2009 AP Free Response Question 

A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. 

Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot. 

Use A Doll House to answer/respond/discuss. (You are not writing a whole essay.)

2005 AP Free Response Question:

In Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899), protagonist Edna Pontellier was said to have "that outward existence which conforms, that inward life which questions." In a novel or play that you have studied, identify a character who conforms outwardly, while questioning inwardly. Then write an essay in which you analyze how this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. 

Use A Doll House to respond to and discuss this. You do not need to write an essay - just add to the discussion.

Ibsen apprehensively wrote an alternate ending for his German audience. Read it and explain what changes were made and how they affect the meaning of the play as a whole.

NORA. ... Where we could make a real marriage out of our lives together. Goodbye. [Begins to go.]

HELMER. Go then! [Seizes her arm.] But first you shall see your children for the last time!

NORA. Let me go! I will not see them! I cannot!

HELMER [draws her over to the door, left]. You shall see them. [Opens the door and says softly.] Look, there they are asleep, peaceful and carefree. Tomorrow, when they wake up and call for their mother, they will be - motherless.

NORA [trembling]. Motherless...!

HELMER. As you once were.

NORA. Motherless! [Struggles with herself, lets her travelling bag fall, and says.] Oh, this is a sin against myself, but I cannot leave them. [Half sinks down by the door.]

HELMER [joyfully, but softly]. Nora!

[The curtain falls.)

The play is titled A Doll House in some published versions, and A Doll's House in others. Which is more appropriate than the other? Explain why.

Ibsen's Doll House to post #1 of 10

You do not need to respond to this! Watch if you like.

Janet McTeer on her role as Nora in 'A Doll's House' (1997 - Charlie Rose)

You do not need to respond to this! Watch if you like.

This is an interesting review in 1910. I like the comment that the play is the Tarantella. What do you think this means? What is the evidence that this is true? How does this support the theme - or central message?"



A DOLL'S HOUSE: AN ILLUSTRATION OF SYMBOLISM