The Art of Manipulation

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In “A Doll’s House” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” both women are associated with manipulation. Nora from “A Doll’s House” chooses to manipulate the people around her. The wife from “The Yellow Wallpaper” is manipulated by her husband and he own decisions. Both women’s lives are impacted severely due to manipulation. In “A Doll’s House”, Nora’s marriage consists of her husband Torvald telling her exactly what to do and when to do it. It appears that she is immature and child like when in reality she is quite intelligent. Nora manipulates Torvald into giving her money. Torvald is led to believe that Nora is a spendthrift and spends all of their money on grifts and house held item, but Nora actually saves up the money in order to pay back a loan she took out from the bank. Nora uses manipulation to her advantage to get what she wants rather than the wife from “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Torvald constantly refers to Nora as his little “Skylark” and “squirrel”. By giving her all of these pet names it leads us to believe that she is more of an object to him rather than an actual person. It is normal for couples to give each other nicknames, but Torvald never calls Nora by her real name. The wife from “The Yellow Wallpaper” is obviously mentally ill. She might suffer from depression, schizophrenia, or a personality disorder, but we are never for sure. Throughout this literary work, the wife is shuffled around and not given much freedom. Her husband, a doctor, advises her of what to do and what not to do. For the majority of the piece, the wife is stuck in a room consisting of few objects and horrendously disturbing yellow wallpaper. Not only does her husband manipulate her into staying in bed and thinking she is completely helpless and ill, but the yellow wallpaper also manipulates her into having strange thoughts. The yellow wallpaper ends up being the antagonist in this
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