Sample Introductions



Sample Introductions

(A Doll’s House)

Moving from the Known to the Unknown:

A.

Success is a relative term. Although modern audiences may have a strong sense of success, they may not realize its 19th century Norwegian connotation. For women in this setting, success meant being a devoted wife and mother, managing a comfortable household. Nora Helmer, the main character of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is clearly successful by 19th century standards. But Nora is successful in another respect. She has suppressed a deep, dark secret that could destroy her marriage. In spite of all her efforts to reject her past, however, the introduction of new characters and situations makes maintaining this secret impossibility. With Ibsen’s creation of the characters of Nils Krogstaad and Mrs. Linde, Nora’s efforts to hide her past are circumvented. The conflict presented by these characters provides most of the action in A Doll’s House. More important, though, is Nora’s realization that she can no longer live in her husband’s repressive environment.

B.

Often friends can help sort out our problems, either by providing advice or setting an example. In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House Nora Helmer’s life changes dramatically when an old friend returns to indirectly remind Nora how independent she has become. In her discussions with Mrs. Linde, Nora suddenly realizes that her life has been an act; she is pretending to be happy, to be in love—but she is not. As Nora’s confidante, Mrs. Linde helps her “see” the folly of her life.

Using an Important Quotation

“Torvald, I realized that for eight years I’d been living here with a strong man, and that I’d borne him three children.” With these words, Nora Helmer experiences her monumental epiphany in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Indeed, Nora’s world is a world of strangeness and emotional detachment-a product of her husband and society’s expectations of what a wife and mother should be. Ibsen devises this distorted dollhouse setting as a vehicle for his progressive (by 19th century Norwegian standards) feminist ideas. Through a carefully crafted portrayal of Nora Helmer’s distorted world and her realization of it, Henrik Ibsen shows us how a good person can become entrapped in a prison of her own design.

Providing an Historical Context

When Henrik Ibsen first presented A Doll’s House to Norwegian audiences in 1879, little did he realize the level of public outcry that would soon follow. Critics denounced the work as "immoral” and took offense at Nora’s decision to leave her husband and children at the end of the play. Many spectators might have preferred Nora to persevere and tolerate her unfulfilled life – performing as a doll would. Throughout most of the play, Nora conforms to her society, her husband, and her children. But when that conformity suddenly loses its luster, Nora makes the only decision she can live with: in order to achieve the independence she never had, she must leave. Not only do Nora’s actions conflict with the expectations of her culture, but they may not resonate with a modern audience.

Making a Generalization

Nora Helmer, in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, is an enigmatic character. At time, she is a devoted mother and wife, content to run her comfortable Norwegian household of the 19th Century; at other times, a scatterbrained, bound woman who performs ridiculous stunts to appease her children and entertain her husband. It is during these ridiculous moments that the play’s title becomes clear. Even though the audience may be amused at Nora’s antics, even to the point of laughter, it is still troubled by the root of her behavior. Ibsen presents us with these seemingly paradoxical feelings towards Nora’s character, producing a “healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude.”

Asking the Reader to Speculate

Imagine a life of entrapment, living in a household where your sole existence is simply to please others. Nora Helmer, In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, lives this existence – until she realizes the absurdity of her life. Even before her realization, however, Nora senses an inner conflict. Throughout her married life, she has performed as a doll in a doll’s house – which seems to cause her much anxiety. Only when Nora becomes aware of her niche in the world does the outward conflict develop, which becomes the impetus for the remainder of the play.

INTRODUCTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

INFORMATIVE CONTENT

RELEVANT AND COHERENT CONTENT

INTERESTING CONTENT

Suggestions for Beginning: Your thesis (focus) should guide your choice.

From life experience to literary experience

From general idea (philosophical, psychological, theme) to author’s view on that idea

Begin with an overview (Be careful not fall into pure plot summary. Be selective with the details. Choose only points that are relevant to the thesis).

Beginning with a quotation ( from author, the work, or a source outside the work that relates thematically to your paper)

Begin with a definition – Avoid dictionary definitions and common literary terms such as metaphor, simile, etc.

Begin with background of author or work – Be careful to choose only details that will be relevant to your thesis. If you have a bit of interesting biographical information that doesn’t fit in your paper, this may be the place to put it in order to catch the reader’s interest. This technique, however, is dangerous, as writers can fall into needless padding.

Begin with the literary history or tradition of the work – Examples: carpe diem, romanticism, gothic, sustained allusion, etc.

Style/Literary Techniques – Examples: stream of conscious, stereotypical characterization, setting, etc.

Begin with a critical stance – Examples: Psychological (Freud, Jung), Marxist (societal), Feminist (also societal).

CONCLUSIONS:

Two types of conclusions: Evaluative and Speculative

Evaluative conclusions: Personal, Thematic, Artistic, or Historic

Prewriting Questions:

Personal – Do you like it? Why?

Artistic Merit – Is it well done?

Thematic Merit – Does it contribute anything new to the world of ideas.

Historical - What is the connection between the work and history?

Speculative: What happens beyond the conclusion? Risky to write. Must be grounded

solidly in the text.

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