Eva Luna And A Dolls House The

Eva Luna And A Doll?s House: The Nature Of Power Essay, Research Paper

Discuss the nature of power explored in the texts, Eva Luna, and A Doll?s House.In the two texts Eva Luna, and A Doll?s House, by Isabel Allende and Henrik Ibsen respectively, there are various people who have power over others. However this power comes in a number of forms, different characters use it for different purposes, and the ways the characters achieve it also differs. These different natures of power allow some people to succeed where others fail, and it is those who succeed that, in the end, have the true power.

In the novel Eva Luna, there are various people who are in positions of power. The one who is the most obvious to the reader is the General; a dictator. He has the power to control and manipulate others to do as he wants, in order to benefit himself. His power comes about through the use of force, violence, propaganda, and persuasive tactics. He can control people, but it is only because they fear him. There is no feeling by the people he has power over, that he deserves it, they have no respect for him, and so without his armies, his power is meaningless.

Rolf Carle?s father in Eva Luna parallels this nature of power. Lucas Carle has total control over his wife and children, to the point where he treats his wife more like a prostitute, and his children hide from him when he comes home because they fear a beating from him. It is this fear of being punished if one does not obey that gives Lucas Carle his power, and as in the case of the General, if the only reason to give in to someone?s power is fear of the consequences if one doesn?t, then this power gains no respect from those it affects.

The kind of power that the General possesses is totally different to that of Eva herself. Both of them are able to change people, however, where the General changes people through the force he puts onto them, Eva changes people from the inside. She is able to change people by bringing out what is already inside of them, and of herself. She does this by focusing on the positive parts of any situation, and in this way inspiring hope. Her power is based on having the courage to rise up against her oppressors, and the ability to lead others by evoking feeling and passion within them, instead of a power based on the fear of the consequences of not conforming. She doesn?t need an army behind her to enforce her ideas; people are drawn to her. One reason for this is because of her stories. Her stories allow her listeners to escape from their real worlds and for them it is a way that they can get happiness out of a life that isn?t treating them well. For Elvira, it is almost that she can?t cope without one of Eva?s stories to get her through the day. And when they were separated, and she would visit Eva, she would ask Eva for ?a long story to last till the next visit.? (Allende, 96) The imagination is a powerful thing, and Eva is able to communicate directly with people?s imaginations.

It is this ability to cope in, and move beyond oppressive situations that made her life such a success, and her ambitions more achievable. Eva was able to put up with a lot in her time as a servant. She had the self-power to tolerate much harshness from her employers, but when she was unhappy, she did not contain this unhappiness inside her, and let it destroy her emotionally, as perhaps weaker characters might, she let her mind be known, and this is nowhere more obvious, then when she left her job working for the minister:

?With absolute aplomb, as if it were something I did every day, I lifted the receptacle high and emptied it over the head of the Minister of State ? with a single motion of the wrist liberating myself from humiliation. For an eternal second the Minister sat motionless, eyes bulging.? (Allende, 101)

In the play A Doll?s House, both Nora and Torvald have power over each other. However, they are very different types of power. The power of Torvald over Nora is more obvious because it is economic, physical, social status, and sexual power, however Nora?s power over Torvald is less obvious. In the beginning of the play Nora is basically living her life to please Torvald, which for the time pleases herself as well, and she is contented with a life where she is totally provided for by her husband, and this gives her fairly materialistic view on life:

?Well, I mean, it?s lovely to have heaps of money and not to have to worry about anything. Don?t you think?? (Ibsen, 30)

We get the impression that Nora belongs in this kind of society where women are totally dependent on their husbands, however through the play, that impression gradually deteriorates until the climactic ending when Nora totally frees herself of Torvald, and it is at this point that we see who really has the power in their relationship.

Nora shows that she has the power to overcome the impositions of the society she lives in, in which it is not acceptable for women to be independent people, and reaches the self-realisation that she has to go out into the world, in order to educate herself, she realises that she can not just accept everything that Torvald tells her as truth. She goes on a journey from living her false life with Torvald, to coming to the realization that her marriage and supposed happiness, are all artificial. She has the power within herself, and the courage,