 Below, you will find a selection of AP Literature Essay # 3 Prompts that listed "A Doll's House" among its suggested titles.
Part One Expectations (please select one of the prompts and respond to the following): (1) Why does this prompt attract you in particular? (2) How does "A Doll's House" answer the question? (3) Write a single sentence thesis statement that you might use if you were writing to this essay prompt. 200-250 words, 2 quotes from the play, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class. AP Prompts: 1971. The significance of a title such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is so easy to discover. However, in other works (for example, Measure for Measure) the full significance of the title becomes apparent to the reader only gradually. Choose two works and show how the significance of their respective titles is developed through the authors' use of devices such as contrast, repetition, allusion, and point of view 1983. From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character's villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot. 1987. Some novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. Then analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the reader's or audience's views. Avoid plot summary. 1988. Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot. 1995. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values. 2005. In Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid mere plot summary.
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3/31/2015 10:19:08 am
I chose the prompt from 2005 because the question asks about how the conformity on the surface of a character contradicts the inside questioner and this is exactly what I thought about "A Doll's House." Nora, on the outside, conforms to society's view of women. "HELMER: You are a wife and mother before everything else." She does exactly what her husband asks of her and goes along with whatever he says and seems only good as a wife and a mother. However, she isn't this innocent wife and mother that she appears to be. She hides this enormous and life-altering secret from her husband that he soon discovers. When he discovers this, he goes on a rampage and says the worst and most demeaning things to Nora. After finding out that Krogstad dropped his threats and the contract, he went back to a loving husband. Nora, however, was not going to take this one bit after seeing his true colors -- "NORA: No, I have never been happy here. I thought I was, but I never was." This is Nora realizing, herself, that her outward conformity contradicts how she really feels.
20
3/31/2015 12:09:48 pm
Out of the following prompts the one I would select would be 1995 because it seems very straight forward and it gives me more quotes and events to choose from in the play. A Doll’s House answers the question because the whole point of the play was to display how women were alienated from male affairs and gender inequality such as when characters such as Krogstad say things like “You can’t frighten me. A fine spoilt-Under the ice perhaps? Sinking into the black, cold water? And then in the spring floating to the surface, ugly, unrecognizable, and with your hair fallen out.” (Ibsen 42) as if she couldn’t do anything to stop him because she’s a woman. Another example would be Nora throwing herself into the weak female image by telling Torvald “I do Torvald, I can’t get anywhere without your help.” (Ibsen 28). If I were to write a thesis for this prompt, it would be: The alienation Nora receives from all the male figures around her because of her gender is a key part in displaying the values and morals of the society that Ibsen wanted to display and shame to his audience.
8
3/31/2015 02:03:20 pm
The 1987 prompt stood out to me the most because in A Doll’s House, the time period was set back to when women were only useful for being housewives and men were more superior. The author develops Nora from a small, helpless bird in a cage, to a selfless woman who had a voice in what she wanted against her dominant husband. In this time period, it was tradition for women to be submissive, but the author wanted to show the audience/reader that they will be forever unhappy if they won’t speak up. Nora is a character that shows someone who crossed that boundary in order to stand up for herself, which answers the prompt itself because she is an example of someone who broke tradition. The author put her in a situation and showed how she handled it. “He wasn’t allowed to know how ill he was. The doctors told me. Nothing could save him, unless we travelled south. Honestly I did try and coax him at first. I tried everything. Nothing worked. Well then I thought, you have to be saved. I have to save you and I found a way out-” (Ibsen 16). Nora went out of her way to attempt saving her husband’s life and did not mention anything about it to Helmer, afraid that it would ruin their relationship. When he finds out she tried to save his life, he gets irrationally angry. “I believe that I am a human being, just as much as you are-” (Ibsen 64). Nora speaks to him as if they were equals, which shows character development.
