mothers
“It seems most commonly to be the mother's influence, though naturally a bad father's would have the same result.” (A Doll House, 70) In this quotation, Torvald from Henrik Ibsen's, A Doll House talks about Krogstad being a liar and mentions that almost all criminals have had lying mothers. The protagonist, Nora, feels very guilty because she is hiding a secret from her family. In life, women are naturally determine whether if they are good or bad mother. In two different pieces of work these two women chose either one. In A Doll House, by Henrik Ibsen, Nora is naturally a good mother. She loves, cares and enjoys spending time with her three children. In Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert, Emma is a bad mother. She is careless, inattentive mother who loves her child when she feels like it. In these two works, the two feminine protagonists express differently as mothers are naturally good they act or at least try to.
Nora Helmer is naturally a mother who shows a lot of love, care, and enjoys spending quality time with her three children, Ivar, Bob, and Emmy. In the start of the play, Nora brings a
Christmas tree to her house and hiding it from her children until its decorated. Nora also buys a new suit and a sword for Ivar; a horse and a trumpet for Bob; a doll and dolly's bedstead for
Emmy for Christmas presents. (45) Torvold discuss that he is looking forward for the dinner in
Fernandez 2 the evening, Nora adds, “So am I! And how the children will enjoy themselves, Torvald!” (47) Nora cares and always have her three loving children in her mind.
“How fresh and well you look! Such red cheeks like apples and roses. [The children all talk at once while she speaks to them.] Have you had ...
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...he would be a good mother or at least try but other times she would say, “Strange,” Emma thought, “how ugly
Fernandez 4 this child is” (109) Emma is a false mother, whenever she want to love and show affection she does but when she was busy shopping or having affairs she would ignore her or think bad about Berthe.
This concludes both work A Doll House and Madame Bovary that some mothers are just naturally good and naturally bad. Women all over the world can be like Nora, a naturally good mother who loves, spend time, and would do what is best for their children even they are having tough situations like herself who hides the loan secret. Unfortunately, some women who are naturally bad mothers like Emma who is careless, inattentive, and try to love their children when they want. These two feminine protagonists are examples how differently as mothers women are.
The Christmas tree is an important symbol because it represents Nora’s life. The beginning of Act 2 states that the tree was tattered and stripped of ornaments, just like Nora’s life was falling apart.
Although, a mother’s determination in the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” mother face with an intense internal conflict involving her oldest daughter Emily. As a single mother struggle, narrator need to work long hours every day in order to support her family. Despite these criticisms, narrator leaves Emily frequently in daycare close to her neighbor, where Emily missing the lack of a family support and loves. According to the neighbor states, “You should smile at Emily more when you look at her” (Olsen 225). On the other hand, neighbor gives the reader a sense that the narrator didn’t show much affection toward Emily as a child. The narrator even comments, “I loved her. There were all the acts of love” (Olsen 225). At the same time, narrator expresses her feeling that she love her daughter. Until, she was not be able to give Emily as much care as she desire and that gives her a sense of guilt, because she ends up remarrying again. Meanwhile narrator having another child named Susan, and life gets more compli...
The women realize the hard work involved in canning this fruit and understand Mrs. Wright's concern. The men see this as unimportant compared to the trouble Mrs. Wright is facing. Likewise, in Isben's play A Doll House, Helmer believes that his wife Nora only focuses on trivial matters. Three weeks prior to Christmas, Nora spent every evening working alone. Helmer believes that Nora is making the family Christmas ornaments and other treats for the Christmas holidays.
The values and morals set by the society must be influential to the social norms. Emma Bovary’s society is dominated by the ethics established by males. In reliving their expectations, the pressure is for women to believe they must be wrong, that they are to blame and that there must be something wrong with them. Thus, Emma has no image to seek a basis for her self-esteem. The expectations of men to women are that they must have,
Social pressure to raise pleasant, good mannered children who become grounded and productive adults has been a driving influence for many generations. If our children do not fit into this mold then we’re considered failures are parents. Emily’s mother is tormented by the phone call which sets off a wave of maternal guilt. Emily’s mother was young and abandoned by her husband while Emily was still an infant so she had to rely on only herself and the advice of others while she raised her daughter. After Emily was born her mother, “with all the fierce rigidity of first motherhood, (I) did like the books said. Though her cries battered me to trembling and my breasts ached with swollenness, I waited till the clock decreed.” (Olsen 174). Then when Emily was two she went against her own instincts about sending Emily to a nursery school while she worked which she considered merely “parking places for children.” (Olsen 174). Emily’s mother was also persuaded against her motherly instincts to send her off to a hospital when she did not get well from the measles and her mother had a new baby to tend to. Her mother even felt guilt for her second child, Susan, being everything society deemed worthy of attention. Emily was “thin and dark and foreign-looking at a time when every little girl was supposed to look or thought she should look a chubby blond replica of Shirley Temple.” (Olsen, 177) she was also neither “glib or quick in a world where glibness and quickness were easily confused with ability to learn.” (Olsen 177), which her sister Susan had in
Eva’s lack of value for motherhood shaped the lives of her family as well as her own. Because of her negative feelings toward motherhood, many of the people surrounding her have similar values. Eva reflects her community’s negative perception of motherhood by being straightforward about it and passing it down through her family
In A Doll’s House Nora expressed the desire to experience life outside of her husband’s shadow. Henrik Ibsen characterized her as a selfless and kindhearted woman, as she constantly put her family’s needs before her own. There is no doubt that Nora was a victim of subjugation, as her husband’s misogynistic views lead him to believe that she was not as knowledgeable as him when it came to economical decisions, which was a motivation for Nora to express her phylogenic ways. For example, Nora found enjoyment decorating for Christmas; however Torvald found it to be a financial burden and insisted that she no longer continue. Ibsen used symbolism as he employed the Christmas tree as a direct representation of the women during his time period, saying they were “stripped of [their] ornaments” (Ibsen 109)...
