'Night, Mother

She needs to do it, but her mother needs to be okay with it as well for her to feel fully comfortable to do it.  So another possibly Major Dramatic Question would be is her mother okay with Jessie killing herself.  All of the rising action leading up to the climax, Jessie killing herself, creates and builds tension very early in the play considering Jessie tells her Mother of her plans to shoot herself with her father’s gun and you spend the rest of the play hearing Jessie’s reasons for committing said act.  So we know Jessie’s full intention throughout the whole play, it is her Mother who has the conflict and struggle to accept and support her daughter’s decision.  All Jessie wants is that from and for her Mother, because she feels that if she gets on board with her choice, that Jessie shows no intention of changing, her mother will have a much more peaceful resolution.  And when considering the play, we know going into it that Jessie will be trying to convince her mother that her decision is valid, so the driving factor would be how her mother reacts and if or if not she can convince her daughter to change her mind.  So one could argue that Night, Mother gets most of its dramatic flow from the reactions and decisions of Jessie’s mother. In the end the truth shines through Thelma’s reactions that she clearly is not okay or supportive of her daughter’s decision, which isn’t fully clear until the end because most of the night consists of Thelma trying to agree with Jessie in way that could possibly change her mind.  And she ultimately doesn’t change her mind.

John Michael Moore