Education on the Past Leads to Growth for the Future

    Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House still speaks to me because the issues it raises, such as, gender roles, personal freedom, and societal expectations, have not yet been equalized/removed from present day society. However, they have evolved into different forms, creating a need for paired readings, such as connecting modern articles associated with topics discussed in the text. This could be facilitated in class similarly to how the Careerism text was paired with Freire's work. The fact that this play has been reproduced on and off Broadway so much, most recently being 2023, shows that society is still asking the question, do women have the agency to define their own lives? 

    A Doll's House is about a women realizing that she has been living as an extension of the men in her life, whether that's her husband Torvald, or her relationship with her father growing up. Torvald's language demonstrates the imbalance of power in their marriage. He calls Nora his "little lark" and "squirrel" (Ibsen, 101) reducing her to a childlike pet rather than an equal partner. This kind of condescension still exists today, whether its old men calling us sweetie, or in subtler forms such as the gender pay, expectations around household roles, or the way women's comments/goals are frequently dismissed. 

    Nora’s decision to leave her husband and children was radical in 1879, and while women today have more rights and opportunities, they still face immense societal pressure to conform to traditional roles. In the workplace, women are often penalized for being assertive, labeled as “bossy” instead of “confident.” When the play wraps with "From below, the sound of a dorm slamming shut."(Ibsen 149) it isn’t just about the sound of her leaving—it’s a wake-up call that still echoes today. If we don’t continue to examine and challenge gender norms, we risk keeping women in the same gilded cage that Ibsen exposed over a century ago, and doors will instead continue to slam in the face of women and young girls, rather than opening to new opportunities. 

    This play is not just about revisiting the past, it’s about recognizing how much work remains in the fight for equality. A Doll’s House doesn’t just belong to the past—it’s a mirror reflecting our present and a warning for our future.