Title: Significance of food items in August Strindberg's Miss Julie and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.
The relative importance of the theme of food varies in the different spheres of literature. In nineteenth and twentieth century literature the culinary habits of the characters generally emphasised on their social standing and racial identities, as is the case with Toni Morrison's novel, where "Love, thick and dark as Alaga syrup, eased up into that cracked window."�. Food as a primal desire also suggested greed and an insatiable appetite when demanded in excess, as is the case with Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, where he is reprimanded for asking for more gruel.� Food imagery plays an equally prominent role in drama performed in the Victorian and modern age, the periods during which naturalism was on the rise and suitably manifested itself through eating and drinking activities onstage. Additionally, Charles G. Whiting in an essay on Sam Shepard's plays observes that food and alcoholic drinks occasionally introduced in plays like True West and Fool For Love not only aided the realistic element but also revealed certain character traits and events of the past.�
nora and dora
Title page in the manuscript of A Doll's House, pl...
English: Detail of photograph taken in 1900 of Hen...Food plays the role of an important literary device in the development of above such themes in the naturalistic dramas A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen and Miss Julie by August Strindberg. "Was little Miss Sweet-Tooth naughty in town today?"(Ibsen, 13) The accusatory tone underlying Torvald Helmer's playful question to Nora can easily be detected by the audience at the beginning of the play. When Nora responds in the negative, the macaroon goes on to become an important literary symbol skilfully interwoven with several themes of the play. A merry atmosphere marks its beginning, which is conveyed through Nora's free, jovial movements around the house. Therefore the only...