How does the author use the character of the nurse to
develop the social issue of gender inequality?
Read the passage from A Doll's House
Nora: Nurse, I want you to tell me something I have often
wondered about-how could you have the heart to put your
own child out among strangers?
Nurse: I was obliged to, if I wanted to be little Nora's Nurse.
Nora: Yes, but how could you be willing to do it?
Nurse: What, when I was going to get such a good place by
it? A poor girl who has got into trouble should be glad to.
Besides, that wicked man didn't do a single thing for me.
Nora: But I suppose your daughter has quite forgotten you
Nurse: No, indeed she hasn't. She wrote to me when she
was confirmed, and when she was married.
The nurse's willingness to take care of Nora when Nora
was little demonstrates a woman's ability to do difficult
work.
The nurse's need to give up a child in order to have a job
demonstrates a woman's inability to support herself
The fact that the nurse's child wrote to her as a young girl
and as an adult demonstrates a woman's ability to keep
friends forever
The nurse's assurance to Nora that her children ask for
her often demonstrates women's role in health care.
Save and Exit
Nex
