The Christmas Tree - The Christmas tree's role as a festive object meant to serve a purely decorative purpose, symbolizes Nora's position in her home a plaything who is pleasing to look at and adds charm to the home. There are several pieces of support for this notion in the play. Just as Nora instructs the maid that the children cannot see the tree until it has been decorated, she tells Torvald that no one can see her in her dress until the evening of the dance. Also, at the beginning of the second act, after Nora's psychological condition has begun to erode, the stage directions indicate that the Christmas tree is correspondingly "dishevelled." New Year's Day - The action of the play is set at Christmastime, and Nora and Torvald both look forward to New Year's as the start of a new, happier phase in their lives.
English: A Christmas Tree at Home
An artificial fiber optic Christmas tree
English: An artificial Christmas tree.After the new year, Torvald will start his new job, and anticipates with excitement the extra money and admiration the job will bring him. Nora also looks forward to Torvald's new job, because she will finally be able to repay her secret debt to Krogstad. By the end of the play, however, the nature of the new start that New Year's represents for Torvald and Nora has changed dramatically. They must both become new people, and face radically changed ways of living. Hence, the New Year comes to mark the beginning of a truly new and different period in both their lives, and in their personalities.