Interchangeable Roles of Nora and Helmer in A Doll House
             In Ibsen's play A Doll House, Nora is personified as a helpless child in need of her husband's protection. She eats macaroons, which she hides from her husband because her husband forbids her candy. This gives her the image of the mischievous child hiding her candy from the adult (Helmer). She hums as if she has no care in the world, as innocent as a young child, while her husband works in his study.
             With this aura of innocence, Nora is also generous to a fault. She gives the delivery boy twice what she owes him as a tip, but her husband takes this sign of generosity as Nora being a spendthrift. Helmer views Nora as a child to be protected and guided through everything she does. He calls her "lark" and "squirrel," pet names to diminish her importance as an individual and to impose his superiority as a man. He views his wife as a possession as well as an object to beautify his home. Her intellectual immaturity stems from her sheltered life and so she views life from an unrealistic point of view. Nora's troubles stem from a hidden financial hardship and so money becomes the central focus for her happiness.
             Money is very important in this household and Nora's outward spending habits are a delight and a vexation to Helmer. He delights in the fact that she is dependent on him for guidance, protection and her livelihood. He laughs at her for spending money that they do not have yet and at the same time she annoys him by her outward lack of concern in spending his money on Christmas trifles. When she shows her lack of business sense in wanting to borrow money so she can spend more money on Christmas, Helmer criticizes her lack of sense and at the same time he justifies it because she is only a woman. When Nora sulks like a spoiled child due to his rebuke he placates her by giving her money, thus establishing his mastery ove...