INTRODUCTION

Hello. For this Individual Oral, I will be exploring the global issue of how gender roles create

obligations that limit and change a person’s identity. I will be exploring this topic through the

literary elements seen in the texts A Doll’s House, a Norwegian play by Henrik Ibsen translated

into English, and Glengarry Glen Ross, an American play by David Mament.

A Doll's House follows the main protagonist, Nora Helmer, a seemingly happy and

childish wife to her husband, but she is hiding many financial secrets that could tear her family

apart. Her journey explores the complexities of the late 1800s Gender Roles and the strain those

obligations have on women’s identities. Glengarry Glen Ross follows five Chicago salesmen as

they work with and against each other in the fight to sell real estate. The story explores

masculinity, and the fight for monetary success, and is a clear statement against American

business practices.

The plays explore the global issue through different perspectives, the most prominent

being female gender roles vs. male gender roles. However, at their heart, they are telling the

same story about people succumbing to gender roles and obligations that change their very

identities. In order to examine the authors’ approaches to the issue, I will be looking at the

literary devices they used to strengthen their perspectives. For A Doll’s House, I will examine

the use of irony and the enhancement of diction and for Glengarry Glen Ross I will examine the

use of colloquialism with its lack of euphemism.

DH WHOLE

Starting with A Doll’s House, I will be exploring how the use of this irony displays Nora’s

motivation to conform to her gender obligations and how the results lead to her strained identity.
 The first use of irony takes form in her husband’s misunderstanding of her situation.

Torvald is a prominent male figure in the play who only appears in various scenes to put pressure

on Nora. He talks about guilt, punishments for betrayal, and how lies are poison for a home, all

ironic due to the fact it is Nora who is committing those actions. Irony builds tension. In Western

societies during the late 1800s, women were under a man’s authority with almost no ability to

build a life of their own. The only way they could live their life was by conforming to societal

norms by being a happy wife and mother. Nora’s guilt for not conforming to her gender

obligations leaves her feeling worthless as she tries to hide her “mistakes” and “fix” her home.

Torvald quite literally forces Nora to succumb to her gender roles by speaking ironically.

Irony also takes form in Nora’s character as she becomes the woman Torvald wants her to

be, his happy childish wife. Nora is only heard when she takes on the identity Torvald wants her

to have. And so, she uses her form of irony to be heard. This is seen especially when she tries to

convince Torvald not to fire Krogstad on multiple occasions. Before asking him, she puts on a

performance in which she belittles herself or acts like a child. She uses this behavior so often

that, by the end of the book, she has to leave her family to reflect upon who she is beyond the

identity she created for her husband.

DH EXTRACT

In the extract chosen, the extent of the identity Nora created around Torvald’s needs is expressed.

Throughout the book she faces many moments where her husband could find out her secrets,

however, it is this scene that expresses the most panic. This makes the irony more vibrant,

especially with the help of diction.

 Torvald’s ironic diction represents the pressure he puts on Nora to conform. After Nora’s

lines, he responds with very powerful lines, like the one after she says “Correct me, instruct me

as you always do.” asking him to help her practice for a dance later that night. Torvald then

responds, “With pleasure, the greatest pleasure, since that’s your wish.” But it is not her wish, it

is his. Through the context of the scene, the reader can recognize that Nora is simply trying to

distract her husband by using her crafted identity. She reflects his wants onto herself in order to

be heard. Torvald’s diction provides the reader with a sense of his normality, showing what life is

expected and pressured to look like for his wife, for he too views life through the lens of societal

norms. But that life is a cage for Nora.

Nora rarely lets her true identity show itself when in the company of Torvald, but during

the section chosen, the stakes are so high that her true feelings can be caught in the ironic diction.

This can be seen especially as she dances wildly and her husband says: “Not so fiercely, Nora!”

Fiercely is a very specific word that goes against the gender roles that have been set up for Nora.

