At the beginning of the play, Nora, who in A Doll's House is the female protagonist, is portrayed like a doll, hence the title of the play. Her husband, Torvald, talks to her like a little girl, using terms such as "little lark" or "little squirrel" or his "song bird" in ways that illustrate his dominance in their relationship. He also makes her seem inferior by making parallels to weak diminutive birds and she. Later on in the first act, we are shown that Nora is not really as helpless as she is first revealed. Throughout the story Nora struggles for self-realization and independence from Torvald's childlike treatment of her. Nora's gradual self-realization is depicted thoroughly in A Doll's House. The play flows well with the theme of self-realization in women. Although the characters in books or short stories such as "The Color Purple" or "A Work of Artifice" are in totally different situations, they all deal with the same grapple; that is, the search for a full appreciation of themselves.
             Throughout the story we are enlightened by the fact that Nora really isn't as inferior, or a "silly girl" like Torvald believes she is. In Act One through Nora's conversation with Mrs. Linde, we are revealed that she has made a loan with Krogstad, which leads the reader to the knowledge that she is more educated about business aspects, which are usually only known by men, than as portrayed. Her pure determination shows the reader that she is not just your average woman, and foreshadows her coming of independence and her ultimate choice to be true to herself both physically and mentally.
             The poem "A Work of Artifice" is a precise example of how Nora acted, and was treated before her self-realization. The poem is about a bonsai tree, which is used as a symbol for a woman, and used to depict the potential that a woman has, but beca
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