THREE VIEWINGS

Okay. To start off with the easy question, Nettie James. But that's super duper obvious.

For the deeper question, I think a recurring theme is that "you don't know what you have until it's gone" kind of thing. In all three monologues, a character is longing for someone that they had or failed to get. These characters took their respective people for granted. For example, Virginia begins to miss her husband only after she has lost him. She finally has the time to look back on all of the time she shared with him and what it meant for her. Mac begins to miss her own family at the funeral of her grandmother. She realizes that she took her family for granted when she is faced with the death of her grandmother. It seems that only after coming out of her semi-suicidal phase, Mac can see the value of family and love. For Emil, Tessie doesn't mean nearly as much until after she is dead. He does not realize that even someone who knew him like Tessie was still a dear presence in his life.