There are a couple of people that we have felt Mama had a distaste for. Jessie's Dad for example, she could never understand why he would not talk to her, or share his life with her. Jessie, in some instances, has been portrayed as a burden to Mama. After re-reading this short play one line stands out to strongly represent these ideas: "... we've all felt like shooting somebody, but we don't do it." (pg 11) This idea that Mama presents is very representative of her feelings towards Jessie and her Dad. So why is it so hard for understand why Jessie tells Mama? Jessie is using her Dad's gun to take her own life- a very real idea that Mama seemed to be conveying. Mama at some time or another really wanted both Jessy and her Dad to be gone, is it a coincidence that now she has both of those wishes?
"The barrel has to be clean, Mama. Old powder, dust gets in..." That gun will be here forever, all you have to do is clean it out, and it will be new again, it will work again, it will serve its purpose again. Is that all Jessie is doing for her Mama; just cleaning out the cobwebs (herself) so that her Mama can move on, finally, just wipe it away and move on?
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I agree and disagree with some of the points you make here. First, I personally dont think that Mama ever wanted Jessie to die or be out of her life. I believe that Mama is not independent enough to be on her own, and, I believe that she deeply loves Jessie. Mama does not seem like the type of person who would want her child to die. I do agree about the cleaning out the cobwebs point. I think that Jessie feels like she is a burden and is holding her mother back. She feels like if she is around, her mother will never be independent. In this sense I think she killed herself for her mother but I believe she had some selfish and personal reasons as well.
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