Individuality In A Doll's House

Gender Roles and Individuality Beginning from an early age, the distinction of both male and female are introduced to children. Both genders were represented by colors such as blue and pink which defined the male figures as dominant and the female figure as feminine. Society has created these standards such as classifying individuals as either man or women due to masculinity or femininity. Society’s idea of gender roles continues to impact an individual’s life because it reinforces them to be the certain way their sex stereotypes them. The topic of gender roles can come up in life itself or literature. Nora Helmer, one of the main female characters in “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen, faces being treated like a property by none other than

Nora’s treatment of an object did not occur to her even after she’s referred to by pet names, which she is then seen as vacuous. Torvald deliberately speaks of Nora as less of a person by calling her, “my little skylark” and “my little squirrel” which dehumanizes her because he takes comfort in knowing that he is the dominant figure in the picture. In Elaine Hoffman Baruch's’ critical essay, A Doll’s House Is a Myth for Our Time, Baruch ruthlessly states that because of Torvald’s acts of a controlling figure, he has not outgrown the need for things. Torvald depends on Nora because it reminds him of his childhood which was nothing but pets and toys for him. The reason why Torvald satisfies his needs by taking advantage of Nora is because she is nothing but a woman who allows herself to be treated like property due to societal norms. Although she is the first character to consider suicide, she is very strong and independent, but because of society’s degrading of women, Nora does not act upon her true self, therefore, leading her closer and closer to a forming of a typical object who is only living to satisfy their