Month: September 2018

Personally, I think Ibsen is the kind of person who stood up for the minority and smaller/underappreciated groups. He kept saying things about how “The Minority is always right.” (HENRIK IBSEN, An Enemy of the People). As well as “The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That’s one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population — the intelligent ones or the fools?” (HENRIK IBSEN, An Enemy of the People). I think he values equality for not only women but for all minorities. He also seems like someone who voices their opinions and will stand up for what they believe in because one of his quotes says: “Never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.”(HENRIK IBSEN, An Enemy of the People). Which makes me think of protests and activism activities. He seems to frown upon people, treated as less than they actually are. 

 

I think Ibsen is a person of his times because of his age, I think as he was growing up he was exposed to inequality and so he started to stand up for what he believed was right. As he grew up, he could have started to see changes in society, giving more power to women which would have been very rewarding to him.

What do you believe to be the three most important facts about 19th century Norway?

– In order to remain in the upper-middle class,  you had to abide to “strict, and at times, suffocating standards”.

– How important money is during these times. You can tell because of how stressed Nora is about money and that she would lie to her husband about money, that she decides to leave her home.

– Families/households were supposed to be patriarchal, meaning men were in control and women were supposed to be housewives and do things for their husbands and homes.

 

Why do you think the concept of respectability became more important as the middle class expanded?

The expectations of the upper-middle class society in Norway were that households had financial success without any debt and a stable patriarchal family. People had to maintain certain standards in order to remain in the social class they were in, especially if they wanted to potential progress higher in the class system. They most definitely did not want to go to the bottom of the class system.

 

Here is the original blog post: https://pages.stolaf.edu/th271-spring2014/background-of-a-dolls-house/

“A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.” (Henrik Ibsen, 1878)

 

I think that this is still very true and relatable at present, unfortunately. It might be a little less than in 1878, but it’s still an ongoing issue. For example in the workplace, women are being discriminated against and are treated as if they are less than men. A new study shows that even if women are the bosses or CEO’s of a company or business, they still receive less pay and shorter tenures. Another example of this is in Tokyo Medical University, where they recently admitted to altering test scores of applicants so that there would be less female doctors. Not only is this devastating for the female applicants who actually deserve to be there, but it also has had a negative impact on the patients. Apparently, patients who are operated on by a female surgeon are less likely to die in the next 30 days. I’m not entirely sure how credible that is, but it does mean that by adding test points to the scores of male applicants makes them seem more qualified when in reality they’re really not. Things are certainly becoming more balanced presently and more and more people – men and women – are addressing the issue at hand, but there is still a long way to go for society.