Mrs. Linde as a Foil for Nora in in Ibsens A Dolls House Essay

Mrs. Linde as a Foil for Nora in A Doll's House Random House Webster's dictionary defines a foil as "a person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast."   This essay will focus on the use of the foil to contrast another character. The characters of Nora and Mrs. Linde provide an excellent example of this literary device. Mrs. Linde's aged, experienced personality is the perfect foil for Nora's childish nature. Mrs. Linde's hard life is used to contrast the frivolity and sheltered aspects of Nora's life. Nora's optimism and belief in things improbable is an opposite to the rationality and down-to-earth mentality of Mrs. Linde. Finally, the rekindling of the flame between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad is a direct contrast to the burning down of Nora and Torvald's "doll's house." Whereas one can see Mrs. Linde as mature and world-weary, one can easily read the character Nora as immature and childlike; one of the first examples of this immaturity and childishness can be found in the first few pages. Nora has come in from a day of shopping and in these excerpts we can see her child-like manner while interacting with her husband, Torvald: Nora:  Ã‚   Oh yes, Torvald, we can squander a little now. Can't we? Just a tiny, wee bit. Now that you've got a big salary and are going to make piles and piles of money. (Ibsen Ibsen 27-29) With this excerpt, we see a child-like attitude not only in Nora's manner of speaking with the statement "Just a tiny, wee bit," but also in her attitude toward money and the unrealistic expectations of making "piles and piles of money." The following example also shows Nora's childish manner in her personal interactions with her husband. Her manner seems more like that of a favorite daughter, acc... ...77. Ibsen. New York: Macmillan. Davies, H. Neville. 1982. "Not just a bang and a whimper: the inconclusiveness of Ibsen's A Doll's House." Critical Quarterly 24:33-34. Durbach, Errol. A Doll's House: Ibsen's Myth of Transformation. Boston: Twayne, 1991. Heiberg, Hans. Ibsen. A Portrait of the Artist. Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami. 1967. Ibsen , Henrik.   A Doll's House. Dover Thrift Edition, 1992 Northam, John. 1965. "Ibsen's Search for the Hero." Ibsen. A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Solomon, Barbara H., ed. Rediscoveries: American Short Stories by Women, 1832-1916. New York: Penguin Group, 1994. Templeton, Joan. "Is A Doll House a Feminist Text?" (1989). Rpt. In Meyer. 1635-36. Templeton, Joan. "The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen." PMLA (January 1989): 28-40.

Pink-Dear Mr President Analysis

Pink wrote the song â€Å"Dear Mr. President,† on Martin Luther King Day in 2005. The song was released as a single in 2007 and became apart of her album I’m Not Dead. The song is a direct criticism of President George W. Bush and the policies of his administration. Pink addresses the major concerns of most Americans. The song begins â€Å"Dear Mr. President/ Come take a walk with me. Let’s pretend we’re just two people and/ You’re not better than me. † By stating this as an invitation Pink is directly asking the President to listen to her opinions.Through equalizing social standings, she is diminishing the respect that the President demands, Pink is stating that she will be truthful with him and not sugar coat Tanya Kaplan Song Analysis 03/10/09 her opinions. She will tell him the truth about what everyone is thinking but no one is willing to tell him directly. She states, â€Å"You have come along way from whiskey and cocaine,† addre ssing Mr. Bush’s tainted past, which the media seems to ignore. Pink asks Mr. Bush who he prays for at night. She also asks how he feels when he looks in the mirror and if he is proud of himself.These statements address that Mr. Bush forgot to make good on his promises to help people. He had the power to change society and be a positive force for society but failed to do so. Pink then asks Mr. Bush to look her in the eye, this is a sign that she is aware that he is not proud of his own and is unable to face his own actions, she is challenging him to state that he is proud of his actions. She is also addressing the political corruption that is believed to have occurred in the Bush administration.There are many policies, that were enacted, such as political detainees, which the President directly partook in, while the policy blatantly violated the principles set forth in our constitution. Pink addresses many social issues during this song. â€Å"How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?†¦ Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away,† this is a direct attack on the President’s Iraq war policy. There are thousands of mothers who have lost their children in the war on Iraq; some are soldiers while others are innocent children who are ystanders. During the Presidential Election of 2008, the majority of people stated that they did not support the war in Iraq; however, when this song was written it was very uncommon to have a majority of the people not support the war, let alone discuss the destruction that we are inflicting on the residents of Iraq and their infrastructure. The media did not portray the mass destruction inflicted on the country of Iraq or report the effect that the war was having on military families.There are additional hot button social issues that Pink addresses with the President through her song. She states â€Å"What kind of father would take his own daughter’s rights away? And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay? I can only imagine what the first lady has to say. † Tanya Kaplan Song Analysis 03/10/09 These statements denote George Bush’s policy of anti? abortion, his attempt to refute the Rowe v. Wade decision and to take away a women’s right to abortion.These statements also call into question the administrations anti? gay policies. Ironically Vice? President Cheney’s daughter is gay. It is near impossible to imagine how the President can instill his anti? gay rhetoric while his second in command’s child part takes in a homosexual lifestyle. One must truly wonder what the first lady does say to Mr. Bush, when such a close family friend is directly being affected by his distorted view of appropriate sexuality. Pink also address the non? action that was insinuated by the no child left behind act.The President adamantly states that he is helping the education system in the country through this act, ye t he fails to provide any sort of funding to instill his policy changes. How can one expect to implement new policies yet not provide any funds to do so, while billions of dollars are being spent to make war? Poverty is addressed when Pink explains that Mr. Bush has no idea what it is like to work from minimum wage and be pregnant, or how it would feel to sleep in a cardboard box. She states Mr. Bush knows nothing about hard work.This is a very plausible assertion considering that his own father was the President and he was raised in a more affluent segment of society. The song â€Å"Dear Mr. President† did not get large amounts of play time on the United States radio, in fact it got very little airtime. Pink was quoted as saying that she wrote the song as an attack on the President and his administration to prove that she could and what a great country that we live in to allow her to do so. The song provides for a valid attack on the policies of the Bush administration and o f President Bush himself.

