Many have called Ibsen's A Doll House a promotion of women's rights or a work of romanticism. It is much more than that. Nora's psychological makeup is a result of an oppressive, emotionally depriving and possibly abusive father, and an absent mother. Her flighty actions are the ones of a child, because as a child, that is probably the only way she got attention, and she was never taught any other way. The concept, and reality, of an independent woman in the late nineteenth century was non-existent, making the dramatic decision of the main character that much more significant. How does a woman, in a completely confining society, evolve to a point where she must go so completely against societal convention that her very life could be jeopardized? And was this her only option? Through the examination of her relationship with her husband as well as her relationships with others in her life, we will see that Nora had only two options: bury her emotional misgivings and stay where s!
             he was, or break free and save herself emotionally.
             Probably the most important feature in discussing the root of Nora's psychology is the revelations she made regarding her father (1186). While addressing her husband, she reveals the fact that she had to hide her own ideas if they differed from those of her father because he wouldn't like it. (1186) Her father called her his doll-child and treated her as a doll. This type of domineering relationship may have been typical of the era, but it also raises questions about the role of her mother. It is revealed that Anne-Marie, a nurse, was Nora's only mother figure (1162). Her only female role model was one of a woman in an extremely subservient position. Quite often when one parent is quite dominating, the other parent tries to encourage some balance within the child behind the scenes with private discussions, etc. There is no indication here that Nora had any kind of emotional ba...