How does 1st act provide social commentary on the lives of middle class women in the 19th century?

Nora is a symbol of the women of her time, who were thought to be content with the luxuries of modern society without worrying about the men’s world outside the home. Many women were, but others were not, both as a matter of interest and as a matter of principle. Nora does delight in material wealth; Torvald is not entirely wrong in labeling her a spendthrift from an early age. She projects the attitude that money is the key to happiness. The issue is not quite so simple, though, for Nora’s one great expense was to serve her husband’s need to travel far from home for the sake of his health.