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Similarities Between The Awakening And A Doll's House

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Societal Roles in The Awakening and A Doll’s House

Women have had expectations set for them since the 1700s. Women are expect to do this, to act this way, to present themselves like this. These expectations for women have been set by society. Society makes women feel that they have to meet these expectations to fit in and be accepted. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin and A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, the characters Edna Pontellier and Nora Helmer reflect expectations of women in society through characterization and symbolism in their marriages and everyday living.
First, The societal expectations for woman can be seen in both of these pieces of literature through symbolism. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses a bird to represent Edna in …show more content…

The one thing women were expected to do in society was be motherly. In The Awakening, it says “ Mother- woman seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them...They were woman who idolized their children worshiped their husbands” (Chopin 8). This was how women are expected to be and if they were not they were seen as different and an outcast from society. Edna was not seen as a mother woman and was rarely with her children. Both Edna and Nora were not mother- woman. The nurses were who took care of the children and spent the most time with them. In The Awakening, It states “He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?" (Chopin 7) The woman’s role in society was to take care of the children, that was one of the only role that was given to woman. In The Awakening, it says “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself.” (Chopin 62) Edna did not see herself as a “Mother-woman” and that made her feel left out or outcasted from society. In A Doll’s House, it says “Because an atmosphere of lies like that infects and poisons the whole life of a home. In a house like that, every breath that the children take is filled with the germs of evil’ (Ibsen Act 1). The children are a reflection of just the mother because that is a women’s role. When Torvald found out about the loan in A Doll’s House, he said that Nora was not to see the children again. He saw Nora as failing her woman duty, and that is to take care of the

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Edna is not a motherly woman, her boys knew that if they “took a tumble whilst at play, [they] was not apt to rush crying to [their] mother’s arms for comfort; [they] would more likely pick [themselves] up” (Chopin 10). Although unfortunate her boys were accepting of the fact that their mother would not provide them with the same comfort and support as other kids were given. They have to learn to pick themselves up and carry on with their days as if nothing had happened to them. Edna was not the type of mother that admired her children and spent her free time with them and taking care of them. As the other Victorian mothers would do anything for their children to keep them protected and safe from any harm in the world.

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In the stories, The Awakening by Kate Chopin and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen Edna Pontellier and Nora Helmer face personal responsibility issues, and disregard their roles as mothers, wives, and a beloved friend. These stories portray two female characters who are similar in many ways and are finding themselves in a troubled time in their lives. In the 1800’s one's role as a women was to nurture the kids, cook and clean as they were also providing for their husband. In the The Awakening the main female protagonists Edna Pontellier was an ordinary wife but it all changed when she started seeing Robert Lebrun, another man who was not her husband. This was a huge personal issue that many did not know about, and eventually caused her to disregard

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