12
‘night, Mother,
Interpretation of mise en scene
Joseph Liardi
HUMN428 - De Vry University
April 14, 2012 Joe, your analysis is very thorough with good attention to detail, and your focus on the psychology at play adds depth and insight. Clearly, you put a lot of time and attention into your study of this play. Terrific job! 200 points
12
‘night, Mother,
Interpretation of mise en scene
Joseph Liardi
HUMN428 - De Vry University
April 14, 2012 Joe, your analysis is very thorough with good attention to detail, and your focus on the psychology at play adds depth and insight. Clearly, you put a lot of time and attention into your study of this play. Terrific job! 200 points
‘night, Mother, Interpretation of mise en scene Marsha Norman was born in Kentucky in 1947. A child who was isolated from the world by her family’s religious norms found comfort in playing the piano, reading books and playing with her imaginary friend called Bettering. Isolation and loneliness of life is something that is familiar to this play wright and is found in her many works such as “The Secret Garden” and “Getting Out”. Marsha Norman’s imaginary friend Bettering can be seen as a metaphor that compares her own relationships with her family, particularly her mother, and the feelings of alienation she felt as a child and her desire to be in control and better her life. (Yes, fascinating name she chose for her imaginary friend! Children can be so wise) Her own childhood experiences and experience as an adult working with gifted and emotionally disturbed children in a state hospital gave her insight into the loneliness and alienation caused by many societal stigmatic taboos. The coping strategies of caretakers and family members she experienced through her occupation may have influenced her creative works in the film ‘night, Mother. Marsha Normans `night, Mother is a one act play with two main characters, Thelma Cates, mama, a 50 year old woman who fills her life with little things of no value or importance and Jessie Cates, her epileptic daughter in her mid- thirties who lives’ (not a possessive, so no apostrophe needed) with her mother. The play opens with Jessie moving about the house performing tasks, you hear the clocks ticking suggesting that there is unfinished business to be taken care of before time runs out. Jessie carries a Task List in her sweater pocket and checks things off when they are completed. One task is to find her father’s gun which she intends to use to commit suicide. As she works through her list she asks momma, “where is daddy’s gun?” Thelma not yet aware of Jessie’s intention helps her find the gun by telling her it’s in the attic in an old shoe box. Jessie finds the gun and while cleaning the gun, announces she's going kill herself. Jessie’s announcement sets off a desperate struggle between mother and daughter and reveals past issues plagued by the Cate’s family through the human condition. Thelma’s desperation is shown through mood swings, tirades and even acceptance as the plot unfolds. Mama uses every strategy she can think of reason, logic, and even telling Jessie the truth about childhood events and her father’s epilepsy in order to change Jessie’s mind about killing herself. Events Thelma withheld from her all her life. Jessie views suicide as her only way of gaining control and independence from mama and to define her identity through this last desperate act. Though Jessie is sad about her life she is still concerned about what will become of mama’s life after her death. Thelma, while trying to protect her daughter, has caused more tension between the two of them. Her lies have added to Jessie's problems. She feels used, lied to and feels like she has nothing to lose. Through these unfolding events the director has the audience on the edge of their seats wondering will momma succeed in deterring Jessie from killing herself and will Jessie really commit suicide. Though Marsha Norman defines a mother and daughter in crisis in ‘night, Mother through the human condition, a closer examination of momma’s character, Thelma Cates, reveals the irreducible complexity of influence that social stigma and coping strategies such as her expressed emotional level, denial, and sorrow have on the quality of life and well-being of her daughter, Jesse Cates, that lead to her depression and suicide. In the beginning of the play, before Jessie’s announcement of suicide, conversation turns to Jessie’s son Ricky. Jessie views Ricky for what he is, a drug addict and thief that she expresses as her failure. Jessie states to mama” He hurt me, I’ve hurt him. We’re about even”. You realize that she feels responsible when she tells mama that “Ricky is as much like me as it’s possible for any human being to be”. She knows that Ricky see’s (not a possessive, so no apostrophe needed) all the disappointments in life that she does and that he got that from her. This is an implication that Jessie is a product of her own mother. Thelma holds a wishful notion that Ricky will turn out okay, because it would be too painful to admit that she herself failed her daughter. Thelma smiles as if she knows Ricky will turn out to be good. The director uses this denial to diminish the possibility that Jessie is to blame for the way he turned out. Of course this denial of mama’s is her attempt to remove herself from guilt. Thelma expresses hostility at various points when she realizes she is not getting her way, failing to change her daughters mind. The expressed hostility does not seem to bother Jessie. She seems almost amused by mama’s outbursts. The throwing of the pots and pans, her telling Jessie that