Helmer Marriage: Just a Dream?

Normally, I like to listen to songs once in a while so that they don't become repetitive and boring, but one song, Just a Dream, by Nelly, is one of those rare songs that I find myself playing over and over again. The rhythm and the story in this particular song is what keeps me coming back for more. He sings about a girl, who he has fallen in love with, who has broken his heart, and already moved on. He felt as if there was something between them that would make her stay and be together forever, but this relationship was only a fantasy to him. The feelings that he was having were not real to begin with. His love has moved on, but he is still feeling the heart break.

This is similar to Nora and Torvold's marriage in A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen. Torvold is led to believe that his marriage is strong, almost indistructable. He just got promoted at his job, and he has two lovely children with Nora. On the inside though, she is starting to crumble, feeling she is trapped, not able to have the connection to her husband as she has hoped to develop through their marriage. As the story develops, Torvold continues to see the marriage in a fantasy-like state of mind, where he cannot see any problems between him and his wife. Nora, on the other hand, is no longer happy with her family and seeks independence by leaving them after Krogstad asks for his letter back, and apologizing for the events that had taken place. She realizes that they will never have that connection that she has been hoping for, and she needs to move on. Torvold was only living a dream-like marriage, while Nora was never happy with her husband. I feel Torvold is a lot like Nelly in this song because they both felt there was something more to their relationships. Especially when it comes to the lines in Nelly's song, "I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me. Thinkin about us, what we gonna be? Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a dream." They felt they would be happy and live their lives with the ones they loved. Unfortunately, their imaginations got in the way of reality, causing them to feel heart break in the end.

Just A Dream by Nelly
http://www.directlyrics.com/nelly-just-a-dream-lyrics.html