Night, Mother post

I can see the MDQ for Night, Mother would be, "Will Mama stop Jessie from killing herself?"   This question justifies all the script that is written in this play.  Most of the conversation is Mama trying to talk Jessie out of the suicide. First, Mama thinks it's a joke when she says, "Don't make jokes Jessie. I'm too old for jokes."  Then she tries to tell her the bullets are too old. She is beginning to find ways of stopping her.  It is like Mama is going through phases from unbelief to telling her she is crazy, to trying to understand her reasons.  She even tells her that she won't do it.  Mama is deceiving herself into thinking that Jessie wouldn't do such a thing.  How could someone she raised be able to calmly consider killing herself.

Now Mama wants to know if she did anything wrong. Was Mama wrong for protecting her daughter from the pain of a broken marriage?  Was she wrong for not telling her about her "fits" when she was younger. Mama starts to question herself.   Then she tries to reason with Jessie by telling her that they could buy new dishes, move the furniture around, or get her driver's licence. Even at the end, she begins to plead with Jessie.

It is similar to a person who is grieving.  They go through different stages such as denial, getting mad, making excuses, and acceptance.  Mama is going through the same similar stages.  In the end, the MDQ is answered as "no."  No, Mama was not able to stop Jessie from killing herself but at the same time she went through the grieving process as though Jessie had been killed at the beginning.