The Doll House Experiment

This week I did the unthinkable--transformed myself into a housewife. It's not what you are thinking, really. (Okay maybe it is). For those of you who do not know me, I hold a liberal political viewpoint, but most of my friends are conservative (it's okay, I like it that way). Most of the time I play along with the funny jokes, "Hey woman, make me a sammich!" But this week I conducted an experiment of my own. Donning flowered skirt and towering heels, I pulled on an apron and scraped pb&j on to slices of bread. Let us make this clear: It ain't a sammich until a woman makes it (this is not a joke).

The sammiches were welcomed by my man friends with open arms and fits of laughter, except for the one reasonable character who just thought I was crazy (you know who you are). Prior to any experiments, many people believed me to be a feminist, and they probably still do. I don't know why. It is not as if I parade the superiority of womanhood (it is quite the opposite, actually, even though inwardly I believe in equality). If there was one thing I learned from this day, it is if a man is given a sammich, he expects more sammiches in the future.

This could be leading into our bigger problem with "society" (as it seems if we have no answer to why some things occur we can always blame society). These problems develop when we are young. However, we can't really blame mothers for feeding their sons sammiches. If we could, then there is something inherently wrong with our society. But moving on, this problem comes from both sides. A mother expects her daughter to play "like a girl," and for these purposes, a father generally spoils his daughter. I can't say there is anything wrong here either. I am just generally confused. Probably because this whole blog entry is about boys.

Everything really comes down to communication I suppose. Everyone knows that the sexes really do not speak the same language. I am sure everyone here has had some experience or another that made them doubt the ability to really "connect." I cannot really blame Torvald because he acts the way he has been taught to act by his sammich feeding mother; similarly, I cannot really blame Nora. HOWEVER. Let me make this clear. I do not advocate the idea that Torvald does NOT have the capability of changing. I do believe he could if he tried. Granted, tried very hard. This also comes down to something really different between the sexes.

You have probably heard of it. Passive aggression. I like to believe that women hold so much angst through passive aggression that getting a clear read out of any woman is very difficult. My interpretation of the play is that, when Nora hopes for the wonderful, she knows that it won't happen. I also think that she does not want it to happen. As people in class have said, she does NOT give Torvald a chance to really change. Between the time that he receives the letter and the time that she leaves he probably had enough time to eat only five sammiches (and this is inadequate for any male). For these reasons, I have to revert back to what I know. I know that when my mother and I get into squabbles, we play down what is really bothering us and hope the other person guesses at it. While doing that, neither of us really plan on resolving the issue (women just like a reason to stay angry). Nora really needed something that gave her the eyes to see and a reason to leave.

Of course, I really am playing into sexism too much. Ibsen did not believe that Nora's being a woman mattered. I like to agree with this, but for some reason, I just enjoy believing that Nora's problems would not exist if it weren't for those dang sammiches!