Night, Mother

Jessie, who is in her late thirties/early forties, has one major objective in the play: to prepare her mother so that she can commit suicide. While she is the protagonist, she’s also a static character and doesn’t change over the course of the action. Regardless of what she learns from her mother, Jessie doesn’t experience a reversal and, in the end, kills herself just as she has planned. Jessie lives with her mother but takes after her late father. Therefore, many of the same conflicts that existed between her father and mother arise between Jessie and Thelma. However, in the hours before her father’s death, he refused to be open and speak to her mother. By contrast, in Jessie’s final hours, she attempts to do the opposite, although she still struggles with the intimacy of open honesty.

Jessie is depressed. She finds pleasure in nothing, and she has no hope for the future. The unfortunate circumstances of her life—her failed marriage, her criminal son, her epilepsy, her fear of leaving her mother’s house—have led her to believe that her life will always be a disappointment. She feels isolated but demonstrates that she cares about her mother even when she isn’t comfortable showing it. Jessie feels as if life is something that happens to her, not something that she has agency to control. Bringing her epilepsy to heel with medication has given her clarity about her life and unhappiness.

She sees suicide as a way to take control of her life. It’s something she’s doing for herself, no longer trying to please her mother, her ex-husband, or her son. When she tells her mother that she plans to kill herself, she isn’t asking for help or hoping for intervention. Jessie fully intends to follow through, and at no point in the play does she consider doing otherwise.