SOURCE: Burkman, Katherine H. “The Demeter Myth and Doubling in Marsha Norman's 'night, Mother.” In Modern American Drama: The Female Canon, edited by June Schlueter, pp. 254-63. Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1990.

In the following essay, Burkman analyzes the references to the classical myth of Demeter and Persephone in 'night, Mother, focusing on the play's motif of doubling.

Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, ‘night, Mother, has been greeted by many critics as a major drama. Robert Brustein notes that the play is “chastely classical in its observance of the unities,” and he welcomes Norman as one writing in “a great dramatic tradition” who, “young as she is, has the potential to preserve and revitalize it.”¹ Another critic appreciates Norman's dissection of the “mythic relationship between mother and daughter”² in the play. Escaping the weaknesses of melodrama, Norman offers a drama that not only leads up to...