Ibsen's doll house is full of manipulation and surprises

      I started reading Ibsen's Doll House with the assumption that it was about woman's rights and Nora's ability to stand up to her husband Helmer.  I since learned that Nora acted like a weak woman, and a sort of doll who would dress up and entertain her husband and take care of the household.  She displayed similar behavior around her father. She never had anything that was actually hers. (spoiler alert) She was oddly enough beneath this perceived blissful behavior was actually really manipulative as she was able to get the necessary money to take a trip to Italy and save her husband when he was in ill health.  However, her husband did not know about her loan from a loan shark of sorts. Also she was the one who kept track of the spending and other events in the household. (spoiler alert) Also the ending was very odd but I guess appropriate as she left her husband and children while this might not have been a very maternal thing to do, she needed to figure out who she was outside her family. Actually she sort of remind me of one of the main female leads from the Jane Austen Book club movie who had to figure out who she was after she divorced her husband when she discovered he was having an affair.
     All this play and movie show me is that people are not what they seem or claim to be sometimes. However, I think what Helmer experienced with Nora is what people experience with friends or relatives all the time in that they are full of surprises. I can vouch for this as I have a friend who I expected to react one way to one thing, and it went the other way. Also, I myself am not what I seem sometimes as I can be really quiet around people I don't know that well but around people I am comfortable around I can be loud and boisterous to some extent.
      Nora in addition to proving that appearances can be deceiving is also showing a glimpse into women's rights and getting women out just the role of taking care of the husband and children. Their is nothing wrong with the role but these seem to be the expectations placed on the role of most women in the Victorian era.  Also I think it shows that the woman should be able to have her own identity and have it not swallowed up by those surrounding her. I am sure this is not true in the modern world, but a woman should be able to have an identity outside the home where she is an employee, volunteer, whatever who makes a difference in the world in whatever way possible. This is all for my feminist rantish, am not sure what book I will post about next.

Evelina analysis part 2

       Evelina from what I have discovered after all my research is Burneys' attempt to work out her own daddy issues. I am sure Freud would have a field day in reading her book Evelina. All her actions throughout out the first half of the novel are trying to have it so that her actions win the approval of her father like figure Mr. Villars. Burney faced similar issues as through writing Evelina she was hoping that her father would also approve of her activities. Burney was writing at a time when women being writers was not a very positive thing in the 1700's.  Also  Burney is reveling the prevalent opinion that where is one from and what a dad's or parents credentials are matter if one is to win a match. Burney faced similar issues as she was arranged to marry and did not want to marry the man.  In the case of Evelina through it was her lack of credentials that made the marriage between Evelina and Orville as eminent so that Evelina could have a place in the upper middle class society of London.
       Burney and Evelina both show that women had many issues to deal with regards to courtship and trying to be a writer in the eighteenth century when it seems very apparent that a women's opinion at this time was not viewed as important or significant. Burney proves this point further when her early journals she addresses them to "Nobody".  However, from a non-feminist stand point I am sure women have felt at some point that their opinion had no place anywhere. Well, for me one example was that I was nine and my dad was about to get remarried and he asked me how I felt about it and the women he was about to marry. I lied and said I was ok with the marriage and the woman because I knew she made my dad happy and that I figure my opinion would not make a difference in the first place. I still believe that now after all these years, that my opinion does not matter to him, he like my grandpa J just likes to do alot of spouting about topics of interest to him, how him and I even have a conversation these days I will never know. Also he is just emotionally distant and I am sure he loves and his proud of me I would hope, I would just like to have a  normal conversation with him. I guess this is why I can relate to Burney and Evelina so much as I have my own dad issues that I am trying to work out through my writing of my thesis. I think that is enough personal information and analysis for now. I will try to blog on Ibsen's dollhouse next week.