A Doll's House
...nerally traceable to the mothers, but of course fathers can have the same influence.” (Ibsen, Act 1)Here, Torvald is telling Nora about Krogstad’s past. Torvald is telling Nora that Krogstad was involved in a dishonest scheme involving forgery. He was caught and had to lie to get out of the situation. Torvald then tells Nora that because of these lies, his children will turn out to be delinquents. Torvald also points out that, for the most part, when children become bad, it is the fault of the mother. But on the other hand, he admits that the father can also have an influence on the way that children turn out. However, in society today, this has yet to be proven. There are some cases where this can be applied, but there are other cases where this is completely untrue. My second proof is, “Oh, I only wish I’d inherited a few more of Daddy’s qualities.” (Ibsen, Act 1) Here Nora confesses to Torvald that she only wishes that she had turned out a bit more like her father. In this case, Nora herself is insinuating that she inherited the majority of her qualities and traits from her mother, instead of from her father. This goes along with what Torvald was saying in my first proof. But in the same way, this is not true. Children do not inherit traits from either parent. They may develop them as they grow up from being exposed to their parent’s traits and qualities. This is something that is present in our current society as well. Many people feel as though their children genetically inherit their traits. They do not stop to think that their children portray the same traits because of their constant exposure to it. It is analogous to an accent. When a person is around people speaking with a different accent, that person will tend to start speaking with the same accent. In this case, because the children are around these traits, whether they are good or bad, they tend to exhibit them. My third proof is, “When he’s so strict about such matters! Besides, Torvald is a man with a good deal of pride-it would be terribly embarrassing and humiliating for him if he thought he owed anything to me. It would spoil everything between us; this happy home of ours would never be the same again.” (Ibsen, Act 1). Here, Nora tells Mrs. Linde that if To...