The Problem of Social Unawareness

The Problem of Social Unawareness

While the plays Walsh by Sharon Pollock and A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen take place in apparently opposite social settings – the former in the sometimes wild and savage environs of a frontier trading post of early Canada, and the latter in the “refined” world of European bourgeois respectability of the late 1800’s – they both act as problem plays when they illustrate aspects of the problem of acquiring individual human understanding. Although both plays shape this theme through many examples of characters who have obvious flaws in their human understanding, the plays also offer examples of characters who have generally successful social awarenesses. It is these “successful” characters that attempt to build a solution to the problem of acquiring human understanding.

Much might be gained from examining the traits of the major characters, but in this discussion it is the supporting characters of both plays that lead to greater insights into the theme of acquiring individual human understanding. It is beneficial to observe the social awareness displayed by the characters Christine in A Doll’s House and Louis in Walsh, and the manner in which these characters show their knowledge of the world. In Walsh, Louis’ understanding of the world is effectively a bridge between two cultures which gives him a fuller-encompassing world view. But his cross-cultural background is not what gives him his entire worldly perspective – he is imbued with an intense practical and spiritual knowledge of the world’s local social concerns, and this is evident in the way he attempts to teach Clarence about the art of “knowing something”:

You wanna learn, you study inside here. . . He taps his head. . . .and here. . . He taps his chest. . . .and how it is wit’ you and me. . . He indicates the two of them. . . .and how it is wit’ you and all. . . . He indicates the surroundings. Travel ‘round da Medicine Wheel. Den you know somethin’. (30)

While Pollock may be saying through Louis that world knowledge should come from a profound understanding of the self, of others, and of nature, through Christine’s practical character Ibsen also gives evidence to suggest that deeper understandings of the world are possible, and that essentially, the world is composed of “trials and tribulations” that must be overcome for a person to become knowledgeable and practical.