19
3/31/2015 02:15:00 pm
Initially, before being informed of the plot and theme of the book, I was not quite sure of what to expect. However I was quickly able to infer what the title was alluding to which was Nora’s symbolism of a doll in a doll house. The full significance is not bluntly stated in the text until page 62 when Nora explains the way she’s been treated “He called me his little doll, and he played with me the same I played with my dolls. Then I came to your house¬-” (Ibsen 62). As a reader I was able to understand exactly what the title represented and also through the author’s use of Nora’s point of view and the character’s reactions to her. Mrs. Linde told Nora her opinion of her and the audience was able to see that she obviously viewed Nora as shallow and under the thumb of her husband “You do some needlework, you embroider- you are a child...” (Ibsen 15). After completing the book I realized that Nora did appear as a doll who played dress up and molded into whichever role she was told to do, that is until she left. Her husband also had direction over her and controlled the way he wanted to see her. He literally created a house that was suitable for a human doll to live in, he bought her the clothes he wanted to see her in and even told her to dance on command like a brainless object. Overall, this title was accurate throughout the majority of the book until Nora discovered her true worth and chose herself.
14
3/31/2015 02:44:48 pm
1971: The title " A Dolls House",become very apparent by act three when Nora explains the way she felt towards Trovald and her father treating her like a "doll", the way she became formed herself to become this person to meant their expections."Nora...He called me his little doll and played with me the same way I played with my dolls.Then I came to your house-",Nora is tired of not being able to think for herself and does not want these male figures trying to teach her how to be a woman/mother/ wife.This is the main reason why she wants to leave Trovald,after her secert is revealed to Torvald.I choose this prompt because while reading the first two acts you still don't understand where the title comes from, and what is it significants.Then by the end the title is pulled all together and you realize that the first two acts were eluding to this idea of Nora being a "Doll" being played with like a kid plays with a metaphoric doll house.
14
3/31/2015 02:50:24 pm
alluding ******
22
3/31/2015 02:57:48 pm
The 1987 prompt attracted me the most because it asks to choose a novel or play that seems to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. I believe that A Doll’s House shows this change in society through the main character, Nora. In the society in which Nora lives in, the women drop all of their dreams and desires to become a house wife, waiting at her husband’s feet and raising the children. Nora was like these women, until towards the end of the play. “Because what you said was true. I’m not equipped for it. I must do something else first … That’s why I’m leaving you now” (Ibsen 63). Nora finally admits to her husband that she must do something for herself first and help herself before being able to help others and take care of others as well. This was a change in her social attitude because it’s very uncommon for women to put themselves first before their own family. “You are a wife and mother before everything else … I don’t believe that anymore … I have to find out these things for myself and find out about them” (Ibsen 64). Once again Nora takes a stand for herself. She understands that she has responsibilities as a wife and mother but she’s also a human being like any other person. She can’t live the life of having others be superior to her. If I were to write a thesis it would be, Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House portrays the change of society and attitude through the main character Nora as she changes her life to benefit herself.
7
3/31/2015 03:06:21 pm
The prompt I would choose for A Doll’s House is the 1987 prompt because it showcases throughout the novel that women’s roles in society should change. This play shows the main character, Nora, to do stuff normal wives wouldn’t normally do because it is not their role. Nora borrows money which is something wives during this time period were not allowed to do, “A wife is not allowed to borrow without her husband’s consent” (Ibsen 16). This shows how Nora questions her role in society. Nora also does something that women in her society never did, which is leave their husband. She questions her worth as a woman, “You never loved me. You just thought it was fun to be in love with me.” (Ibsen 62), in order to show how women are expected to love their husbands, but husbands necessarily don’t have to because it wasn’t their job.
