Summary of the Analyzed Literary Works
A Doll’s House
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is a three-act play about an ordinary couple. They are wealthy, happily married, and raising a family. The play A Doll’s House explores several major themes, including gender roles, appearances, the influence of money, women’s status in a patriarchal society, and the importance of respect, reputation, and the distinction between truth and falsehood (Ibsen 35). Given that many of these difficulties emerged in society and became prevalent throughout the Realist movement, the play becomes more grounded in reality due to these themes.
Lulu Anew
Lulu, a middle-aged stay-at-home spouse and mother of three, is the protagonist of the novel Lulu Anew, written by Etienne Davodeau. The novel’s plot follows Lulu as she abruptly uproots her life and sets off on a journey to understand herself. Lulu goes for a walk in the coastal town she went to for the interview with the company (Hayes 39). She does not even bother to make a phone call; instead, she immediately begins ambling away from the home and toward the beach. This recounting of the story addresses the matter between family and close friends.
Johnston’s and McCloud’s Ideas in Their Analysis Articles
The articles “Realism in A Doll’s House” by Brian Johnston and “Understanding Comics” by McCloud are exemplified by Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Lulu Anew. These plays support the idea that realism is about the unvarnished truth of the human condition (Ibsen 35; Emon 45). Whether they enjoy a comic book or a play, audiences often feel they have gained a better understanding of themselves through the stories they have read or watched. Both works draw on the universal human experience.
Johnston’s “Realism in A Doll’s House”
Gender in A Doll’s House
Brian Johnston’s article “Realism in A Doll’s House” covers many aspects of realism. To that end, he stressed the pivotal function of language irony in the play (Ibsen 35). All the topics are essential, but one stands out: gender. There are numerous examples of this, giving readers food for thought about our culture.
Nora, a powerful female character, served as a perfect illustration of the bias that exists in the world. The play’s realist influences stem from its unflinching examination of the human condition and its inherent complexity (Emon 47). Nora was a covertly powerful and capable woman. At the conclusion, Nora is prepared to strike out on her own. Not everything in life is as it seems. Johnston elaborated in his essay on how Ibsen depicts the deterioration of Nora and Torvald’s marriage through the usage of the exact phrase in different contexts.
Linguistic Analysis of Ibsen’s Play
Johnston emphasizes the word “amazing,” which is used three times throughout the play, each time with vastly different connotations. “Amazing” is used early in the play to describe the existence of Torvald and Nora together. The dialectic at work in the play is evident in the development of the words the characters use, so “these word-clusters,” in which the phrase is typically repeated three times, take on different emphasis and meaning as the play progresses (Johnston). Ibsen used the three-word clusters to illustrate how the exact words may be employed in different contexts. Because women like Nora in the nineteenth century were not given the same respect as men, she must rely on words to convey her point when she cannot do so through her actions.
McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”
Comics as a Genre of Symbols
Comics are essential in expressing ideas using images, combining textual and visual information. McCloud (90) presents comics as juxtaposed pictures and other images deliberately to deliver a message subject to feedback. Symbols such as the dollar sign or the peace sign, comics are examples of icons that physically resemble what they are intended to represent. The more cartoonish an icon appears, the more universal it is (McCloud 87).
Importance of Straightforward Content
Readers can better immerse themselves in a comic’s story when the artwork is kept basic. Creators of comics have considerable leeway when it comes to the realism of their artwork. There is a classical mentality that values beauty and craft, while another emphasizes the sheer transparency of content (Hayes 36). In addition, another mentality celebrates the authenticity of human experience, as well as honesty and rawness. Therefore, the story “Lulu Anew” by Etienne Davodeau incorporates McCloud’s criticisms.
McCloud’s Analysis of Lulu Anew
The protagonist, Lulu, is shown to have second thoughts about her life after a disappointing job interview. She sets out on what could be called her first voyage. Lulu will not find thrilling car chases, snazzy bad guys, or heart-wrenching cliffhangers here. Instead, it simply means prioritizing her needs over those of her family for the first time in her adult life, having abandoned her husband, teenage daughter, and twin infants.
Lulu learns a lot about herself during her two weeks away from home and her usual routine. Introspective and motionless like his protagonist, Davodeau lets the setting speak in some of the comic’s most beautiful ‘silent’ periods, combining attractive panels and long shots to create a sense of distance. The reader, like Lulu, is captivated by Davodeau’s illustrations and is given time to contemplate as they take in the tranquil, pastel landscapes.
Comparison of Themes in A Doll’s House and Lulu Anew
Although written hundreds of years apart, the stories A Doll’s House and Lulu Anew both focus on women who desire to significantly change their lives. Every person has shortcomings and problems, and realism exposes these raw qualities of human nature and even capitalizes on them in its depictions of people (Emon 51). According to Hayes (39), Ibsen is considered a great success because the audience is unsure of who they should be rooting for by the time the play is over. In both stories, a woman’s struggle to find her place in a patriarchal society is a central issue; nevertheless, the two stories approach this topic differently.
In the same manner that it was forced upon Nora and Lulu, today, conformity is expected of women in all countries and civilizations, albeit in unique forms and at varying points in history. It is essential to emphasize that the conclusions are based on real-world conditions. In contrast to the outcomes of other tales, this one did not conclude with everyone getting their happily-ever-after. As time passed, the plot gradually became more established. Both A Doll’s House and Lulu Anew, for example, are motivated by the human condition and use a variety of word contexts to transform a metaphorical interpretation of how people are into a sense of foreboding for the stories’ protagonists.
Works Cited
Emon, Ariful Insan. “Use of Realism in Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”.” (2021). 45-70. Web.
Hayes, Summer. “Lulu Anew.” Booklist 111.16 (2015): 39-40. Web.
Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll’s House.” Drama & Theatre 2020.94 (2021): 35-35. Web.
McCloud, Scott. “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art.” Northampton, Mass (1993). 87-105. Web.