Of men and husbands:Armand and Torwald - Book Report/Review Example

Of Men and Husbands: Armand and Torwald Introduction Although they are motivated by different fears, racial taint and masculine taint, both Armand from The Father of Desiree's Baby and Torvald from A Doll's House possess a number of similarities. They are both protective of what they perceive to be their good reputations and both vested with a fair amount of pride. This is not to say that they are perfectly similar, they most certainly are not, and their most striking differences revolve around the motivations underlying their pride and their willingness or unwillingness to forgive. This essay will examine their similarities and differences as men and husbands. More specifically, this essay will argue that male pride and social conservatism functioned to sharpen the conflicts in the marriages of both men. Similarities: Pride and Social Conservatism As a preliminary matter, both Armand and Torvald are prideful men and this pride extends to heir role as husbands. Armand, for instance, has been born into wealth as the child of a wealthy family from Louisiana. When he marries, he selects the daughter of another wealthy Louisiana family. He would appear to be steeped in tradition and proud of his heritage and the tradition. His pride is well-noted by his wife, Desiree whom when commenting about the birth of their new baby, states that "Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name; though he says not, -- that he would have loved a girl as well. But I know it isn't true" (Chopin, 70). A careful analysis of Armand's character demonstrates that he comes from a respectable family, that he has married well, and that he is probably quite proud that his child is a man capable of continuing his good name and his family's traditions. There is, implicit in his prideful character, a strong element of social conservatism. This means that Armand values family, appearances, and the white race which presumably represent his being. The subsequent conflict, questions about the racial purity of the child and of Desiree, play out against this backdrop of Armand's prideful nature and the social conservatism of the era in which he existed. Torvald can be similarly characterized, though the parallels are not perfectly symmetrical. He, like Armand, is a man full of pride. He is not as wealthy as Armand, quite the contrary, but he is proud of his role as male provider for his wife and for his new promotion which will solidify his role as the male provider. He expresses this pride in the form of admonishments to his wife; the admonishments mainly center on her own financial inferiority and the need to maintain an austere lifestyle. At one point, early on in the play, he says to Nora, "That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle" (Ibsen, Act 1, n.p.). A close examination of the text illustrates that Torvald's pride is operating at many independent levels. First, he is proud of the fact that he is a man rather than a woman and he associates an intellectual superiority and knowledge of the world to his masculinity. Second, he is quite proud of the fact that he can support his household without debt or borrowing, a fact which is untrue, but his false belief is another source of tremendous pride. Finally, he is proud of the fact that his new promotion at work will lead to more money. It is these similarities between Armand and Torvald, their pride as reflective of the social conservatism of their eras, that ultimately led to their respective crises. For Armand, he was unable to accept that his wife and his son might have been partially black; as a result, he banished both from his home, burned their belongings, and later had to digest the ironically bitter fact that he was probably the person of mixed race. His pride and social conservatism blinded a more sober consideration of the issues and led to a tragedy of sorts. Torvald was also constrained by his pride and by his socially conservative values and views of the world. He was unable to accept the fact that Nora had, in fact, provided for him and in the process saved the household. It was a stigma he could not tolerate, the fact that this knowledge might become public, and his angry tirade would serve as the final push of Nora out the door. Even when the blackmail threat was removed, Torvald wasn't really sorry for chastising Nora but relieved that his pride would remain intact. Both men and husbands lost their wives fundamentally as a result of their pride and their own brands of social conservatism. Contrasts: Sources of Conflict While it can be said that, as men and as husbands, both Armand and Torvald were constrained by pride and social conservatism, the threats to their pride and standing in their communities differed. For Armand the threat was the perceived racial impurity of his wife and son. For Torvald the threat was to his status as the male provider of his family. At the time that Chopin created Armand, America was not far-removed from the Civil War. It is common knowledge, with slavery so fresh in people's minds, that sexual relations between whites and blacks were a taboo topic. Indeed, when finally confronted with his child's mixed race, Armand states to Desiree, "It meansthat the child is not white; it means that you are not white" (Chopin, 71). The statement is simple and Armand is rather calm. This is in contrast to the anger displayed by Torvald, and yet the result is the same. It is simply unacceptable and impossible for the mixed lineage to be traced to him. Thus, his assertion that because the child is not white that Desiree must be the source of the racial taint that offends his proud white family heritage. The conflict must therefore be viewed primarily through a racial prism reflective of American society at that particular place and that particular time. Whereas Armand's pride was threatened by racial factors, there were no racial factors of relevance in Torvald's world. Instead, he was grappling with gender relations; more specifically, his pride was propped up by the notion that males were superior to women. They were superior intellectually and superior in earning a livelihood in order to provide for the family unit. He was unable to conceive of a woman, Nora in this case, being able to supplement or supplant his role in these respects. Moreover, he attributes the family's borderline status to Nora's own mismanagement rather than to his own illness and paltry wages, stating at one point "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. You never know where it has gone. Still, one must take you as you are" (Ibsen, Act 1, n.p.). That Nora has been contributing money rather than wheedling it is beyond his grasp. When he learns the truth, like Armand, the woman is to blame. He refers to Nora as being dishonest and immoral. Unlike Armand, however, he flies into a rage. His subsequent forgiveness is not accepted by Nora and he ends up abandoned, too. Conclusion Though different social motivations underpin each work, racial disharmony and gender relations, both Armand and Torvald are ultimately left alone because of their pride and their particular brands of social conservatism. There is a sense of liberation that permeates both texts and this liberation comes at the expense of men unable to adapt to or accept the changing societies in which they existed. Works Cited Chopin, K. (1893). "The Father of Desire's Baby." University of Virginia e-text. Retrieved May 29, 2008 http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer- new2id=ChoDesi.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/moden g/parsed&tag=public&part=all Ibsen, H. (1879). "A Doll's House." Project Gutenberg. Retrieved May 29, 2008 http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15492 Read More