One other thing that strikes me about comparing Doll House to Raisin is the specificity of each family’s living condition and how that informs and causes the ultimate outcomes.
The Helmers live in comparative luxury- multiple rooms, an upstairs big enough for a party, servants to do the “heavy lifting” in raising children. There is, also, no extended family living in their home. The Youngers’ apartment- not house- has three rooms, none of which is a bathroom (!) and, as the family grew, generations came to live in this small dwelling, providing a shared parenting.
Nora’s shelteredness from her own self as well as the world at large came about directly because of the materialistic life she had always experienced. Because of this she has to abandon everything (including her young children) to find and create her own identity. Walter Lee, on the other hand, may need to get away from the physical reminders of his confined, cramped existence and get a drink every now and then, but even as the money that would have made such a huge difference in their lives is squandered, neither he nor anyone else leaves the home or the family.
To me the difference is this: the wealthy rulers of any society must be so concerned with the trappings and accoutrement of “success” that any personal identity becomes rooted in those things and, hence, is just as transitory. Conversely, the downtrodden of a society know what is truly important (i.e. family bonds, material things’ longevity rather than aesthetic function) and that causes them to not only survive such devastations but find the strength of character to thrive.
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I have to agree. It seems to me that those with a great deal of money seem to be focus more on money and what it can do for them. Nora is completely focused on how much she needs the money and everything else begins to take second place to that to the point where she even abandons her children. The Youngers even thought they need the money never take that step to actually walk away from those that they need and care about. But how would the story change if Walter hadn't lost the money. Would the family ties be as strong as they are at the end of the play after they got through the trial together or would the fact that they actually have money and the ability to have all the materialistic things that they want tear them apart?
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