When thinking about the MDQ for 'Night, Mother', I found myself questioning whether or not Jessie will commit suicide. Arguably, after the reading of the play I knew her choice was thought out, final, and she had made peace with it prior to her actions. Mama attempts to show Jessie she has a reason to live, but slowly concludes that maybe she doesn't. Her daughter's father is dead, her daughter's son is gone, so really what other choice does Jessie have? Jessie explains her rational through a bus logic. Stating you want to get off the bus because it's so hot but you still have a ways to go and "I can get off right now if I want to, because even if I ride fifty more years and get off then, it's the same place when I step down to it. Whenever I feel like it, I can get off. As soon as I've had enough, it's my stop. I've had enough."
Her mother seems sympathetic towards this. So to answer the question, I do not agree with the given MDQ because that answer is clearly given. Instead I would look and study the play with the MDQ being "Whether or not Mama will be able to make/ or made peace with her daughter's decision too.
I mean after all, Mama did make a phone call immediately after the shot was fired...
I too was intrigued by the bus metaphor. It showed that Jessie had put a lot of thought into her decision. It reminds me of a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." She fully understood the ramifications of her decision and had prepared simple ways to explain it.
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