The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1379 Words

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald presents a plausible image of America’s economy during the 1920’s. The country was in the middle of a post-war economic boom. There was unprecedented growth and a rapid increase in the wealth of the richest Americans (Smiley 1). As it follows the excessive lives of wealthy individuals, the novel highlights the negative effects of an unregulated capitalist economy. Fitzgerald portrays the inequality and unnecessary material extravagance that was caused by faulty economic policy. In his novel, he displays his criticism of capitalism and American society during the roaring twenties. The Great Gatsby is especially critical of the economic divide between the rich and poor. Throughout the novel, the lavish lifestyle of the super-wealthy and the terrible conditions of the poor are magnified.The apathetic rich are having the time of their lives. Jay Gatsby’s parties are given a grand description: â€Å"The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other s names† (Fitzgerald 44). This exciting and worry-free life is just minutes away from the poverty and hopelessness of the valley of ashes, where men â€Å"move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air† (27). In this area, the novel is consistent with historical fact from the timeShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald1393 Words   |  6 PagesF. Scott Fitzgeral d was the model of the American image in the nineteen twenties. He had wealth, fame, a beautiful wife, and an adorable daughter; all seemed perfect. Beneath the gilded faà §ade, however, was an author who struggled with domestic and physical difficulties that plagued his personal life and career throughout its short span. This author helped to launch the theme that is so prevalent in his work; the human instinct to yearn for more, into the forefront of American literature, where itRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1343 Words   |  6 PagesHonors English 10 Shugart 18 Decemeber 2014 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story, a mystery, and a social commentary on American life. The Great Gatsby is about the lives of four wealthy characters observed by the narrator, Nick Carroway. Throughout the novel a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby throws immaculate parties every Saturday night in hope to impress his lost lover, Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby lives in a mansion on West Egg across from DaisyRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1155 Words   |  5 PagesThe Great Gatsby The Jazz Age was an era where everything and anything seemed possible. It started with the beginning of a new age with America coming out of World War I as the most powerful nation in the world (Novel reflections on, 2007). As a result, the nation soon faced a culture-shock of material prosperity during the 1920’s. Also known as the â€Å"roaring twenties†, it was a time where life consisted of prodigality and extravagant parties. Writing based on his personal experiences, author F. ScottRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1166 Words   |  5 Pagesin the Haze F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in a time that was characterized by an unbelievable lack of substance. After the tragedy and horrors of WWI, people were focused on anything that they could that would distract from the emptiness that had swallowed them. Tangible greed tied with extreme materialism left many, by the end of this time period, disenchanted. The usage of the literary theories of both Biographical and Historical lenses provide a unique interpretation of the Great Gatsby centered aroundRead MoreThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald845 Words   |  3 PagesIn F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, colors represent a variety of symbols that relate back to the American Dream. The dream of being pure, innocent and perfect is frequently associated with the reality of corruption, violence, and affairs. Gatsby’s desire for achieving the American Dream is sought for through corruption (Schneider). The American Dream in the 1920s was perceived as a desire of w ealth and social standings. Social class is represented through the East Egg, the WestRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay970 Words   |  4 Pagesrespecting and valuing Fitzgerald work in the twenty-first century? Fitzgerald had a hard time to profiting from his writing, but he was not successful after his first novel. 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Scott Fitzgerald1607 Words   |  7 Pages The Great Gatsby is an American novel written in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of the themes of the book is the American Dream. The American Dream is an idea in which Americans believe through hard work they can achieve success and prosperity in the free world. In F. Scott Fitzgerald s novel, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream leads to popularity, extreme jealousy and false happiness. Jay Gatsby’s recent fortune and wealthiness helped him earn a high social position and become one of the mostRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1592 Words   |  7 PagesMcGowan English 11A, Period 4 9 January 2014 The Great Gatsby Individuals who approach life with an optimistic mindset generally have their goals established as their main priority. Driven by ambition, they are determined to fulfill their desires; without reluctance. These strong-minded individuals refuse to be influenced by negative reinforcements, and rely on hope in order to achieve their dreams. As a man of persistence, the wealthy Jay Gatsby continuously strives to reclaim the love of hisRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1646 Words   |  7 PagesThe 1920s witnessed the death of the American Dream, a message immortalized in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Initially, the American Dream represented the outcome of American ideals, that everyone has the freedom and opportunity to achieve their dreams provided they perform honest hard work. During the 1920s, the United States experienced massive economic prosperity making the American Dream seem alive and strong. However, in Fitzgerald’s eyes, the new Am erican culture build around that