DH2.Questions+21-25

21. What does Nora do to distract Helmer from the mail? Nora asks Helmer to help her practice her dance in order to distract him from the mail. To stop Helmer from reading the mail, she exclaims “take care of me, Torvald, please!” (p91) and anxiously asks him to practice dancing with her in order to prepare for the big party.

22. What is the “wonderful thing” to which Nora refers? "Yes, a wonderful thing!—But it is so terrible, Christine; it mustn’t happen, not for all the world." The "wonderful thing" that she refers to is that she believes that if her secret is discovered, her husband would come and save her, and have her back. However, the sad reality is that Helmer is only concerned with his social status, and has little to no regard for Nora.

23. What does Nora imply at the end of the act? Bird references to Nora has been repeated many times in Act I. Originally, this metaphor can be seen as a symbol for Helmer’s love to Nora, however, as the plot develops and as Nora gains independence, she realizes that she is nothing but a ‘doll’ to Helmer and that she is being played the entire time. Thus, at the end of act 2, her confrontation with Helmer is obvious as demonstrated by her outcry: “Here’s your lark!”. The sarcasm is emphasized with the explanation mark to demonstrate her hatred to her old dependence.

24. How does the structure of Act II contrast to that of Act I in terms of rising action, incident, and character development? The most significant difference in the rising action of the two acts is the amount of tension present between the characters—especially between Nora and other characters. While naïve and childlike aspects are mostly emphasized in Act I, in Act II, Nora confronts the world in more realistic ways. Similar to Act I, Torvald is not a very active character. Krogstad becomes more involved in the plot and is very active in Act II as he begins to disclose more information about Nora’s past deed.

25. What is the emotional landscape of Act II?