Character Development In Night, Mother By Marsha Norman

The play ‘night, Mother by Marsha Norman contains two characters who are both fairly important to the play and develop in significant ways. The most changed character throughout would be her mama, Thelma. Jessie has epilepsy and is battling the decision of killing herself throughout the play. She decides to tell her mama the plan, so it does not come as a surprise and she is truly heartbroken by her decision. During the play, Norman presents the connection between the two and how they change individually.

Jessie begins struggling with life mentally and is struggling with the decision of committing suicide. She struggles with epilepsy and her delinquent son, so she blames it all on herself, which makes her become unhappy. At the beginning of the play, Jessie reveals the plans to her mother, and for most of the play, she tries to convince her to stay.

Unfortunately, the development her mother undergoes begin to affect the play. Her mother continues to persuade her into staying, however, her convincement does not work. Jessie likes to stick to routine and

her dying was on her schedule. Before revealing her plans to her mother, mama unknowingly told her where her father’s gun is. Her father has died, which has impacted her entire life. She looks up to him, to the point, she wants to use his gun to kill herself. Her mama continuously finds new things to do to spare some time with Jessie, however, in the end, it does not change her decision. After she realizes her persuasion is not going to change Jessie’s mind, she suddenly changes.
Thelma, at first, seems heartbroken and tries every way to persuade her not to commit suicide, but near the end, she talks about her death plans with her.

Mama talks about what to say at the funeral, who to call, and what to do afterwards. From the beginning until the end, Thelma’s development can be seen in several ways. By accepting her wishes, the audience could view her in positive or negative ways, however, her devastation is clear throughout. Upon hearing the shot, her mother does as she says and makes several phone calls and walks away.

Ultimately, Jessie is no longer suffering in the mental state and is now at peace. Thelma ultimately does whatever she can at the beginning, however, at the end, it does no good. I chose to analyze Thelma’s character because her mindset changed throughout, however, Jessie’s did not. Jessie knew from the beginning she was committing suicide and would not change her

mind.