Comparative Perspectives (DP IB English A: Language and Literature: HL): Revision Note

Conceptual links

A Doll’s House

Persepolis

Society vs the individual

• Nora is the individual fighting for agency and identity against gender norms, laws, moralities and class constraints

• Marji must forge her sense of self against religious indoctrination and state-sanctioned violence/ oppression

Social norms as power

• Those with status and money (i.e., Torvald) have power and wish to maintain the status quo:

  • For example, respectable two-parent family, reliable income, orderly home, clearly defined gender roles etc.

• Men who adhere to the Revolution’s religious beliefs and political ideology have power in the form of authority, weaponry, rule and force

Restrictive gender roles

• Nora struggles with the lack of agency and repression of her will and expression

• Torvald is limited to and feels pressure to excel in his role as breadwinner and protector

• Marji’s coming of age is complicated by her gender under the regime’s beliefs, e.g., the veil

• Marji’s mother exemplifies the heightened physical danger women face in times of conflict

Identity through struggle

• Nora must leave her marriage and her children in order to discover her identity as an individual

• Marji looks to multiple sources for inspiration as to how to understand her place in the world (her uncle, her parents, her grandmother, her peers)

Resistance to oppression

• The play’s final scene presents Nora’s resistance to oppression:

• Its groundbreaking lack of resolution is itself an act of resistance

• Ibsen challenges adherence to oppressive social norms

• Marji and her family navigate resistance in various ways:

  • They use humour, rule-breaking, lying, form human connections, migrate and continue to love

  • Satrapi shows how people hold onto their humanity through acts of resistance.

A Doll’s House

Persepolis

Society vs the individual

• Nora is the individual fighting for agency and identity against gender norms, laws, moralities and class constraints

• Marji must forge her sense of self against religious indoctrination and state-sanctioned violence/ oppression

Authorial purpose

• Ibsen comments on hypocrisies in 19th-century Norwegian society:

  • He criticises rigid gender roles

  • He exposes underlying truths about social and family dynamics

• Satrapi aims to break the Western reader’s limited and stereotypical view of Iran and Islam:

  • She wants to highlight the suffering of individual citizens under regimes of oppression

  • She celebrates the bravery of self-expression and resistance

Authorial choices

Narrative perspective

• The audience experiences events through dramatic dialogue and stage action, gradually uncovering Nora’s situation

• A first-person autobiographical perspective allows readers to see events through Marji’s personal memories and reflections

Setting in the domestic sphere 

• Setting in the domestic sphere with the outer world entering via the door and letters

• Setting in the domestic sphere, but also in the public sphere to explore the conflict between private and public spheres 

Indirect characterisation

• Nora’s language, behaviour and changing responses gradually reveal her growing awareness and independence

• Visual details and small moments in everyday life show personality, beliefs and emotional development

Allusion

• Allusions to contemporary philosophies, social debates and ideas about marriage, morality and gender roles

• Allusions to historic events, political leaders, philosophers and writers connected to the Iranian Revolution and its context

Symbolism

• Objects such as the Christmas tree, the tarantella and the door symbolise Nora’s changing emotional state and her desire for freedom

• Recurring visual symbols, such as the veil, keys or clothing, represent control, identity and resistance

Impact on the audience 

• The play was shocking and scandalous when it was first released:

  • It depicted a wife and mother leaving her family

• It received a mixture of criticism and praise

• It has since become a celebrated work of literature performed and studied worldwide:

  • It appears on many school curricula as an example of Ibsen’s dramatic mastery

  • It is also studied for its key themes and its continued relevance to contemporary society

• The graphic novel was well received in Europe and it won several awards and accolades

• It faced censorship and criticism in Iran

• Some critics argue that Satrapi presents a Westernised or outsider perspective on Iran and the Islamic Revolution:

  • Others praise her for humanising a population often misrepresented in Western media

• Persepolis appears on many school curricula:

  • It is studied as an example of the graphic novel form and Satrapi’s skill

  • It is also used to explore key themes and reflect on their relevance in contemporary societies

Evidence

• Nora recognises that she has been treated like an object within patriarchal society:

  • ‘I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was Papa’s doll-child’

• Nora realises she must discover her own identity: 

  • ‘I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being’

• Nora insists on the need for independence and self-understanding:

  • ‘I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myself and everything about me’

• Marji’s childhood sense of identity and moral purpose:

  • ‘At the age of six I was already sure I was the last prophet’

• Marji’s desire to change the world and fight injustice:

  • ‘I wanted to be justice, love and the wrath of God all in one’

• The veil as a symbol of control and separation:

  • ‘We found ourselves veiled and separated from our friends’

Character focus

A Doll’s House

The Handmaid’s Tale

Characters shaped by systems of power

• Torvald represents the authority of bourgeois social norms:

  • He prioritises reputation, financial stability and traditional family structures

• Commanders and religious authorities maintain power through ideological control, surveillance and strict social hierarchies

Characters resisting oppression

• Nora’s departure symbolises her rejection of patriarchal authority and restrictive social expectations

• Offred resists through memory and small acts of defiance:

  • This demonstrates the persistence of individual identity within an oppressive regime

Comparative angle

A Doll’s House

Text for comparison 

Possible link 

Individual versus society

The conflict between individual identity and restrictive social expectations

1984

Both texts explore the struggle of the individual against powerful social systems

Authorial purpose

Ibsen critiques the hypocrisy of bourgeois marriage and challenges rigid gender roles

The World’s Wife - Duffy

Both writers challenge patriarchal traditions and foreground female perspectives

Authorial choices

Realist dialogue, symbolism (the door, the tarantella) and a confined domestic setting highlight Nora’s awakening

A Streetcar Named Desire

Both playwrights use dramatic techniques and symbolism to reveal power dynamics and social pressures.

Impact on the audience 

Nora’s final decision shocked contemporary audiences and continues to provoke debate about gender roles and independence

Things Fall Apart

Both texts challenge audiences to reconsider accepted social norms and cultural assumptions