Night Mother
Caitlyn Matiatos
Writing 106:99
Caruso
Essay 4.2
April, 6 2013
“Night, Mother”
The play “Night, Mother” addresses the human condition and how character human depth influences the way readers understand drama. The invisible characters play a large part on how the two main character’s act, and how it influences their dialogue. The father, the son of Jessie, and her ex-husband are mentioned throughout the play, and they set up the dynamic of the story, physically and emotionally. Exploring their human depth and their importance throughout the play helps the reader of the story understand theater and the drama. The father plays a large part in the play Night Mother. In the play, Jessie asks for her father’s gun. She then eventually tells her mother she is going to kill herself with it. In the play, you can tell her and her father are very close. I feel as though Jessie will only use her father’s gun because it’s as if her father is killing her. Cleaning the gun in front of her mother shows that she is making the point that she wants to kill herself., when she could have just put it on the table or quietly went to her room with it. Throughout the play, you can barely tell the Jessie is completely serious about giving up her life. She stays so placid and calm as she tells her mother, who is in denial at first, but soon realizes as Jessie is making lists of things she will soon have to do on her own, that her daughter is completely serious. They talk about things Jessie has never been good at, like being a mother, a good wife, or having any real skills because of her battle with epilepsy. Ben Brantley from the New York Times states, “Yet anger and score-settling satisfaction flicker betrayingly across her stark features as she itemizes the long list of minuses that make up her life: her failures as a wife and mother, her epilepsy, her lack of professional skills, the death of the father who appears to have been the only person she truly loved.” (Brantley)
Writing 106:99
Caruso
Essay 4.2
April, 6 2013
“Night, Mother”
The play “Night, Mother” addresses the human condition and how character human depth influences the way readers understand drama. The invisible characters play a large part on how the two main character’s act, and how it influences their dialogue. The father, the son of Jessie, and her ex-husband are mentioned throughout the play, and they set up the dynamic of the story, physically and emotionally. Exploring their human depth and their importance throughout the play helps the reader of the story understand theater and the drama. The father plays a large part in the play Night Mother. In the play, Jessie asks for her father’s gun. She then eventually tells her mother she is going to kill herself with it. In the play, you can tell her and her father are very close. I feel as though Jessie will only use her father’s gun because it’s as if her father is killing her. Cleaning the gun in front of her mother shows that she is making the point that she wants to kill herself., when she could have just put it on the table or quietly went to her room with it. Throughout the play, you can barely tell the Jessie is completely serious about giving up her life. She stays so placid and calm as she tells her mother, who is in denial at first, but soon realizes as Jessie is making lists of things she will soon have to do on her own, that her daughter is completely serious. They talk about things Jessie has never been good at, like being a mother, a good wife, or having any real skills because of her battle with epilepsy. Ben Brantley from the New York Times states, “Yet anger and score-settling satisfaction flicker betrayingly across her stark features as she itemizes the long list of minuses that make up her life: her failures as a wife and mother, her epilepsy, her lack of professional skills, the death of the father who appears to have been the only person she truly loved.” (Brantley)
Cited: Brantley, Ben. “Mother-Daughter Angst, With Death in the Wings”. New York Times. 15 November, 2004. 1. Print. Frank, Leah D. “THEATER REVIEWS; A Very Moving ‘Night, Mother’”. New York Times. 1 November, 1987. 1. Print.