Rabbi Hillel quote "If not now, when?" is what Nora basically said to Torvald when she finally said enough and decided to leave him. Even though he couldn't understand or believe that she was going he also asked "If not now, when?" will there ever be a meeting or reunion between them again.
             Many of our choices and the things one does in a lifetime can be directly based on what society perceives to be proper. The choices one makes based on society's views, may sometimes have no logic to support them. These choices are sometimes chosen because society would look down upon the person making the "wrong" decision. The values and morals upheld by a society may directly affect how one acts. This is held true for the character Nora in Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll House". Nora is the 19th century middle class wife of Torvald Helmer. She is a woman who is devoted to her husband and family. Nora minds her husband Torvald as a child would a father, and Torvald in return treats her as a child, or as his "doll". At the end of the play, Nora makes an epiphany realizing the way she acts and how Torvald really feels towards her. The causes for Nora's behavior can be attributed to her upbringing, society's views on what a woman's role should be, and also Torvald, who also helps Nora in her epiphany. The primary cause that affected Nora's behavior as an adult was Nora's upbringing. Nora's father treated her as his "doll-child" (1817, "Literature"). Her father told Nora all of his opinions, and in time these opinions became Nora's opinions. Nora has in essence become her father by not having a mind of her own. If her opinions differed, Nora would hide them because her father would not have cared for them (page 98 "A Doll House"). Nora was sheltered from the world. Her father shaped Nora's ideas and gave her his kno...