Both works address the issue of women's marginalization in society and the damaging effects it has on a woman's identity. Ibsen's A Doll's House depicts Nora realizing she does not truly know her husband and choosing to leave her family to find herself. Chopin's The Awakening similarly shows Edna Pontellier rejecting her domestic role, symbolized by her swimming further into the sea to her death. While Ibsen shows a woman empowered to reject society's expectations, Chopin illustrates how deeply ingrained those expectations were that Edna saw no alternative but suicide.
Original Description:
Original Title
individual oral planning sheet awakening and doll house
Both works address the issue of women's marginalization in society and the damaging effects it has on a woman's identity. Ibsen's A Doll's House depicts Nora realizing she does not truly know her husband and choosing to leave her family to find herself. Chopin's The Awakening similarly shows Edna Pontellier rejecting her domestic role, symbolized by her swimming further into the sea to her death. While Ibsen shows a woman empowered to reject society's expectations, Chopin illustrates how deeply ingrained those expectations were that Edna saw no alternative but suicide.
Both works address the issue of women's marginalization in society and the damaging effects it has on a woman's identity. Ibsen's A Doll's House depicts Nora realizing she does not truly know her husband and choosing to leave her family to find herself. Chopin's The Awakening similarly shows Edna Pontellier rejecting her domestic role, symbolized by her swimming further into the sea to her death. While Ibsen shows a woman empowered to reject society's expectations, Chopin illustrates how deeply ingrained those expectations were that Edna saw no alternative but suicide.
Global Issue: The great disparity of power and liberty between men and women, and the perpetual degradation of the latter through society and its rigid standards, that expected to be upheld by women overall unjustly destroys a woman’s identity as an individual. Works Chosen:
Work in Translation: A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen ( Ibsen 116-117)
Second Work: T he Awakening by Kate Chopin ( Chopin 175-176)
Notes for the Oral. (Maximum of TEN bullet points.) Key strategies used in the passage to develop the author’s point about the global issue: ● Both Ibsen and Chopin feel that the marginalization of women is not only unfair, but the consistent demeaning of women is overall damaging and toxic to the “normal social order” men expect from women in the first place, as removing a woman’s identity causes an unmatched level of overwhelming depression that comes with such a removal from self. Chopin, from a female perspective, however, more so highlights the vulnerability and susceptibility of women to succumb to this, ultimately depicting a defeat, displayed through Edna Pontellier and her unfortunate suicide. Ibsen, however, equally displays the importance of a woman being her own person and being in touch with herself, for she abandons her husband and kids, and therefore, society’s expectations, in an attempt to regain her sense of self, meaning that Ibsen feels as though finding this is more important than the commitment to raise your children. ● Awakening - Symbolism of the bird starts at the beginning of the novel, as the first chapter begins with Edna and all women being compared to a bird confined in a cage, that men could abandon at their leisure, ends with this bird, having been freed from its cage, injured and falling to its death in the ocean. ● Awakening - Chopin personifies the ocean as seductive, sexual, and mysterious - this essentially represents her realization of her power (or lack thereof) ● Awakening - Imagery - Chopin uses images of her childhood, her running about an open field and interacting with her family, almost as if Edna is re-experiencing the small bit of freedom she used to have before she finally frees herself for eternity ● Awakening - Juxtaposition of Mademoiselle Reisz’s character to that of Edna and her final act of conformity to what society desires of her: Reisz says an artist must be daring and defiant, and Edna’s suicide is evidence that she doesn’t obtain these qualities, and as she represents all females, it is outlined that it isn’t common or much of an ability for a woman to be able to rise above society expectations ● Doll House - “but no man would sacrifice his honor” This quote, as utilized by Torvald, displays the state of society: that it is easier to endure physical and mental torture than to have others look down upon you, that you would sacrifice everything but this for your marriage. This exemplifies Chopin’s earlier point on how difficult it is for a woman to be defiant and daring, meaning it shouldn’t be so hard for women to break this mold. ● Doll House - comparison to herself as a doll (hence the name), a doll is a child’s plaything, ultimately comparing women to these in the sense that women are not people but toys for men to play with at their leisure, and also it implies a sense of transparency for a doll house is wide open, meaning that society can see right into these lives, and that this family was created purely for the entertainment of others rather than actual enjoyment. ● Doll House - Nora repeatedly calls Torvald a stranger - this repetition signifies how little she knows him: outlining how marriages at this time are about appearances instead of love. This lack of a woman’s ability to choose to be with the man she loves, like Edna and Robert, or purely herself, like Nora choosing to leave, is evidence of this great power imbalance between the genders. ● Doll House - the ending - rather than kill herself and succumb to the societal pressures, Nora find the courage to leave her husband and children in search of herself.