This is the alternate ending that takes place after Nora slams the door, leaving the mansion:

TORVALD: Is there really hope of a miracle coming into fruition?
 THE CHILDREN: [ coming into the room] Daddy, Mommy forgot to tell us goodnight!
TORVALD: [gets up from his chair slowly] My children...Mommy is very tired from the dance tonight. She's still in the bath right now. She probably won't be coming to see you to sleep tonight. [he forced smile] I'm sure my children are all grown up enough to put themselves to sleep!
THE CHILDREN: [capraciously running out the room] We are!
TORVALD: [right as the children leave he closes the door] What in heaven's name shall I do? The children seem unperturbed with their mother not seeing them to bed, but I won't be able to stave them forever. How will they react when I tell them that their mother is gone? No child should have to go through a traumatic experience like this. [slams a fist into the nightstand near the bed] No husband should have to go through a traumatic experience like this! [ looks down at the ground with tears threatening to come out] What she said couldn't be true....what I felt was real love. [ puts hand over his heart]I still feel the sensation inside of me! [ He changes into his bedding attire and gets into bed] My little skylark.......[he goes to sleep]

It is the next morning. It is the same scene. Torvald is waking up.

TORVALD: [turns his head to the other side of the bed] Good morning my-[notices she isn't there and abruptly sits up in bed] It wasn't a nightmare...she really left. She must be terribly ill! There is no other legitimate reason she would act like that! Maybe I can talk to Dr. Rank! My friend must have a solution to this conundrum. [ gets out of bed and readies himself for the visit]

In this next scene, Torvald is at the front door of Dr. Rank. He is filled with hope, believing his friend will be able to save him.

TORVALD: [rings the doorbell] This will definitely work! Dr. Rank will be able to fix that scatterbrain, she'll come back to the house begging for forgiveness as a wife should. I, being a loving husband, will accept her back with open arms. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this before people start talking...
DR, RANK: [opens the door with a melancholy smile on his face] Torvald! I was not expecting to see you at all! Come in, you are actually quite a pleasant surprise. [ let's Torvalds into his home]
TORVALD: [ walks in already putting his coat onto the nearest table] Listen, Dr. Rank! It's Nora-
DR. RANK: [ halts in his steps for a moment, then slams the door] What? What about Nora? Is she alright?
TORVALD: I'm afraid not. I believe that she has completely lost it! She started spouting nonsense last night. I tried to talk her back into reality. but no rational words could get through to her. She even left me that night.
DR. RANK: What nonsense did she say?
TORVALD: She said things like the love I have for her isn't real! As if I was in love with the fantasy of being in love. It simply cannot be true. She even said that I treated her like her father! The woman may be going mad!
DR. RANK: [ he pauses for a moment, thinking about what to say]
TORVALD: What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything? This is obviously a case of insanity!
DR. RANK: She is not insane, Torvald.
TORVALD: You can't be serious. That can't be for final verdict! Come on, help an old friend out!
DR, RANK: There may be nothing I can do for you at this point.
TORVALD: [starts fuming] I can't believe this! I simply can't! I bet I can guess why you aren't trying to help me. I always new that you had a flame inside of you burning for my wife! This gives you a grand chance doesn't it?
DR. RANK: As a man that should already be on his deathbed, I will not lie to you. I have always loved your wife. I have longed for us to have a deeper and more intimate relationship since I first met her. Most of all, I've seen the way you treat her. Every time I saw you interact with Nora, it filled me with feelings of jealously and malice. However, she has always seemed very strange. She would be happy, but not in the way others normally feel happiness. You could almost compare her smile to that of a doll's.
TORVALD: What are you trying to say?
DR. RANK: I would constantly think that if I have been her husband, I would treasured her more than you have, However, she seemed happy with you. I care so much about her happiness. I would do anything for her. Even if she broke the law, I would take the blame. That's how deep my love runs for her. Would you do that, Torvald? Regardless of what people would say?
TORVALD: But what about a man's hono-
DR. RANK: And that is why she left you. She realized who she really married. I think you might have overstayed your welcome a bit.
TORVALD: So that's it? That's really how your going to end this?
DR. RANK: [ walks to the front door and opens it ]By the way, she snuck macaroons into the mansion and gave one to me as well.

                   Act II sure did vamp up the drama, didn't it! I am glad that this act really fleshed out on Nora and her relationships with the other characters. In my last post, I touched upon how Helmer is a prime example to how the husband mentality was for men back in the late 1800's. He clearly does not take his wife seriously. A bit earlier in this act, Nora was trying to convince Helmer to let Krogstad keep his position at the Bank. One of the primary reasons Helmer decided against it can be explained in this quote, "They know at the Bank that I mean to dismiss Krogstad; suppose it were to get about that the new Manager had let himself be influenced by his wife...."(Ibsen 188) He does not think that his wife's ideas and opinions are valid when it comes to important decisions. The overall relationship between Nora and Helmer was further explained in this act. Being the man of the house hold,  Helmer takes on a lot of the responsibility. However, he does not think that Nora could possibly do anything on her own. Near the end of the act he said, "This evening I'll be wholly and entirely at your service-you poor helpless little creature!" Going back to what I said in the last blog, he sees Nora more as a pet or child needing to be taken cared of. He even says, "Nice? To do what your husband says? All right, little scatterbrain, I know you didn't mean it like that."(Ibsen 186) What if she did mean it "like that"? Would he have punished her? It wasn't uncommon for men of this time period to reprimand women for speaking out of line. As much as I want to like him as a character, I can't find any retribution due to his behavior towards Nora.

