Based on Ibsen's Doll House, Act 1, do you think this scene could have taken place today in America? Why or why not?

Are there any clues in this act as to where the name of the play might have come from?

The answer is yes, it could take place today. And yes, there are a lot of clues in the first act, where the name of the play came from.

Explanation:

Because a lot of families develop that wastefulness dynamic when it comes to money. Since the American Economy has been facing hard times, high unemployment rates, people is taking more loans and mortgages to pay their bills and provide for their families. This book theme is timeless. It represents the american dream and fear. The dream is the great job with a wonderful income and the fear is the unemployent and not being able to afford a good life.

YES. The name of the play comes from this cultural implication that a woman should learn to be a housewife since early stages in life. When a little girl plays house, with her doll house, she is actually learning to be what the acient society expected a woman to be: a housewife, a wife and a mom. Women could not dream about being a businesswoman, a lawyer, doctor, astronaut, they were supposed to be care takers and the men were supposed to be providers.

The doll house represents Nora's house, her own doll house, in the first act, full of joy, fantasy, children, confortable and stable marriage life, like she used to imagine as a little playing housing.