Social and political protest writing: A Doll's House and The Kite Runner Eve McMullen 12th Grade

In the social and political protest writing Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ and Hosseini’s ‘The Kite Runner’ the desired impact upon the audience is arguably to reveal to them a truth about society or about a particular situation, to inspire empathy and perhaps to bring a new level of understanding which could sculpt change in society. Both texts had a very specific audience in mind, for Ibsen the rising middle classes, and for Hosseini Western readers who had only seen Afghanistan from afar and it is therefore interesting to explore the different methods employed to convey the desired affect and to ‘win hearts and minds’ over to the author’s and characters’ sides.

Ibsen, as one of the earliest examples of a naturalist playwright utilizes setting and character to target the Norwegian urban middle class audience. The use of the house setting with its comfortable ‘stove lined with porcelain tiles, with a couple of armchairs and a rocking chair’ ‘a what-not with china and other bric-a-brac’ meant that contemporary audiences would’ve been sat in front of a set, on which this controversial action was unraveling, which could’ve easily been a reflection of their own front rooms. Nora too, as they housewife who moved from her father’s house...