Night, Mother

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room and the kitchen of the house that the mother and daughter both share. An interesting part of the play is that it is meant to take place over a ninety minute period in the story, and also in ninety minutes of real time when the play is done live for an audience.
In the play, we learn that Jessie is a woman who has been left by her husband, and that she also has a teenage son who has been caught on the wrong side of the law. She has had a need to have people around her to keep her life functioning and to keep her occupied. Her brother Dawson has played an important role in her life, because he has taken care of her financially and supported her in other ways as well. She does not have any positive expectations about her future and does not like the life she has lived up to this point in her life. Even though she does have a loving relationship with her mother, she has decided to take her life and also to tell her mother ninety minutes before she is going to commit the ...

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starts right at the beginning of the play, and continues throughout the play. For example, Jessie is looking for her father’s old gun at the beginning of the play. Thelma asks her why she’s looking for it, and Jessie responds, “protection.” (page 1553, line 7) They continue to have a conversation where they are both trying to be cunning and manipulative, because both of them are trying to control the actions of each other without the other knowing. Thelma tries using Dawson as an excuse to keep Jessie from going into the attic to get the gun, and therefore she’s trying to treat Jessie as if she’s still a child. Meanwhile, Jessie is trying to get Thelma to wash up so she can do her ...

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