I really don't know how much the title relates to A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, but it was the best of the several mediocre play on word things that came to mind.
First of all, I must say that this story is written in such a way that I find myself disliking Nora. Maybe it is because she seems all over the place in her emotions, but I just find it difficult to sympathize with her, even if the borrowing of money and forgery were done with fine moral justification. What I do find interesting though, is how her and Mrs. Linde's positions fluctuate almost correspondingly. In the begginning of the play, Mrs. Linde is a widow, having had no children, and having worked to support a sick mother and several young brothers. As her mother passes and her brothers age, her purpose for existance seems to fade. Nora, on the other hand, begins the play "holding all the cards." She is kind of happily married, has children, a successful husband, and even (secretly) contributed to saving his life. This gives her a secret sense of satisfaction, a sense of purpose if you will, something Mrs. Linde lacks. Then, in the concluding scenes of the play, we see Mrs. Linde join a family, attain children, and find past love. All this occurs while Nora decides that she wishes to leave her role as a mother and wife and live for herself. This shows for the first time in the play that a woman can have a sense of purpose outside of motherhood and housewifedom (that isn't a word but you get what i'm saying). That, i believe is the redeeming quality of Nora, for she almost surprisingly shows a strength which is not seen even in the more weathered Mrs. Linde. I suppose this makes the play feminist, but even if not, it definitely gives interesting insight into the roles of women in the 19th century and how one can deceive oneself into happiness. I don't know much about the actual role of women in the 1800's, for I always pictured them still being without much independence, so I suppose Nora should be looked up to, even after all the deception she deals in.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Hillbilly Willy
No offense to the other members of my english class, but for some peculiar reason I found what I personally spoke about (willy and his garden) most interesting, so that I what I shall expand on in my blog.
We as readers only see a small segment of Willy's life, right at the end, but through flashbacks we also see several of his major disappointments in life, which he seems to constantly be thinking about. In the several day period of the play Willy seems to dwell on the things that went wrong in his life, so imagine if he had been doing this for years! No wonder he is depressed, for even though he is still in denial about it, Willy accomplished nothing significant in his life, for he himself is insignificant and mediocre. I believe that his desire to plant a garden can be deciphered two ways. The first is that the garden stands for his life, and at the end it is barren, devoid of any life or accomplishment, so he wishes, at the end to plant something (like his idea to kill himself so linda will receive his life insurance money). The other interpretation of the garden is that he wishes to leave something behind after he dies, so he plants some seeds, hoping to make some sort of a lasting impression on the world, which he had been unable to accomplish so far.
The fact is that Willy is a loser. Unlike the other salesman who had hundreds of people attend his funeral, only Willy's family and close friend attended his. When he goes in to see howard and ask for a job in the city, the fact that Howard is uncaring and unwilling to help willy shows that willy also has not left a lasting impression in his own workplace, despite having worked there for years.
So should we sympathize with willy? yes. In fact, it's hard not to. From his story we can see the consequences of not letting dreams go after they should be deemed unattainable, for then, not dealing with reality, we could become as out of touch as willy was.
This has been the Prince of Belair, laying down some mad insight.
Prince Out.
We as readers only see a small segment of Willy's life, right at the end, but through flashbacks we also see several of his major disappointments in life, which he seems to constantly be thinking about. In the several day period of the play Willy seems to dwell on the things that went wrong in his life, so imagine if he had been doing this for years! No wonder he is depressed, for even though he is still in denial about it, Willy accomplished nothing significant in his life, for he himself is insignificant and mediocre. I believe that his desire to plant a garden can be deciphered two ways. The first is that the garden stands for his life, and at the end it is barren, devoid of any life or accomplishment, so he wishes, at the end to plant something (like his idea to kill himself so linda will receive his life insurance money). The other interpretation of the garden is that he wishes to leave something behind after he dies, so he plants some seeds, hoping to make some sort of a lasting impression on the world, which he had been unable to accomplish so far.
The fact is that Willy is a loser. Unlike the other salesman who had hundreds of people attend his funeral, only Willy's family and close friend attended his. When he goes in to see howard and ask for a job in the city, the fact that Howard is uncaring and unwilling to help willy shows that willy also has not left a lasting impression in his own workplace, despite having worked there for years.
So should we sympathize with willy? yes. In fact, it's hard not to. From his story we can see the consequences of not letting dreams go after they should be deemed unattainable, for then, not dealing with reality, we could become as out of touch as willy was.
This has been the Prince of Belair, laying down some mad insight.
Prince Out.
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