In the absence of her husband, she shows her true identity; a fierce woman who would do

anything to protect her family. Torvald does not want a fierce wife, but that is what Nora is. In

scenes like this when she breaks the identity she crafted to hide her own, their relationship falls

apart. This reaction to a woman displaying her own opinions and true personality would have

been the norm during the time the play was written. And so, A Doll’s House expresses the true

extent of the late 1800s gender roles for women, and how the results of not being one's true self

lead to lies, broken relationships, and the loss of identity. Irony and diction work as a tool in

literature to represent an entire generation of women like Nora.

 A Doll’s House expresses Nora’s gender obligations and strained identity through the use

of irony and enhancement of diction, however, as seen with Glengarry Glen Ross, there are many

ways to approach this global issue.

GGGR WHOLE

David Mamet approached gender roles and identity by looking at the 1980s male-dominated

American business practices and how men were forced into certain identities to fit societal

norms. In Glengarry Glen Ross, this is expressed through the use of colloquialisms in dialogue.

What the characters are saying is important, like the use of irony, but how they say it expresses

the meaning as well.

Colloquialism was used in the play to express the character’s desperation and need to

conform to their gender roles. Characters stutter, start a sentence only to change to another, break

formal speaking patterns, as well curse, and use ellipses. Take Levene as an example, a tragic

hero and failing salesman. When he speaks there is a desperation to his tone highlighted by

colloquial elements, especially when he begs his boss for more leads and better opportunities to

make money. Levene is a great representation of the men in Glengarry Glen Ross and the men of

his time. His toxic and masculine career forces all employees to only feel worthy when having

monetary success, a very male-oriented manipulation tactic that emphasizes their worth based on

what they provide to their families or how successful they are when compared with others.

Levene expresses both these cases with his fight to get money for his daughter and his need to

redeem his pride through succeeding in his job. An ego that was sparked by the identity he

created for his career. To him, succumbing to his gender roles means succeeding and surviving.
 Colloquialism also takes form in the overall presentation of the play. One of the most

powerful tools in storytelling is relatability, and Mamet armored his very play with realism to

further the idea of how real the problem is. When the characters speak like any other person or

like the salesmen they represent, a true connection can be found between the audience and

characters, and the audience and the message.

GGGR EXTRACT

The extract chosen highlights the identity the men in Glengarry Glen Ross create for themselves.

In the section chosen, Roma yells at his boss, Williamson, for ruining another salesman’s

opportunity to win the company contest. This section was chosen due to the lack of euphemisms

that reflect upon change in the salesmen’s identities.

In the extract, Roma is trying to prove that he and all the other salesmen are above

Williamson, which he does through his lack of euphemism. Take the line, “you fucking cunt”,

from the extract as an example of the intensity of the scene. Mamet did not shy away from the

use of curse words, nor the natural speaking elements of a real-life salesman. When forced

against each other to succeed alone, they saw aggression and toxic masculinity as a way to prove

themselves, which is expressed through their lack of euphemism. Roma goes on to continue his

vulgar tone by calling him a “fairy”, a derogatory term for a gay man, and calls him a “child”.

Roma’s use of the lack of euphemism shows the reader exactly what the characters’

values are. In this case, it is how well a man fits in the gender role of being a good worker and a

good man. To Roma, the worst insult he could give Williamson was to threaten his very gender

obligations. This can be seen especially when he asks Roma, “Whoever told you you could work

with men?” In historical contexts, the 1980s and 1990s were decades of corporate greed. The
employees were manipulated to work for their pride and their families, and they could not get

away from either, allowing the corporations to have constant revenue from their employees. By

targeting the salesmen’s gender obligations, the salesmen were forced to change their very

identities in order to survive. It changed them so much that it can be seen in the way they speak,

which is addressed through the use of colloquial language and their lack of euphemism. The

characters are trapped, much like Nora was trapped in her life with Torvald.

CONCLUSION

It is important to have a diverse range of perspectives when approaching a global issue,

for it is only when we acknowledge there is more than one way to suffer that we can collectively

support and help one another. Literary works such as A Doll’s House and Glengarry Glen Ross

are brilliant literary examples of a much-needed spectrum to the issue of gender roles and

identity.