Question

Read the passage from A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen.

Helmer: To desert your home, your husband and your children! And you don't consider what people will say!

Nora: I cannot consider that at all. I only know that it is necessary for me.

Helmer: It's shocking. This is how you would neglect your most sacred duties.



Read the passage from A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf.

That refuge she would have sought certainly. It was the relic of the sense of chastity that dictated anonymity to women even so late as the nineteenth century. Currer Bell, George Eliot, George Sand, all the victims of inner strife as their writings prove, sought ineffectively to veil themselves by using the name of a man. Thus they did homage to the convention, which if not implanted by the other sex was liberally encouraged by them (the chief glory of a woman is not to be talked of, said Pericles, himself a much-talked-of man), that publicity in women is detestable.

What literary elements do the authors use to support and develop the central idea of women's autonomy?

Woolf uses emotionally charged language to emphasize her viewpoint, while Ibsen uses language that is factual and direct.
Ibsen uses dialogue to build conflict between characters, while Woolf alludes to historical figures to make her point.
Both passages follow a cause-effect structure to show that a lack of privacy is the result of society’s pressure on women to conform.
Both passages follow a problem-solution structure in which the problem is revealed in a central conflict or theme.

Answer 1

Answer: Ibsen uses dialogue to build conflict between characters, while Woolf alludes to historical figures to make her point.

Why: The Ibsen excerpt is dramatized through Helmer and Nora’s direct exchange, which creates interpersonal conflict about Nora’s autonomy. Woolf’s passage supports her argument by naming Currer Bell, George Eliot, George Sand and Pericles—allusions that illustrate the social conventions pressuring women into anonymity. The other choices mischaracterize the tone/structure of the passages.