Night Mother...shot!

     In many ways I can see where the director ways coming from and instilling that the Major dramatic question "Will Jessie kill herself?" is valid, but if the dramatic question was to bring the audience into the world we need to evaluate less obvious cues and move in the text and see what really caused this choice.  In my opinion as a human being, suicide is selfish and a quick resolution to give up.  There are many reasons to "give up", but the question that I would like to explore is did she have to commit suicide?  

      People have to build up and plan to choose to die we see Jessie explain, "I got it on the schedule, There's more coming tomorrow."  (Norman pg. 2) here she refers to planning for her Mama items that she can do when she is gone.  She shows that she cares about her mother enough to try to provide for her.  Many people who are suicidal feel remorse for others, but do not take their feelings into account.  She also tries to provide for Ricky with a watch that mama says "He'll sell it!" for drugs. Jessie is trying to make mends with others in her life, and again we see that her choice will not really benefit Ricky at all.   Jessie has other people in her life, like her brother Dawson another unseen character, but she again chooses to be selfish.  

      The key reason why most people feel suicidal ideations is that they feel they are alone and no one in the world would be hurt by their lose.  Mama, has  some interesting remarks when they are going back in forth about where the gun is.  We are implied that the shoe box contains the gun, "Which shoe box, Mama: Black, Jessie: The box was black? Mama: the shoes were black." (Norman pg. 2) Mama supports her daughter, but leads her to the gun? Dawson knew about the gun as well when Jessie asked about the bullets. Though these characters can not be blamed for anything but trusting the one they loved Jessie.  

      So why would she want to die?  Cecil her husband left her, and so she left her house.  She though chooses not to use his gun even though she had it in her room. (Norman pg. 3).  "If Dawson comes over he will make me feel stupid for not doing it 10 years ago" Jessie has thought about it before.  There is another topic that comes up a few times that Jessie seems to value for a reason of her suicide, Mama " why do you read the newspaper?" (Norman pg. 11).  Jessie just explains she feels sad by the way the world is going.  Again another ideation that the world is not any better with them in it.  Feeling that she can not fix the worlds problems, and especially not her own.  We find out later in the text that the epilepsy was a factor of her divorce to Cecil.  Mama says, " I think your daddy had fits too." Jessie, "Daddy would have known if he had fits."  (Norman pg. 13).  Jessie then has her Mama explain how she looks when she is having an epileptic fit.  She is projected her pain to her mom and her Mama just keeps talking.  

       So, of course in the end she ends her life.  My opinion on suicide is still the same and so that is what I took from this story.  Not will she kill herself, but why a human choose to end their life.  No one wins when a suicide occurs and that realization is what we find more about throughout the text and that is what brings the readers in more.  That is a very good dramatic question; why did Jessie come to the idea of suicide?  

Fair warning: this prompt contains SPOILERS for the play.

OK?

Here goes: Suppose you're the dramaturg for a production of 'Night, Mother and the conversation turns to the play's Major Dramatic Question (MDQ). As you'll know from Friday's class, the MDQ is a  question that drives the script. Once the MDQ gets answered, the script ends. Often (but not always) the MDQ is the same as the protagonist's central objective. As we noted, the MDQ is a tool that can help unpack the workings of some scripts; it's not a law that every script has to follow. Some plays benefit from MDQ conversations; some don't.

In our hypothetical production scenario, though, let's imagine that the director is convinced that (1) 'Night, Mother is one of those plays that can benefit from an MDQ conversation; and (2) that the major dramatic question for 'Night, Mother is "Will Jesse kill herself?"

Now, on one level, this question "works." The script ends soon after that question gets answered (i.e., yes, Jessee kills herself). But, over and above being a workable question, I want you to consider whether "Will Jesse kill herself?" is the most productive or interesting major dramatic question. I mean, if the whole goal was for Jesse to kill herself, then I'd expect the script to go something like this:

The lights come up. Jesse goes into a back room while Mama putters around. We hear a shot. Mama jumps, startled. She asks, "What was that?" End of play.

In other words, there's a whole lot of script here, and only a bit of it really has to do directly with the question of whether or not Jesse will commit suicide. What else is going on? Is there another possible MDQ at work in 'Night, Mother?

For this post, then, I want you to respond (as dramaturg) to this hypothetical director. You can agree with her MDQ, supporting why you think this is the case. Or you can disagree with her by offering a different MDQ, explaining how and why your alternative is superior.

As always, contact Addie or me if you have questions or concerns.

Jenny