Upon the arrival of Pastor Manders, Regina hurries her so called father out the side door and rather excitedly welcomes this new arrival. Pastor Manders is a decidedly upstanding gentleman, a man of the cloth and behaves as such, very stout and proper. While expressing obvious disdain for her father, Regina rather blatantly displays her desire to find herself in the employ or favor of the pastor. It is doubtful that it is carnal passion that drives Regina in her fervor towards the pastor but more so she is simply trying to ensure her survival and she must believe that the pastor could provide a good home for her while subjecting her to a better sexual situation that would be more tolerable for her than that which she would be exposed to were she to find herself in the "loving care" of her father. .
The pastor is saved from her advances by the arrival of the lady of the house, the widow Alving, who at first glance seemed an "out-there kinda gal". It is at this point that the upcoming orphanage opening is introduced. It provided an event for the show to lead up to, something for people to talk about and adds to the depth of the storyline. I believe that the ordeal about the books emphasized the distinct differences between the morals of Pastor Manders and Mrs. Alving To me it was not as important as to what the books were actually about, but it was more important to see what the books symbolized. This is most likely why the nature of the books was left out by Ibsen so that knowing what the books was about wouldn't dilute his intentions of putting in that particular scene. Ibsen may have been using the books as a physical manifestation of Mrs. Alving's personality or even as a means by which to contrast the developing free-minded thinking and older chastising morals of the era.
Oswald, and his soliloquy about the way things are carried on in Paris, further emphasizes the more liberal lifestyle, Ibsen takes ample time, especially her but also throughout the play, to defend the less stringent, more practical way of life.
