Read the excerpt from act 3 of A Doll’s House . Helmer: Before all else, you are a wife and a mother. Nora: I don't believe that any longer. I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are—or, at all events, that I must try and become one. I know quite well, Torvald, that most people would think you right, and that views of that kind are to be found in books; but I can no longer content myself with what most people say, or with what is found in books. I must think over things for myself and get to understand them. Helmer: Can you not understand your place in your own home? Have you not a reliable guide in such matters as that?—have you no religion? Nora: I am afraid, Torvald, I do not exactly know what religion is. How does Nora’s conflict in this excerpt best demonstrate a difference between life in the late 1800s and life today?