The first act is exposition. The first act more or less shows the lifestyle of families in the 19th century and the domestic problems of the time. In my opinion Nora went through some sort of personal awakening. She has come to the conclusion that she is not a fully realized person. He needs to spend some time figuring out who he is as an individual or he will never be anything more than someone's cute little doll. This would be impossible under Torvald's suffocating presence. He must force himself to face the world