Nora in Wonderland

While taking a break from blogging, I decided to watch the recent Alice and Wonderland movie. After watching it for a while, however, I realized that Alice is actually similar to Nora in a lot of ways. For one both Alice and Nora were forced into marriages that did not suit them. Although Nora wasn’t literally forced into marriage like Alice was, she was still forced into marriage in that society had told her that it was her only option. Also, both Nora and Alice leave their marriages in the end because they realize that they are not what’s best for them.

A key difference between the two characters, however, is the amount of time it takes for each woman to realize that their marriage will do nothing but oppress them. Alice was able to see this fact right away, when Nora took years to figure it out. This leads me to believe that Nora would have been much better off if she had had someone like Alice in her life to set an example for her. She spent a large portion of her life believing that being married was the only option, without even thinking about what it meant to be a free individual. If Nora had a role model like Alice, she could have avoided entering an oppressive relationship in the first place.  She wouldn’t have to resort to petty thrills like eating macaroons behind her husband’s back or doing exactly what she knew she shouldn’t do just to be happy. Instead, she could have been like Alice right away; free to search out what it really means to be an individual.