everyone will feel sorry for her and not Jessie, and how Dawson, Jessie’s brother will talk about how much he had to pay for parking at her funeral. This is an expressed attempt at placing blame on Jessie to make her feel guilty for what she is about to do. The director shows the audience that these emotional expressions were common place in the Cate’s household. You can assume that Dawson expressed his hostility towards Jessie in the same manner from his short visit with Loretta and the kids out front of the house. The director gives you the sense something is wrong as no one enters the house to visit. Dawson shows his hostility when he tells his child to get in the car or he is going to leave her there implying the child should be afraid to stay were her aunt Jessie is. You wonder what verbal atrocities Jessie has dealt with growing up with her mother and Dawson and how mama must have treated her father. Although the men were peripheral characters in the play only spoken about by Jessie and Thelma, you realize the impact they have had on Jessie’s life. Cecil was one of mama’s denials that Jessie could not take care of herself or find someone to marry. Thelma hired Cecil to build a porch she didn’t need. This was her way to get Jessie and Cecil together. This dialogue takes place on the porch were the director uses dark lighting, the camera draws back to full view of Jessie sitting alone on the couch smoking a cigarette, the reason Cecil supposedly left her. The director creates this image through dialogue; you can see that this is where Jessie and Cecil spent many hours in courtship. Then Jessie reveals knowledge of mamas sorrowful intention, and is another way the director shows that Thelma was unable to deal with the possibility that Jessie might not marry and would be alone all her life. Who would marry someone with a mental illness? Jessie takes this as mama feeling like Jessie is a burden and marrying her off would alleviate that burden to Thelma. Thelma’s denial and expressed emotional level clearly influenced Jessie’s low self-esteem, setting her up for failure in life, causing strained family relationships, all resulting in the isolation and loneliness that have led to Jessie’s identity crisis and depression. “Extensive literature shows that epilepsy is associated with multiple psychosocial problems, including anxiety and depression. Some studies indicate that avoidance is negatively related, and problem-focused coping, positively related to epilepsy patients' psychological well-being, that denial is associated with poorer psychosocial adjustment, and that a less active coping style relates to higher perceived seizure severity” (Stanhope, Goldstein, Kuipere. 2003). Throughout dialogue between Mama and Jessie the director reveals Thelma’s maladaptive perception of having a child with epilepsy. Thelma thinks that by ignoring her problems, they cease to exist. Therefore, she never talks about her problems because she is concerned about how she is viewed. The director shows another failed coping strategy of Thelma Cates denial by quickly focusing camera angles on all the creative works in the room such as crocheting, knitted doylies and other craft work as the scene focuses back on the main characters. Good observation! Mama states to Jessie, “You gotta keep your life filled up”. This tells us how Thelma deals with the human condition. She never thinks about it because she is always too busy. Another coping strategy Thelma used becomes clear when she states to Jessie that” I don’t like things to think about, I like things to go on”. The director shows that Thelma’s feelings of sorrow are strong here through this intense outburst depicting Thelma’s denial and failure to cope with life in a positive way. You realize Thelma has spent her life hiding Jessie’s illness not only from her daughter but from her husband because she was ashamed. Thelma states to Jessie “If I told him about you I’d have to tell him about himself”. A common stigmatic view of society is that epilepsy is a mental illness. A parent’s view of the ideal child can be lost when diagnosed with epilepsy because of that stigma. Thelma shows she has developed maladaptive perceptions that fall in line with social stigmatic taboos. This has clearly had a negative impact on Jessie’s view of herself. She has not had any positive influence’s growing up with epilepsy so how could she know how to conduct herself and now as an adult she feels that it’s too late to change it. She views her life as useless, she feels unloved and thrown away possibly because no one ever took the time to understand her condition and she can’t change it. She wants to, but cant. Jessie comments “I was somebody waiting to show up but never will”. This explains why Jessie makes the decision to kill herself. She feels that for the first time in her life she is taking control of what she can do. To make it stop! This will be the first thing she does without her mama’s approval. Although mama tries desperately to talk her out of it, Jessie stands firm on her decision to take control by this final act. By ignoring the problems for so long, Thelma has created an even bigger problem. . Thelma’s controlling negativity and expressed feelings of sorrow and denial have impacted the psychosocial well-being of Jessie. “Because epilepsy usually begins in childhood, it affects the entire family. The subsequent uncertainty resulting from these factors, coupled with the unavoidable stigma attached to the diagnosis of epilepsy, results in anticipated and unanticipated psychosocial consequences for parents and children” (Hobdell, Grant, Valencia, Mare, Kothare, Legido, Khurana. 