Summary
Masculinity is an inherent male character that features self-sufficiency, strength, and confidence. However, depending on the overall aim of the authors, ‘A Doll’s House’ and ‘Fight Club’ have presented the concept in different ways, but with some elements of similarity. ‘Fight Club’ is a 1996 novel authored by Chuck Palahniuk. The novel follows the encounters of an anonymous protagonist who is also an insomniac. Following the inspiration he draws from his doctor’s remarks, he sets to relieve himself of the problem through impersonation of a terminally ill person in various support groups. While at it, he meets Tyler Durden with whom he starts an underground fight club to serve as a form of radical psychotherapy. The confidence and strength that characterises masculinity is immediately evident when Tyler agrees to take the narrator in following a destruction of the narrator’s condominium if he agreed to hit Tyler as hard as he could (Palahniuk, 2004, p.46). As a result, both men discover that they love the fistfight and resolve to cohabit and form a ‘fight club’ replete with rules, which will attract like-minded men.
Similar to ‘Fight Club,’ Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ revolves around the concept of masculinity, especially in the form of male dominance. The 1879 play presents a patriarchal society in which women play second fiddle to men and fall victim to their masculinity. The society is an exclusively masculine one, comprising of laws made by men and law enforcers who judge feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint (Yuehua, 2009, p.79-87). It is set in Nora Helmer’s well-furnished living room, which also doubles as the onset of the play. Masculinity is similarly evident in this case when Torvald Helmer reproaches Nora for spending much money to buy Christmas gifts. It is such streaks of masculinity and male dominance forming the basis of the play. Some people have chosen to interpret the play through a feminist lens with a conclusion that it holds masculinity as a sole source of oppression against women, especially during the epoch. The play ends under unfortunate circumstances with Nora leaving Torvald and her children after years of being submissive and playing by the rules of her husband. Fed up, she sets out with the aim of initiating self-discovery. The following essay seeks to examine the similarities and differences in the manner in which masculinity is presented in both texts.