Beginning of Essay
Marsha Norman’s ‘night, Mother illustrates a central point about the nature of what creates drama in a play: the anticipation of an outcome. In this case, that means that Mama, and the story's audience, learns early on of Jessie's plans. And because of learnin ....

Middle of Essay
.... Jessie will give Mama a manicure. Then Jessie asks: JESSIE: Where's Daddy's gun? Life for Jessie and Mama is such a dull routine, Mama doesn't even pause to consider the request odd. She evens helps Jessie figure out where the gun is kept. It's not until half a column later that Mama asks: MAMA: What do you want the gun for, Jess? JESSIE: Protection. Mama at first considers that she and Jessie have nothing to steal, and what was valuable was stolen by Jessie's son, Ricky. MAMA: I mean, I don't even want what we got, Jessie. Jessie begins cleaning the gun, and soon the stage directions set out that Mama is now concerned about it. JESSIE ....