Hedda (It's Over)

Overall I liked the book. It had a lot of twists and turns, some unexpected. Everything turned out to be so much different than I would have predicted in the beginning. I usually like books that I can relate to in one way or the other but I ended up enjoying this book more than I thought I would. I think that the theme of Appearance vs. Reality did a lot for this book and that if everyone would have been exactly how they appeared to be this book would not have been half as good. I guess that's one way I can relate to the book, because it's true that you can't judge a book by its cover. And people are a lot different than they appear to be most of the time.

Hedda Vs. Bernarda

Hedda and Bernarda are the two leading ladies of the books we read. Bernarda is a dictator in her house. She controls the lives of her children and everyone else around her. She is a lot different than Hedda because during the book she appears to be somewhat out of control and in the end we see how she maintains her control and the author alludes to the fact that she will continue to have that control after the book was over. Hedda on the other hand. Appears to be in control in the beginning and at the end we see she never really was. And at the end of the book she ends her own life. Another major difference is Bernarda is a mom, and that is something Hedda (although she may of been in the near future) never became.

Hedda was Pregnant Right?

I don't really get the point of Hedda being pregnant in the book. I mean Ibsen kind of alludes to the fact that she is in the beginning and then? She committed suicide and no one says anything about the fact that she had taken two lives...so what was the point? Was it just to show her character because he could of just had her state that she didn't want to have children or something? I guess it does add a little something to the book, but not much. Really its just another unanswered question at the end of the book.

Hedda's Childhood

Everyone looks at Hedda as such a horrible person, right? But I'm just wondering if her childhood could be somewhat of a justification for her behavior. She was raised by a general, someone with power and control of people, including her. She looked up to her father the general and she probably thought of him asvery successful and hoped she could be like him one day. Therefore the way she is might correlate a lot with how she was raised. And her tendencies may not be completely be her fault. Just a Thought.

Thea

Thea is one of those characters who is someone you don't expect. Her appearance makes her seem fragile and insignificant. Someone who could easily be looked over. She has blonde hair, blue eyes. Who would expect that such a light feminine character to be defying the roles of women the way Thea is? She left her marriage, she has control of her life, and she may have even written the whole manuscript on her own, who really knows? But we know she has the control of her own life that Hedda is dying for. And she doesn't have to pretend to have it. She really does. Hedda acts like she ahs this control, and Thea doesn't but she has it. The theme of appearance vs. reality makes this book so much fun. It wouldn't be as fun if you could just look at a character and know what they were all about its more fun to make assumptions and then be wrong. It keeps you guessing about what will happen next.

Pistols

Ibsen is so clever. The way he uses pistols to show the struggle for power and inter conflicts of Hedda. Hedda has General Gabler (her fathers) pistol. She uses it as a tool to scare others for example in Act Two when she tells Judge, "And now Judge I'm going to shoot you" or something like that. She just wants to control others and she uses the pistols to do this. Tesman reacts negatively to them and he is scared. She is taking control of other peoples emotions because thats what she wants, control. This is interesting because at the end of the play, when she takes her own life using her pistol, she is doing this again. Does that mean she took control?

Its all About Power Baby! :)

I think power is very important in this book. Everyone is so power hungry. And when you think they have clear intensions they probably do not. Everyone is out to help themselves. It is so interesting to me because it is very realistic. People don't care how they reach the top they are just worried about getting there. The only completely sincere character in the book who doesn't seem to only be looking out for herself is Aunt Julie.