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Nora's Nicknames

435 Words2 Pages

For centuries, men have felt that they are superior to women. This attitude is quite evident in the play A Doll 's House written by Henrik Ibsen as the husband, Torvald is sexist and does not see his wife, Nora, as an equal. In this story, Nora treated like Torvald 's "doll" in their house, as it is suggested in the title. Numerous instances throughout the story had shown that Torvald refers to Nora by demeaning pet names such as "little squirrel," "little spendthrift," and "singing lark." Isbel used Nora’s nicknames as a symbol of their husband/wife marital dynamic. For started, the nicknames “little squirrel” was used by Torvald. When Torvald calls Nora a squirrel, it shows that he does not view his wife as another human, but instead, an …show more content…

Secondly, another nicknames Torvald calls Nora a ‘spendthrift’ which was offensive on many levels and symbolized his attitude towards his wife. Parents generally use the nickname ‘spendthrift’ on their children when they feel as though their child buys and spends money on things that are very unnecessary, calling Nora this symbolizes that Torvald does not treat Nora as a partner and more like a child. This is further proven when the nicknames, ‘spendthrift’ is used to such a high extent that it was evident that the author was trying to make his sense of superiority and sexism visible; thereby giving Torvald control over Nora. Lastly, Torvald uses the nickname songbird which symbolized that Nora is not seen as an equal as a bird is placed in a cage. It goes on to say that she can be owned as a pet because that is what happens to songbirds. This degradment is evident many time for example, Torvald says “My little songbird must never do that again. A songbird must have a clean beak to chirp with—no false notes!" (Ibsen.Act 1.Page 435)”.Torvald 's habit of as a addressing his wife, Nora,as a ‘songbird’ shows his sexist and demeaning nature. To summarize, the nicknames Torvald had given Nora proved that he felt superior and was demeaning towards Nora only because she was

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