2007). Mama’s negative coping strategies of sorrow and anger gives us insight to the nature of the relationship between Thelma and her husband who also was an epileptic. Through the desperate interactions of mama and Jessie, mama now understands the rules of engagement, telling the truth, Jessie asked mama if she ever loved her father and mama says “no”. Jessie asks’ “you never did love him, or he did something and you stopped loving him or what?” mama replies “He felt sorry for me. He wanted a plain country woman and that’s what he married”. Thelma reveals here how she viewed her own life and how others may have viewed her as a simple country girl who knows nothing about the outside world. This statement is very telling that Thelma was content not to know or think about the complications of the human condition. It also shows her resentment towards her husband because she felt that he held it against her. Thelma tells Jessie one day daddy was on the porch without a shirt on and she told him to put one on and he replied to her with” Your right Thelma, If God had meant for people to go around without any clothes on, they’d have been born that way”. Funny line. The director’s use of sarcasm shows that daddy was painfully aware of Thelma’s inability to cope with life in general. Thelma is concerned what people might think of a mentally ill person out in public with no shirt on. Through the rest of this conversation Thelma is telling the truth about her relationship with her husband and you see Thelma getting agitated more and more as the truth continues to spills out of her mouth, it’s also the first time she admits to herself of her failure as a wife. The director uses the dialogue “It didn’t matter whether I loved him. It didn’t matter to me and it didn’t matter to him. And it didn’t mean we didn’t get along. It wasn’t important. We didn’t talk about it”. This dialogue tells us that Thelma realizes at this moment that it was her inability to cope with life that destroyed her marriage. Even worse, Thelma has come to realize that she failed Jessie in the same way as a mother. The director brings this to the front of your mind through hostility when Thelma intensely sweeps the pots and pans off the cabinet claiming she doesn’t need them anymore. The consequences that social stigma plays in the quality of life of caretakers of persons living with epilepsy is fear of the unknown. Perhaps Thelma was just too afraid. According to Suljic (2009) “Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder of the brain and also the least understood”. Also stated in the article by Enra Mehmedika Suljic in 2009 was that “Fear, misunderstanding and the resulting social stigma surrounding epilepsy can result in social, and sometimes legal, discrimination against those living with this condition”. In the conclusion, the stigma attached to epilepsy and the onset of epileptic seizures in one’s life can have a significant influence on the development of depression and the quality of life in both caretakers as well as the person who suffers from the condition. This is especially true for women who suffer from this brain disorder. They often struggle with low self-esteem because of societal stigmatic taboos that equate epilepsy to mental illness. The fear of the unknown is enough to make negative assumptions about epileptics that they cannot be valuable or productive human beings. This why it is important for parents to have positive psychosocial resources and healthy coping strategies in place to positively influence their child’s self- image. It is important to understand the influential aspects of social stigma and how the resulting expressed emotional levels of one’s own cognitive thought process is the key to avoid negatively impacting the psychosocial well-being of their children suffering from epilepsy, thus avoiding depression and even suicide. The stigma is due in part to a lack of understanding by people they see every day. This lack of understanding from loved ones can be a huge disappointment as they look to family for their clues of “I’m okay”. If family cannot help their own feelings of sorrow, loneliness and fear, than an atmosphere of alienation and denial helps to foster a state of depression that often contemplates suicide. While you can never really control the desires of the human condition at least you don’t have to be a contributing factor in its destruction like mama realized at the end of the play “Jessie, Jessie, child…..Forgive me………I thought you were mine”. Public education is needed to combat the misconception of persons suffering from epilepsy.
Reference List
Hobdell, E., Grant, M., Valencia, I., Mare, J., Kothare, S., Legido, A., Khurana, D. (2007). Chronic Sorrow and Coping in Families of Children with Epilepsy. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 39 (2), 76-82. Retrieved March 8, 2012 from: http://www.nursingcenter.com/library/JournalArticle.asp?Article_ID=838212
Klaus, C., Gilbert, G., Field Jr., B. (2003). ‘night, Mother. In Stages of Drama: Classical to Contemporary Theater (pp. 1307-1333). New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin’s
Mehmedika Suljic, E. (2009). How much Stigma can Influence the Development of Depression in Epilepsy. Materia Socio Medica, 21(1), 19-23. Retrieved March 9, 2012 from: Ebscohost Database
Stanhope, N., Goldstein, L., Kuipere, E. (2003). Expressed Emotion in Relatives of People with Epileptic or Nonepileptic Seizures. Epilepsia, 44(8), 1094-1102. Retrieved March 10, 2012 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1528-1157.2003.09503.x/pdf 