5
3/31/2015 03:16:34 pm
I chose the 1988 prompt because it seemed the easiest to me. I feel like I could easily write an essay on this and wouldn’t struggle. A Doll’s House answers the question because Nora is the one that goes through the most significant change in consciousness. She finally has a revelation at the end of the play that she doesn’t actually love Helmer and that she doesn’t “want to stay here anymore” (Ibsen 65). Because “something glorious” (Ibsen 65) didn’t happen and because of the way Helmer reacted made her realize that it is not meant to be. She realizes that she was never completely happy with her marriage and to Helmer she was just a doll, something in which he could “organize according to his tastes and play with” (Ibsen 62). Before her revelation, there’s this rising tension in which she tries to make sure Helmer doesn’t read the letter. The author successfully builds up to this climax and discovery. This event was more exciting because back in the day it was out of the norm to speak up to their husband and say their opinion. It was taboo to just get up and leave your husband and your children. As a reader, it makes us excited and happy that Nora has finally stood up for herself. My thesis would be something along the lines of: Ibsen gives Nora’s revelation the sense of excitement and suspense due to the rising action and societal stereotypes.
17
3/31/2015 04:26:46 pm
I was attracted to the 1987 prompt due to the time period that "A Doll's House" takes place. During this time, a prevalent social issue to prospective that the play focuses on is the role of women in society. Ibsen focuses that with the predicament that the main character find herself in, after using everything in her power, even if she had to commit forgery to save her husband. As the scene unfolds, the audience or reader gets a glimpse of the helplessness women had to face, and how men found them to be inferior and ignorant, controlling their women like dolls. Helmer called Nora a "pathetic fool" and told her that she "wouldn't be able to bring up the children" (Ibsen 59). The fact that he could separate mother and child and have it be within his "right" is astounding and emphasizes the issue in society. Even more so is his flippant attitude after he finds out that his debt is voided. However, Ibsen encourages the change in society by having Nora leave Helmer. She tells him her piece, saying that she "was his little singing bird just like before. Your, doll that you would carry now with twice the care since it was so weak and fragile" (Ibsen 66). The power had shifted from the husband to the wife, as she gains the courage to leave to experience and learn things for herself not because people told her or that society expects it from her.
15
4/1/2015 04:45:41 pm
The prompt that attracts me the most is the 1987 prompt about social and political changes. The prompt attracts me because it is as if Ibsen has solely written this play to go against the grain of accepted social standards and gender roles of society. In the play, Nora acts nothing like the woman society expects her to be when she is away from her husband—she takes out loans, sign fake signatures, and lies. Society often expects a woman to be rescued by men but it is Nora who rescued Helmer’s life when he was ill, even if it was by the means of bad-business. Nora describes how she saved Helmer’s life by saying, “It was me who saved Torvald’s life. I saved his life… You know the trip to Italy I told you about—Torvald would be dead if he hadn’t gone there” (Ibsen 16). The fact that Nora is able to save her husband proves that women aren’t as helpless as society expects them to be. Nora also goes against the norm of society by leaving her family behind to chase her own ambitions. She refuses to be submissive to the titles of wife and mother. Nora is the only person in the novel that didn’t fell victim to the expectation of society for even Mrs. Linde promised to get back with Krogsgald in order have a family to live for—“I need to care for someone, and your children need a mother. You and I need each other” (Ibsen 50). Lastly, by leaving her children and family it proves that woman can have power in a relationship. By the end of the play it was as if Helmer was now the helpless “little bird”.
9
4/2/2015 01:01:48 am
The initial question was why the Helmer’s household is acting out of order; the answer is the title. “A Doll’s House” perfectly summarizes why it seems as if everything in Nora’s life is fake and unreal until the ultimate ending. In the married couple’s life, they act out the characters of a typically doll house and their children are just merely accessories to their life. Nora embraced her role as she constantly responded to her nicknames given by her husband; “my little doll, my sweet baby”; these names degrade Nora as well as bluntly compare her to a doll (Ibsen, 22). Helmer then acts as the dominant character by supervising Nora as well as the household. This is through his care of his job as he brings a stable inflow. With this being said, he appears rougher because Helmer is able to limit himself of spending money, unlike Nora. As Nora begs for money, he directly states that “the two of us have managed well enough up to now” thus halting her cries of money (Ibsen, 9).
