The Use of Children in Anna Karenina and a Dolls House free essay sample

Children can be used for many things in literature, such as developing atmosphere and characterization. Leo Tolstoy, author of Anna Karenina and Henrik Ibsen, author of A Doll’s House use children in their novels for characterization of adult characters, to create atmosphere and parallel an adult character’s situation in society. This paper will examine how children are used by Leo Tolstoy in his novel, Anna Karenina, and by Henrik Ibsen in his play, A Doll’s House. Both Ibsen and Tolstoy use children for the characterization of adult characters. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses the idea that children are like their parents to reflect Nora’s character. The relationship between Nora and her children reveals and refines her character. The first time Ibsen does this is through the words of Torvald, Nora’s husband. He says, â€Å"[Nora,] you are an odd soul [†¦] very like your father. You always find some new way of wheedling money out of me, and as soon as you have got it it seems to melt in your hands† ( Ibsen 4). In this quote, Ibsen uses Torvald’s point of view to accurately describe Nora. Ibsen also uses Nora’s children to reflect Nora’s childish character. The children show their immaturity when Ibsen writes â€Å"The children all talk at once while she speaks to them†. This quote shows how childish the children are but also emphasizes Nora’s childish character because the children act quite a bit like Nora acts around Torvald. Therefore, one of the effects of the use of children in A Doll’s House is characterization. Leo Tolstoy uses children in his novel for a similar effect, but the way he uses children in his novel for characterization is different. Instead of reflecting an adult character’s personality through a child, Tolstoy uses the interactions between a child and a character to achieve characterization. One character that is developed with this method is Levin. In part three, Levin visits the Oblonsky’s country home and, during this scene, his interaction with the children develops his character. While at the country home, Levin plays with the children and through Dolly, Tolstoy describes, â€Å"his strong agile , watchfully careful and ultracautious [sic] movements† (Tolstoy 285) and how he â€Å"in the country, [†¦] fell into the mood of gaiety that often came upon him†(Tolstoy 285). The first quote shows how Levin is responsible and good with children. The second quote is much more interesting. This quote shows that Levin is comfortable and in the country and with children and because the country and children can symbolise simplicity, this quote shows that Levin is a simple but caring character. Later in the novel, when Levin sees his son for the first time, Tolstoy writes, â€Å"all he felt was loathing† (Tolstoy 764). Levin’s anger is caused by the fear that his wife might die in childbirth. The strong feelings that Levin has towards his innocent new born and the contrast in how differently he interacts with Dolly’s children reveals his protective nature. This character trait has been seen before when Velovsky flirts with his wife and Levin ends up kicking Velovsky out of his house. Therefore, Tolstoy uses the interactions between an adult and a child to achieve characterization. Both authors use children for the purpose of characterization although they use different methods. Both Tolstoy and Ibsen’s adult characters have many relationships with their peers that are complex and constantly changing. To help the reader or audience understand these relationships, both authors parallel the relationships between adults and their peers with the relationships between the same adults and children. In Anna Karenina, Anna’s treatment of her children can directly reflect how she is treated by society. First, Tolstoy gives the reader a view of how Anna is treated before her affair. When Tolstoy describes Anna’s social life, he writes, â€Å"Anna had friends and close connections with three different groups† (Tolstoy 133). This example and many others in part one and two demonstrate how Anna is popular and well liked. To emphasize this, Tolstoy shows the reader how Anna treats her son, Seryoza. It becomes evident that Anna greatly loves and cares for him. An example of this is when Vronsky’s mother says, â€Å"[Anna] has never been separated from him and keeps worrying about having left him† (Tolstoy 66). Also, when Anna arrives home from Moscow, she tells her son, â€Å"For me, you’re the best in the whole world† (Tolstoy 113). After her corrupting affair, Anna is shunned by society because of her lack of morals. The one time Anna leaves her house, she is disgraced at the opera by Madame Kartasov who gets up and says, â€Å"it was a disgrace to sit next to [Anna]† (Tolstoy 587). Anna’s decline in popularity and the fact that Vronsky often leaves her at home leads to her feeling isolated and unloved. To parallel and emphasize how Anna is being treated by society, Tolstoy reflects how she feels in the way she treats her daughter Annie. When Dolly and Anna go visit Annie at the nursery, Dolly notices how Anna neglects and isolates Annie. This is shown when Tolstoy writes, â€Å"Anna, the wet nurse, the nanny and the child were strangers to one other† (Tolstoy 661). This quote shows Anna’s lack of love for Annie. There is a huge contrast to how Anna treats Seryoza and how she treats Annie which is paralleled to Anna’s social situation. Henrick Ibsen uses the children in his play in the same way to achieve the same effect. At the beginning of the play it is evident that Nora is being treated like a child by Torvald and Mrs. Linde, who say, â€Å"Is that my little lark twittering out there? † ( Ibsen 1) and â€Å"You are a child, Nora† (Ibsen 10). The way Nora is treated by Mrs. Linde and Torvald in the first act is reflected by the way she treats her children. She uses the same tone with her children that Torvald and Mrs. Linde use with her. An example of the tone she used can be seen when Ibsen writes, â€Å"What, you pulled both Emmy and Bob on the sledge? Both at once? That was good† (Ibsen 18). By doing this, Ibsen is putting emphasis on how Nora is being treated like a child. As seen in the text above, Ibsen and Tolstoy both use children for the purpose of reflecting and emphasizing how the adult characters are being treated by their peers. In their pieces, both Tolstoy and Ibsen use the actions of children to develop or emphasize a change in the atmosphere. In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy uses the children to develop atmosphere during the scene where Levin visits the Oblonsky’s country home. As Levin arrives, the atmosphere is joyous and this is seen when Tolstoy writes, â€Å"[Dolly] was always glad to see him, but now she was particularly glad because he was seeing her in all her glory† (Tolstoy 284). At this point, Tolstoy uses the children to reflect the atmosphere by writing, â€Å"[Levin] ran around with the children [and] taught them acrobatics† (Tolstoy 285). The atmosphere in this scene changes during Dolly and Levin’s talk about Kitty from joyous to awkward and unpleasant. To show and emphasize this change, Tolstoy changes how the children act. Tolstoy writes, â€Å"hearing cries form the nursery, [Dolly] hurried in and found [the children] looking dreadful. Tanya was holding Grisha by the hair while he, his face distorted with rage was pummelling her with his fists† (Tolstoy 290). Here, the contrast between the children’s actions before and after reflect the atmosphere in both parts of the scene. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses children for the same effect. After Torvald says, â€Å"such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life of a home† (Ibsen 27), Nora is in a clear state of distress because she is concerned that she hurt her children. Here the atmosphere is distressing and desperate. As Torvald leaves, the nurse comes in and tells Nora that the â€Å"little ones are begging so hard to be allowed to come in† (Ibsen 28). The use of the phrase â€Å"begging so hard† emphasizes the distress of the desperate scene. As seen in the text above, both authors use children’s actions to reflect and emphasize atmosphere. In conclusion, the use of children in A Doll’s House and Anna Karenina completely changes how the audience and reader view the characters, social situations and the atmosphere because it allows the author to add more detail and depth. This is consistent with the style realism. A possible reason for why the use of children in both pieces is so similar is because of the fact that both pieces are realistic fiction. Works Cited Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House Trans. Anonymous. New York: Dover Publications Inc. , 1992 Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina Trans. Joel Carmichael. New York: Bantam Books. , 1961