An Enemy of the People

The next morning, Thomas examines his study, finding that members of the crowd have thrown several rocks through his windows as he slept. Katherine brings him an eviction letter from the landlord. This surprises her, but Thomas surmises that he had no choice in the face of public pressure. They discuss moving out of town; Thomas thinks they should sail to the New World with Horster, who is taking his ship there in a few days. Katherine resists leaving their home country, but Thomas believes that any small town in Norway will have a similarly closed-minded community. He admits that the New World is probably not much better, and he muses idly about buying a small island where they can live in isolation.

Petra surprises them when she returns home early, saying that she has been fired from the school. She says that Mrs. Bunk, her boss, did not want to let her go but succumbed to pressure from others. The school received several anonymous letters declaring Petra a radical, which forced Mrs. Bunk’s hand, although she explains that when she and Mrs. Bunk are alone together, they have similarly open-minded views. Horster arrives, announcing that he has also been fired. He is unworried, though, as he states that he can easily find a ship that needs a captain in a different town, where his reputation has not been damaged.

The mayor walks into the house to officially disbar Thomas from his position as medical director of the Baths. He instructs his brother to leave town for several months but says that if Thomas is willing to sign a statement declaring that the Baths are not polluted, he may be rehired in six months. Thomas is offended by this thought, so Peter tries a different tactic. Unbeknownst to Thomas, Morten Kiil is rich and has dedicated a large portion of his will to Katherine and the Stockmann children. Peter explains that if Thomas does not relent, Kiil will likely write them out of the will, and his family’s insecure future will be Thomas’s fault. Thomas doesn’t believe that Kiil would do this, but he is soon proven wrong when Kiil arrives and announces that he has used the inheritance to buy shares of the Baths, which will be worthless unless Thomas renounces his claims. Kiil promises that he will eventually make the necessary repairs, but Thomas must declare the Baths safe in the meantime.

Hovstad and Aslaksen arrive next with yet more schemes, although Thomas is shocked that they are willing to show their faces at his house. They have heard about Kiil’s purchase of the Bath stock and are convinced that Thomas invented the pollution story so the price would plummet and his family could gain majority ownership of the operation at a low price. They tell Thomas that, in exchange for some of the Bath money, they will allow him to use the People’s Messenger to restore public opinion about the facility. Enraged, Thomas attempts to use his umbrella to shoo the men out the window and into the open gutter below.

Katherine tries to calm her husband as he angrily writes “No” three times on a calling card and asks Petra to make sure the card is delivered to Morten Kiil. Infuriated once again, he declares that the family will not go to the New World. Rather, they will stay where they are so he can fight for what is right. Horster tells them they can live in his house, and Thomas decides that, having lost his job as medical director of the Baths, he will practice medicine independently, caring for the poor people who cannot pay, and meanwhile persuading them to listen to his opinions. When Morten and Ejlif come back from school having gotten in trouble for fighting, Thomas forms a new plan. He tells the boys, to their delight, that they will never return to school. Instead, he will start a new school, with Petra’s help, for his sons and as many “street urchins” and “ragamuffins” as they can round up. Thomas hopes that by sticking to his position and befriending the people whom society already discounts, he will begin to have support in the town once again.