Essay Comparing The Awakening And A Doll's House

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The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen are written about a time when women’s lives were controlled by men. Edna, in The Awakening, and Nora, in A Doll’s House, are restrained by their husbands, which leads them to become unhappy with their lives. Edna and Nora have similar problems and realizations; however, they handle their situations much differently.
The two women both live in a society dominated by men in almost every aspect of their lives. Their lives are defined by their husbands. They were expected to do exactly as their husband told them and to be a proper mother and wife to uphold their family’s reputation. Their husbands often cared about their reputation more than they cared about their wives. Nora’s husband, Torvald shows his care for his reputation when he says, “Do you suppose I am
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They are both thought of as caged birds. Edna being the parrot trapped in a cage in the beginning of The Awakening and Edna being the “skylark” that she was referred to by her husband. Edna and Nora strive to gain more independence from their husbands throughout the novels, therefore trying to break out of their cages. They take small steps to try to achieve individual freedom. Edna abandons her reception day and Nora tries to pay off her loan in secret. Edna’s awakening occurred early in the novel when she feels, "An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish" (Chopin 14). This leads to her eventually telling Robert, “I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not” (Chopin 108). She, like Nora, wanted to be free from a man’s control. Nora’s awakening occurred when she recognizes her husband’s false love for her after he finds out about the loan. Each woman’s awakening created a different

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