The the play "A Doll's House" and the novel Age of Innocence both depict the state of society of the current time with its rigid and patriarchal social structures. In their respective works, Ibsen and Wharton both highlight the transformation of characters to illustrate the values of society. While Nora and Archer both undergo journeys towards to a transformation, Nora's rebirth frees her from the rigid shackles of the metaphorical doll's house, while Archer's experience returns him to his expected role in society, revealing that individual progression can only be achieved through personal willingness and desire to break away from the accepted social values
Throughout the play "A Doll's House", Nora undergo small changes that ultimately lead to her decision to leave Torvald and the children. Nora's transformation was driven by her own desire. With her realization of Torvald's shallowness and inability to see past the set rules that dictate the required appearance of a family unit pushes her away from the picture-perfect family that she thought she had. Nora concludes that she is now too far away from the idealistic appearance of the doll's house and choose to sever her ties with it instead of forcing herself back into the closed sphere of womanhood. This destruction of their relationship and the metaphorical doll house, however, opens a path towards progress and change for both Nora and Torvald. The winter season that the play sets in creates contrast between the harsh, cold environment outside and the safety and warmth of the doll house. The Christmas holiday also symbolizes both the birth of Jesus Christ as well as the destruction and death of winter that allow the season of growth and fertility to follow. This metaphysical rebirth of her surroundings mark the period of change that Nora experiences that ultimately allows her to herself change and evolve as a character.
In Age of Innocence, Archer also undergo a journey that leads him to stray away from his societal values. While Nora's frustration with society stemmed from her denial of the facade that Torvald wanted to maintain, Archer's resentment for Old New York came from Ellen. To Archer, Ellen was a symbol of rebellion against the qualities of his society that he deemed negative, including closed-mindedness, hypocrisy, and lack of creativity. Even though throughout most of the novel, Archer thought he, like Ellen, was also free from these qualities, his judgement of Ellen and her past actions as well as his pity for Ned Winsett show that he embodies the hypocrisy that he so hated. What Archer thought was honest, personal hatred of society was instead only his desire to rebel, which he then latched to Ellen as a symbol for his rebellion. Unlike Nora, whose purpose for leaving came from her own dissatisfaction with her life, Archer embraces the values and believes of someone else. As Ellen leaves for Europe, Archer is left without a purpose and is once again unwilling to abandon his society, which ultimately causes him to regress back to his marriage, a symbol for his imprisonment in society.
I thought your comment about Archer’s views on society were the most interesting. I agree that he falls in love with Ellen because she is a free spirit. He even criticizes May, since “he would always know [her] thoughts…” (249). At the same time, he chooses to stay with May. In the end he is forced to stay with May because of her pregnancy, but before that, he still chose May over Ellen. He tells Ellen that he loves her before he gets married to May. I thought it was interesting that he didn’t marry Ellen instead of May. He despises May’s naivety and innocence, but he still marries her. If he truly wanted to rebel, I think he would have married Ellen or, at least, decided not to marry May. Towards the end of the novel, I began to wonder if Archer was just confused. He wants to rebel against society in the beginning, but near the middle he understands the society better. He even agrees with the other men that sharing knowledge with his wife wouldn’t be a good idea. In the end, Archer chooses to remain in the society.
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