Question

Read the passage from A Doll’s House.

Nora: Nurse, I want you to tell me something I have often wondered about—how could you have the heart to put your own child out among strangers?

Nurse: I was obliged to, if I wanted to be little Nora's Nurse.

Nora: Yes, but how could you be willing to do it?

Nurse: What, when I was going to get such a good place by it? A poor girl who has got into trouble should be glad to. Besides, that wicked man didn't do a single thing for me.

Nora: But I suppose your daughter has quite forgotten you.

Nurse: No, indeed she hasn't. She wrote to me when she was confirmed, and when she was married.



How does the author use the character of the nurse to develop the social issue of gender inequality?

A. The nurse’s willingness to take care of Nora when Nora was little demonstrates a woman’s ability to do difficult work.
B. The nurse’s need to give up a child in order to have a job demonstrates a woman’s inability to support herself.
C. The fact that the nurse’s child wrote to her as a young girl and as an adult demonstrates a woman’s ability to keep friends forever.
D. The nurse’s assurance to Nora that her children ask for her often demonstrates women’s role in health care.

Answer 1

The nurse's character in 'A Doll's House' develops the theme of gender inequality by showing her need to relinquish her child for economic survival.

Step-by-step explanation:

The character of the nurse in A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen is used to develop the social issue of gender inequality. The correct choice here would be option B. The nurse's need to give up her child in order to have a job highlights the societal expectation that women must often choose between career and family. This clearly demonstrates a woman's inability to support herself without making significant personal sacrifices, a consequence of the gender roles and economic opportunities available at the time. This aspect of the play sheds light on the restrictive nature of gender roles and the societal pressures that coerced women into making difficult choices, often at great personal expense.

Answer 2

I believe the appropriate answer to be option B) the nurse's need to give up a child in order to have a job demonstrates a woman's inability to support herself.

That is only one of the moments in the play A Doll's House that develop the issue of gender inequality. The nurse has to give her child away to be able to raise someone else's child. The main character Nora finds that surprising. However, Nora herself, in order to borrow some money from the bank, has to forge her father's signature. Both women are treated as incapable and inferior, even though Nora is "superior" to the nurse when it comes to social status and money.