[3] Modleski claims that this desire to build and maintain relationships is only thwarted by the presence of the ‘good mother’s’ anti-thesis: the ‘villainess’. As she signifies the contrary values of the ‘good mother’ (she is selfish, manipulative, scheming, etc.). the ‘villainess’ embodies the entirety of the spectator’s displaced, repressed anger at her own powerlessness. [4] She, as Modleski describes, takes everything that makes women vulnerable and turns it to her advantage (pregnancy, for example, is used by the villainess for the sake of manipulation, not guilt, shame or responsibility).
The Christmas tree can be seen as the first symbol in the play A Doll's House, where women have to be obedient to men and hide their true emotions. For example, at the start of Act Two, the stage directions order that “The Christmas tree is in the corner by the piano...” (Ibsen 29) This instruction represents Torvald, Nora's husband, directing Nora to do whatever pleases him even though she might disagree. She sees herself as being isolated by her husband and feels rejected as her opinion is never considered by him. In addition, the directions if Act Two continue to instruct that the Christmas tree is "…stripped of its ornaments and with burnt down candle-ends on it dishevelled branches.” (Ibsen 29) The image that is created by this order reveals that Nora also feels burned out by always having to listen to her husband. The "dishevelled branches" of the Christmas tree indicate that her life is bedraggled and she has t...
From Henrik Ibsen’s play, “A Doll’s House”, The lives of Nora, Torvald, and their three children seem to be normal in the beginning until Torvald begins to talk to Nora. Since Torvald believes that as the man in his own home, he has the advantage of doing whatever he wants such as teasing and ordering his wife around as if she was a useless toy (perhaps a doll?). I began to feel sympathetic towards Nora for her character is vulnerable to Torvald. He would call her strange pet names such as “squirrel” or “songbird”, and even order her around to do ridiculous things such as practicing the “tarantella” so she can perform for guests. One part that came to my attention was the scene where Torvald blames Nora’s actions on her own father. He tells Nora, “Ah well, one takes you as you are. It runs in the blood. It’s
The name of the play itself ‘A Doll’s House’ is symbolic in itself. In the Helmer’s household, as it reflects Nora’s position as the ‘doll’ in Torvald’s doll house. It is clear from this that Nora is seen by Torvald as an accessory or pet, which is simply for visual purposes—"The squander bird’s a pretty little creature, but she greets through an awful lot of money. It’s incredible what an expensive pet she is for a man to keep." Torvald’s constant referral to Nora as a small creature, such as ‘songbird’ and ‘little squirrel’ highlight her fragility and is also symbolic of the fact that he does not see her as his equal, and as something he is superior at. The play is set at Christmas so the presence of the Christmas tree is inevitable. The tree is symbolic of joy and celebration, much like Nora’s character. Conversely, the tree is most descriptive of Nora and Torvald’s marriage.
The house is big, beautiful, and always decorates the way a house would be. Nora has a nurse to take care of the kids so she will have time to cook and clean. Torvald has a good job lined up to take care of his family. Their kids have
Nora loves her husband very much, even to the point of idolizing him. As she first enters the home with the Christmas packag...
“A Doll House” by Ibsen exposes one of the main trials facing Nora and women of today that a lot of men tend to underestimate women. They assume that
Motherhood is a traditional role for women. From the time they are young, girls are taught to grow up, marry and become mothers. Of course they can do other things with their lives like play sports, have careers, and travel, but an overwhelming amount of women want to be mothers no matter what else they accomplish with their lives. It is common knowledge that being a good mother is one of the hardest jobs in the world. It is to forever have a special link with another person or people and have a tremendous influence, maybe the most tremendous influence over their lives. Motherhood is a roller coaster ride for women, full of ups and downs, fears and accomplishments. But what happens when motherhood defines who a woman is? All children grow up, and while a woman is always a mother, children need their mothers less and less until eventually their dependence is very minimal. What happens to the woman whose singular role and purpose is no longer needed? In The Summer Before The Dark, and The Fifth Child, the maternal roles of Kate Brown, and Harriet Lovatt are analyzed and traditional motherhood behavior is deconstructed due to these characters’ experiences and relationships with their children.