Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/631

 The Family in Bjtfrnson's Tales 627 wife and mother and endow her with those ideal qualities necessary to make the injustice of her position unequivocable. As the nation, so the family cannot be divided into independent moral factors, therefore it is not enough for woman simply to vindicate her rights as an individual (as Nora did), for she belongs not only to herself but also to her family and most of all to her children, who represent the future generation. In this interdependent relation of human individuals in the family man has long owed woman the debt of justice, equality and chanty. The new ideal is based upon long accepted theories in the abstract and is, therefore, new only in its application. The simple, homely virtues of domestic life constitute the only basis upon which this new ideal can be realized. If these fundamental requirements are not met (as in the case of Ibsen's Nora), then the ideal of woman's individual development receives a shock which retards its general acceptance by conser- vative society, inasmuch as such a course inevitably runs counter to all fundamental notions of morality. The charm of Bj^rnson's writings lies in this fundamental simplicity of his thought and in the sanity of his vision. Ibsen and the whole Modern School of Realists have too often devoted their art to depicting the eccentric and abnormal. The trend of Realism has always been towards a mere negation of the older order of society and this emphasis upon the negative side of life has resulted in a perversion of the essential aim of the Realist. The modern School of Naturalists has thus contributed little towards the uplifting of humanity, inasmuch as the ideal is overshadowed by the desire to depict life as it is. Ibsen himself, by failing to adjust the ideal to a healthy environment, tended in the same direction and therefore his essential purpose is often misconstrued, especially by his followers in Germany. Bj0rnson, on the other hand, sought to vindicate his ideal by adjusting it to man's better nature, and upon man's better nature alone can either art or the social order ever be redeemed. ALBERT MOREY STURTEVANT Kansas University.