In this excerpt, Browder examines the relationship between the mother and daughter characters in 'night, Mother, comparing them to traditional parent/child roles.

A frequent author on themes of personality and development, Browder is a clinical psychologist and program director specializing in women's psychiatric treatment.

In a nondescript house in anonymous America a conversation unfolds between two women. In the course of this routine and quiet evening at home the revelation shared by one offers up a jolting portrayal of a personal relationship and power. Jessie, a woman in her late thirties or early forties, announces to her mother that she is going to kill herself at the end of the evening. In the ensuing dialogue Thelma, her mother, moves from scoffing disbelief to the stunned realization that her daughter is serious.

No crisis has precipitated this decision. Indeed, nothing has happened at all. But Jessie explains...