                     Helmer may have sexist tendencies throughout the play so far, but Nora has not been helping. She is constantly saying things along the lines of " Oh what would I do without you?" or " I can't do anything without your help!" quite jauntily. Near the end of the act, I can understand saying these things to distract Helmer from Krogstad's letter, but she has been doing this from the beginning. In one of the seminars before reading A Doll's House, the class talked about women's feelings on their roles this type of society. A point was brought up that even though some women may have had problems with their gender roles, some may not have had any issues at all. I've been wondering where Nora stood in this issue. Has she ever been dissatisfied in her societal roles? She doesn't seem to find her position in the household intolerable. However, she seemed offended while Helmer was talking about taking on any problems by himself even though he had her for support. 

                Reading Act 1 of A Doll's House was more enjoyable than I thought it would be! I was actually really engaged with how the characters interacted with one another. I am excited to read more into Nora and Helmer's relationship, for they have a very strange dynamic. When they interact with each other, the tone seems quite playful. As I was reading, I could imagine the smiles exchanged as they were talking to each other. However, as I read on in the play, I noticed that Helmer treats her less as a wife and more as a frivolous pet. He doesn't take her seriously in the slightest. The nicknames he constantly call's Nora are more along the lines of degrading than endearing. Helmer;s view on a woman's role can be infered with this quote from him, "Nora, Nora!Just like a woman!"(pg 149) During this time period of this play, it was very common for men to look down upon women. There were many strict gender roles back in the time of this play for women and men. This quote from Nora proves this statement, "Still, it was really tremendous fun sitting there working and earning money. It was almost like being a man."(pg 162) It is obvious that the normal bread winners for the family were usually male, while most women ended up being 'stay at home moms'.
                I am truly excited about the development of the character Krogstad. Every character so far seems to know that he is very untrustworthy. He is described as being "rotten to the core"(pg 165) and overall very corrupted. Even his name sounds quite sinister! He makes me wonder though; what was his reasoning for forging a signature? Who did he forge it from? Why his he so threatened by Mrs. Linde's advancement and desperate to keep his position at the bank? If he's so crafty, couldn't he easily slip his way into a new workplace? Why did he lend Nora money; what did he expect to gain from that transaction? There must be more to him than just the corrupted bad guy.

                      Hello fellow human being! My name is Ava Covington. The number one thing I like the most about this year's English class is how mentally engaging our writing assignments are. This may be a strange thing to choose as a favorite aspect, but last year I was very deprived of any writing. I was lucky that I didn't loose any of my writing ability from the lack of essays I had in English class last year! The topics that we write about never cease to entertain me. Another thing I have to mention is the abundance class participation! I have never had a class so student engaging in activities that really help in furthering my understanding at the topic at hand!
                    Henrik Johan Ibsen was a famous play writer born in the coastal town of Skien, Norway on March 20th, 1828. Surprisingly, he never displayed any indication of the theatrical genius that he would grow to be. He actually, expressed interest on being an artist. When he turned eight years old, his family landed themselves in poverty, leading them to sell their valued items to pay off debts. The family soon moved to a rundown farm near their previous place of residence. During this time, he spent most of his time painting, reading, and performing magic tricks. He even worked on poetry and painting  during his apprenticeship in an apothecary on Grinstad.
                     His first play that he got published, Catilina,  was not noticed profoundly by the public. The play that helped launch his career was The Pillars of Society; that play was followed by the acclaimed A Doll's House. Leaving Norway in 1862 in chosen exile due to the small-mindedness of his community, he continued to write many controversial plays that challenged society during his time. Upon his return to Norway, he was looked upon as a literary hero by the people. He died May, 23, 1906. The title, A Doll's House, could be a reference to the gender roles of women during that time period. The "Doll" part of the title could refer to a woman who only is a decoration to the man of the household. A woman's role during Ibsen's time period was very limited to anything beyond being at a man's beck and call and being a mother. Most of Ibsen's works focused on challenging society. Based off of this information, the book could focus on a woman trying to be more than what her gender roles limit her to.

sources: http://www.biography.com/people/henrik-ibsen-37014
              http://www.britannica.com/biography/Henrik-Ibsen
                       


                   

As the very first post here, I hope you all enjoy my blog and have an overall enjoyable blogging experience!