I think another Major dramatic question for Night, Mother could be Will Jessie get Mama to understand her decision and let her go peacefully? I believe this serves as a better choice for the major dramatic question (rather than the obvious will jessie commit suicide?)because Jessie has already made up her mind and answered that question before the play begins. She has planned for this day and has been wanting it for a long time now. We see that before she goes she wants her mom to be able to function after she leaves. She wants her to not blame herself and to have one last moment shared between only them to say goodbye. We see this when Jessie tells her mom “I only told you so I could explain it, so you wouldn't blame yourself, so you wouldn't feel bad. There wasn't anything you could say to change my mind. I didn't want you to save me. I just wanted you to know”(Norman 48). To back up why I believe Jessie wants for her mom to let her go peacefully is when she tells her “(Very calm.) Let me go, Mama”(Norman 56). These simple words are begging for her mom to understand and support her decision. We know that this major dramatic question is answered with no. When her mom just can’t let her child take her life and leave her there to pick up the pieces.
I can see why you selected this as the MDQ. I've seen this MDQ in similar variations in other's posts. The examples you used straight from the text are very solid at supporting your MDQ. Although, we see Mama's tactics work backwards than they would have if she would have fully let Jessie go "peacefully". Mama starts out calmly addressing Jessie'd decision and ends in yelling and pleading her not to commit suicide.
ReplyDelete