12
4/2/2015 04:11:09 am
2005’s prompt caught my interest because it seemed like it spoke to Nora’s character. “That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions” almost calls her out. Nora, for most of her adult life, has become the traditional housewife that everyone has expected her to become. A Doll’s House revolves around her life and how she conforms each day as her husband treat her like a little girl and how Kristine calls her out and claims embroidery is no real profession. As Nora each day loses her, she begins to wonder who she really is and if everything she has done so far, every decision she has made, has been worth anything. Nora’s husband, Torvald even banishes macaroons from the house because he believes they will rotten her teeth, she has to sneak sweets into her own house! “Did you say bought? All of this? I’ve a little bird who like to fritter money, has that little bird been fritting again?’ Towards the end she realizes the answer is no, thus causing her to leave her husband and her kids, diminish the fears of society judging her, and take up the challenge of making a life of her own without the help of her husband, who at this point thinks she is downright crazy for making such decisions. Her epiphany causes her to become conscious of her conforming and even helps her end up becoming her own person.
3
4/2/2015 04:13:12 am
The prompt I choose was the prompt from 2005. "A Dolls House" would answer this play because just like the main character from "The Awakening" Nora wears a façade. on the outside she plays the role of a ditzy housewife who isn't capable of taking care of herself or being able to protect herself. We can see this when Helmer says " Whatever happens, when a real crisis comes, you'll see, I have strength and courage for the both of us"(36). We see in this quote that Helmer doesn't believe Nora can take care of herself and that he will have to take care of both of them when a hard time comes. But this is only the outside. One the inside Nora is a woman who had potential to grow into a woman who can fend for herself and her family. We can see this when she pays off the loan behind her husband's back. She is able to work with money and knows how to save it despite the fact that in the beginning she is shown as a woman who can't hold onto her money, so her husband has to put up boundaries and rules so she doesn't waste all of it.
11
4/2/2015 04:32:52 am
18
4/2/2015 04:36:40 am
1987:
4
4/2/2015 04:37:12 am
"1995. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values. " This prompt catches my eye because not only can "A dolls House" relate to it but so can "Jane Eyre." " A dolls house" answers this question by showing how Nora in the play is treated basically as her children are. Nora isn't given the choice to do as she pleases she is trapped in an unhappy marriage. Nora hides her true self from Torvald, because she just wants to see him happy because that is suppose to be her role in society; to make her husband happy. Nora's alienation is due to her gender. In this time it was not really acceptable for women to excel at anything other than making their homes pleasant for guests and making their husbands happy.
333333
4/2/2015 05:23:34 am
I like the 1988 prompt because I feel as though it was perfect for Act III in ADH. I say this because in Act III Nora is awakened and comes to the realization that Helmer isn't the man for her. She now see's him for the coward he really is. I say he's a coward because he was quick to leave and blame Nora for everything. "Miserable creature--what have you done?" Not even thinking of all she had risked for him. Helmer was fast to judge Nora for what she did, when in reality all she did was trey to keep her "lover" safe. But once she realized that her lover wasn't who he said he was or at least who she thought he was Nora awakened from a world she had been living for a very long time. First with her dad now with Helmer, Nora is now ready to be free. "No, that is just it. You don't understand me, and I have never understood you either--before tonight. No, you mustn't interrupt me. You must simply listen to what I say. Torvald, this is a settling of accounts."
10
4/5/2015 10:41:36 am
The 1971 prompt catches my attention the most because I find it interesting why A Doll’s House is titled as such and the significance behind it. The title fits with what the main character Nora is going through, and as the play’s story develops, the audience can see the reason behind the title. As Torvald’s wife, Nora lives a life with her spirit oppressed, held down by the female gender roles of the time and unable to be her own person. She mentioned that she was a doll to Torvald, who played with her and loved the idea of her, but in the end never really loved her. She was under his control, where he called her his “skylark” and treated her as if she were very weak and little and helpless. She didn’t like that, but had to put up with it and pretend she was okay. Comments are closed.
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