Feminism or Individualism?

She borrows the money from a criminal and signs her fathers name on it. This of course will come back to haunt her when Krogstad shows up at the house, knowing that she forged the signature because she dated it three days after her father died. .
             Nora is the perfect picture of a mother for the time. She has produced three lovely children for her husband, three children that she loves dearly. She wants to make them happy and give them the best Christmas she can with what little money she has been given. She spends time playing games with them and decorating to make them happy. It is expected of Nora, by society and her husband, that she play with the children from time to time, show them love and affection, but let them be otherwise raised by their nurse, Anne Marie, who also raised Nora. It would be hard for Nora to raise her children, seeing that she is in many ways, still a child herself. She has childlike tendencies and is very immature; Mrs. Linde says to her, "Nora, Nora, aren't you sensible yet? Back in school you were such a free spender," (Ibsen 1573). Nora has not changed her ways at all since her days in school, when she was a child. Immature as she is though, Nora still loves her children very much, and would do anything for them. She becomes pale and frightened after speaking with Torvald about Krogstad. Torvald says, "Almost everyone who goes bad early in life has a mother who's a chronic liar It's usually the mother's influence that's dominant," (Ibsen 1587). Once Torvald leaves the room, Nora says, pale with terror, "Hurt my children-! Poison my home? That's not true. Never. Never in all the world," (Ibsen 1587). She is beginning to wonder if her actions will have a negative affect on her own children and is horrified by the thought. .
             According to Ibsen's "Notes for a Modern Tragedy," a woman cannot be herself in modern society. Nora didn't even have a "self" to be. "It is an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess female conduct from a male standpoint" (Barnet 591).