A debate in English class today sparked my blogging interest. I was so appalled at the view of many of my classmates that I needed to immediately park myself in front of a computer and blog about the shallow ideas that contaminated the intelligent-thinking of Varsity English. I am writing this blog just a couple minutes after leaving the heated discussion that dominated English class today. I am lucky that I had a free today after English because I could not have waited any longer.
The heated debate today brewed from a simple discussion of Kristine’s purpose in A Doll’s House. To my utter shock, many of my classmates had negative view of Kristine. They accused Kristine of ruining Nora’s life by ending her marriage to Torvald. In an increasing number of my classmate’s views, if Kristine had allowed Krogstad to take back the note, Nora could have continued her marriage and life where it began in Act I: in a doll’s house. My classmates believed that Nora would have been better off living her fake, self-allusion of a life. These confused students accused Kristine of being an evil character for forcing Nora change her plastic life.
My classmates are wrong. Kristine is Nora’s hero. Had Kristine allowed Krogstad to take back the letter, Nora would have continued to live a fake existence with her idealistic but unfulfilling marriage to Torvald. Nora is lucky that Kristine came long at exactly the right time to save her from this plastic world. For Nora’s entire life before she leaves Torvald, she is tricking herself into thinking she is fulfilled living a “normal” married life with a husband and children. She attempts to convince herself she is happy with this life of conformity. However, in the back of Nora’s mind, there a voice screaming at her to leave the miserable relationship with a man she never loved. Until Kristine comes along, Nora constantly attempts to block off this voice and continue to rationalize that she should be happy with what she has. Nora is not being true to herself but attempting to conform to the idealistic feminine roles she thinks are necessary for happiness.
Nora is lucky that Kristine comes along and sheds light onto Nora’s fakeness and self-allusions. Kristine makes Nora more aware of the voice in Nora’s head that is screaming at her to abandon her plastic life of conformity. Unlike many of my misinformed classmates, I believe Nora is better off living a real life of self-awareness than she is living the secure life she had with Torvald. Although at the end of the play Nora is not financially secure, this is a minor issue compared to the freedom and basic realness she gains back. When Nora leaves Torvald’s home, she leaves behind the plastic life of self-allusion that had tormented her soul. At the end of the play, Nora is free to discover herself and her true identity without having to try to conform to a “normal” secure life. She is better off living for herself in this way than she was living for her idealistic image, as she had before, no matter the potential impact of shallow factors like security and money.
Instead of living to be spectacle for others to envy, Nora is now free to live for her own self-fulfillment and happiness. Kristine should be crowned as a hero for her role in freeing Nora from her plastic life of security. To quench my newfound addiction to ridiculous but worthy metaphors, Kristine provides the key to unlock the chains of conformity that are tying down Nora onto a life of unhappiness. I hope my teammates on the Varsity English team will rethink their shallow views on Kristine. Whatever the case, I am glad to have finally expressed my passionate feelings about the spectacle-type lives that some people live. (643 words)
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8 comments:
Gary--I'm really glad you were able to write this blog so quickly after class, while you were still filled with the feeling and the idea that inspired it.
I was very surprised by the anti-Kristine sentiment in class that day. To me, she is an admirable character. She knows what sacrifices women are asked to make, and she discovers that she can find a meaningful life by putting aside Krogstad's reputation and helping him rebuild his life and raise his children.
When I mentioned our discussion in another section, they too were surprised at the judgments that had come up in our class.
Gary.
My class did not have the same riveting discussion as your class. I agree that Kristine is Nora's hero and that some of your classmates may have gotten stuck with the intial appearances of Kristine and Nora: Kristine being the pitiful widow and Nora being the extravagant, beautiful married woman. In the end, the women completely flip roles as Kristine's courage and self-awareness become apparent in comparison to Nora's repressed personality and plastic lifestyle.
Great job,
Danni
GGold
I recall the discussion of which you speak, and I too find myself appalled at the idea that Kristine could be a villain. Bravo Gary on a fine blog!
And btw I have used a few of your metaphors in essays and my own blog, giving credit to you of course.
Gary Gold--
I am appalled by the thought process going on in your class and am glad that you brought enlightenment to the class. I tend to agree with you on most aspects of your blog and believe that Nora is now better off in her life. Kristine was absolutely essential in sparking about the kind of change that Nora needed for the sake of her own life.
On a totally separate note, it is time that you start acknowledging the fact that I am better than you.
Gary,
This is a good blog analyzing Kristine's character as a friend or a foe. I agree with you that she needed to help Nora by creating the conflict with her husband. If she allowed the letter to be removed then Nora would have continued her idealistic life in the dolls house. It was all for the better in the end.
Sorry, I disagree.
And you didn't convince me to change my mind with your blog.
But I'm glad you felt so passionately about it. And I enjoyed reading your opinion on the matter.
Agree to disagree..?
Gary,
I absolutely agree with you. Kristine is integral to the overall play. As she talks to Nora and gets her thinking about what she did to help her husband and how it could cost her with Krogstad's threats and her husband's fury-- it's not all worth it. Kudos to Kristine for opening Nora's eyes to the greater problem.
Excellent!
Hutch
On this day I must bid my aristocratic counterparts farewell. I shall not go into detail of what has driven me to such action, but it was the topic of Gary’s speech. I have authored a brief, might you say, rebuttal, which can be read here.
Jane Austen (48)
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