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Hola! Last time I talked about characters on the GED, and I think it’s pretty important, so I thought, I’ll do another GED practice question about characters. It’s from the same reading as last time, so now you know a bit about it, right? It’s part of a play called “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen. Nora has just come home to her husband, Torvald Helmer. This time, let’s look at what the characters are like.

Helmer. When did my squirrel come home?

Nora. Just now. (Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.

Helmer. Don’t disturb me. (A little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand.) Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?

Nora. Yes but, Torvald, this year we can really let ourselves go a little. This is the first Christmas that we have not needed to economise.

Helmer. Still, you know, we can’t spend money recklessly.

Nora. Yes, Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn’t we? Just a tiny wee bit! You are going to have a big salary and earn lots and lots of money.

Helmer. Yes, after the New Year; but then it will be a whole quarter before the salary is due.

Nora. Pooh! we can borrow till then.

Helmer. Nora! (Goes up to her and takes her playfully by the ear.) The same little featherhead! Suppose, now, that I borrowed fifty pounds to-day, and you spent it all in the Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve a slate fell on my head and killed me, and–

Nora (putting her hands over his mouth). Oh! don’t say such horrid things.

Helmer. Still, suppose that happened,–what then?

Nora. If that were to happen, I don’t suppose I should care whether I owed money or not.

So, how do you know what the characters are like? On the GED, they might give you words to describe the characters. You need to look at the characters’ actions and see which words describe them best. Think of the characters like friends of yours. If they acted like they do in the play, what would you think of them? You might say, “Torvald, he’s a pain in the you-know-what.” Or, “Nora, she’s a flake.”

So, can you look at the choices on this GED-type question to see which one seems most like Nora?

Which of the following words best describes Nora?
A) emotional

B) hysterical

C) uncaring

D) greedy

What’s Nora like? That’s the idea. If you were a friend of Nora’s, sitting around gossiping about her, what would you say?  “Oh, Nora, she’s so —??” what? Greedy? Not really. I mean, she spends money, but she’s not really what I’d call greedy. That’s kind of a trick question. She’s not grasping after a lot of money, she just sorta likes to spend, you know. She’s more having fun than being greedy.

“Nora’s always so–”… uncaring? That’s definitely wrong. She gets real upset at the idea that Torvald might die, even though it’s just all made up. That’s not really uncaring.

“Nora’s always so–” … hysterical? No… at first she’s happy, then upset, but she’s not hysterical… I mean, she’s not screaming and crying or anything. Hysterical means like, super emotional, even crazy. If you didn’t know the word, you could just skip it to see if other answers maybe made sense.

“Nora’s always so–” … emotional? Well, that makes more sense. She’s not too practical, or concerned with budgeting. She’s more concerned with being happy, and upset by the idea of something happening to Torvald. She focuses on her emotions. I’d say the answer is A, emotional. Do you see why?

So that’s another good skill for the GED reading… figuring out what characters are like.
Good GED studying!

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