Moving Forward | Night in the Woods, Part 4

Mae is given a context within which she can be begin to deal with her ontological crisis by hanging out with Gregg and Bea. Bea presents a potential new relational and foundational ontology whilst Gregg shows the failures of Mae’s old lifestyle. Mae is then left to synthesize the two viewpoints. In the end, Mae manages to reform her relationships with those around her, replanting meaning where it had been lost and while her ontological crisis is not dealt with, she sets herself on a path towards resolution.

Mae's Relational Reforms

The first thing that is to be considered is the reforms inherent in Mae’s relationships. The changes are referred to as “reforms” because every relationship that Mae fosters throughout the game, especially the most central relationships, existed prior to the beginning of the game. There is no relational creation, only alterations to old relationships. The reforms that are seen in Mae’s relationships follow a pattern of moving from relationships that are inter-centric to those that are intra-centric. To understand these terms, one must first consider relationships as relative to a particular agent. For an inter-centric relationship, the others (or those entities that are not the agent) are defined as being for the agent. It is a self-centered system. On the other hand, an intra-centric relationship is a relationship with others. The agent considers the others as agents with ends of their own. Where the inter-centric could be considered to be a parasite, the intra-centric is symbiotic.

Mae expresses the inter-centric nature of her initial relationships in two key areas. The first is how she framed her crisis as she stated that “nothing was there for me anymore” (End of Everything, NitW). In the first part, we discussed how this was a breakdown of Mae’s relational meaning. This phrase not only shows that that breakdown, but also the state of the system prior to the crisis. With the world prior to her crisis being one where other entities existed for Mae, Mae is necessarily centering the others in the world around herself. The implications of her inter-centric life can be seen in the other indication of this lifestyle, that being that Mae does not acknowledge the history of those around her. One example of this is seen when Mae forgets that Bea’s mother died. Mae tries to grasp for her old relational bond with Bea in order to make her feel better after having messed up at the party. This was her attempt to use Bea for her ends of feeling good. However, by neither thoroughly addressing the harm done to Bea and also disregarding Bea’s history, Mae destroyed any chance of forming a strong relational bond.

Gregg and Bea

The inter-centric nature of Mae’s relationships is turned towards being intra-centric through the endings of both Bea and Gregg’s storylines. Both Bea and Gregg’s storylines end with a lengthy discussion between Mae and the friend in question. In both discussions, Mae is coming to terms with the fact the other character has ends of their own separate from herself. For Bea, this is shown when Mae finally accepts that she does not have the right to wantonly intrude into Bea’s life. Her apology for having ruined the party and subsequent promise to act better at the next one shows the Mae is considering Bea’s goals in the party. In the case of Gregg, Mae accepts that he does not exist exclusively to perpetuate their old lifestyle. She has to respect his goals in order to maintain their relationship.

Mae's Mother

Another area where Mae’s intra-centric shift is seen is in the paradigm shift that occurs in Mae’s relationship with her mother when they go to Jenny’s Field. This entire scene focuses on their relational change. In the beginning of the scene, Mae’s mother talks about her old friends going up to the field and Mae states that “I’m not used to you using any other we’s” (Jenny’s Field, NitW). The standard “we” that Mae is conceptualizing is Mae and her mother. By not generally considering any other “we’s”, Mae is conceptualizing her mother as having existed in her current relational state for her entire life; in other words, ignoring her history. Mae’s mother appears to do two things by bringing Mae to the field. The first is to show Mae a history of hers that is separate from Mae. She does this by both expressing the “other we” that was previously discussed and also by having Mae climb the smoke-stack. When Mae is looking over the valley from the stack, her mother remarks that “I remember I couldn’t tell if being up there// made everything feel bigger or smaller” (Jenny’s Field, NitW). This statement is Mae’s mother attempting to create a direct link between her younger self and Mae. On the one hand, this is a physical metaphor in that Mae’s mother had been where Mae given that they both stood on the smoke-stack with the same perspective. On the other-hand, there is a psychological connection as Mae’s mother presents herself as having been as mystified by the world as Mae is now. Neither Mae nor her mother could make heads or tails of a world from that height.

The most important realization of Mae’s came about as her mother joked about having to keep her, and Mae responds “I couldn’t see what your expression was when you said that// [Mae’s mother] do you need to?// [Mae] no” (Jenny’s Field, NitW). By Mae saying that she could not see her mother’s expression, she is saying that without clear indication she cannot determine her mother’s intentions. This is important in that her mother is joking about removing Mae from her life, a thing that should be immediately taken as a jest if made between mother and daughter (after all, while their relationships is tense it is not that dysfunctional). Mae’s mother tackles this issue head on, asking Mae if she really believed that there was a chance that her mother would want her gone. By taking such a forward approach to the matter, Mae’s mother forces Mae to seriously consider how she views their relationship. Mae’s response of “no” shows that she has consciously accepted that her mother does not hold ill will towards her. By both considering her mother’s history and rethinking her mother’s relationship, Mae reshapes her relationship with her mother according to an intra-centric conception.

The State of Mae's Crisis

While Mae’s relationships are in a healthier condition, her ontological crisis remains an issue for her. After Mae states that she wants to leave Possum Springs to spend time with either Gregg or Bea (depending on the player’s choices), both of them respond by stating that “I thought you couldn’t leave home because of your… issue?” (Epilogue, NitW). The issue in question is her ontological crisis. The only other issue that could be being discussed is Mae’s injury, but the fact that Mae appears to be perfectly healthy in the last scene and the delicacy with which her friend dances around the issue indicates that it is not the injury being discussed. Gregg and Bea are both indicating that Mae’s crisis is still an issue even after having gone through so much. On top of that, Mae does not deny that there is an issue and instead seems to accept it.

While the ontological crisis still exists, it has been somewhat dealt with. Mae has chosen to leave behind the reasoning that led her back to Possum Springs, that being that she can regain meaning from the past. Gregg’s storyline shows one aspect of Mae needing to abandon an old life, however the clearest indication that she has abandoned this ideology is her standoff against the death cult. The cult’s main goal was to maintain their concept of Possum Springs by eradicating any aspect of the town that did not fit that conception. In essence, they were trying to cling to an old way of life by any means necessary. The destruction of the cult is a tacit rejection of it, thereby also being a rejection of clinging onto old, dead ideologies.

A Solution in Sight

Mae has also expressed that a resolution to her crisis is possible. In her final monologue, she states that “I want us all to get free of it” and that she believes “there’s a way to// escape” (The Hole in the Center of Everything, NitW). What must be identified to understand these statements is what “it” is. It is the thing that is standing between each of them and a good life. For Bea it is her unswerving devotion to duty, for Gregg it is the temptation of his old lifestyle, and, for Mae, her ontological crisis. What is most important about this statement is that Mae is, for the first time, presenting hope that she can fix her crisis. Mae has finally ended her search for meaning in lost ontologies and, at the same time, has expressed a newfound hope that the crisis will eventually be resolved.

This hope is not entirely unfounded either, as the first signs of healing can already be seen. The relational changes that we have already discussed are a sign of Mae fostering strong relational ontologies with those around her. From Mae’s growing relations, she is beginning to create new meaning in the world around her. Consider that, regardless of who she hangs out with, Mae states that her friend is “home enough” (Epilogue, NitW) for her. Home, prior to this moment, was Possum Springs. Possum Springs was the only place that Mae could find a semblance of meaning in her world meaning that concept of home is directly linked with an ontology that can, in the very least, ground Mae. By having her friend be home, Mae has formed a new ontological base in either Gregg or Bea. She can understand the world as being ontologically grounded around them. While this is not an independent ontology like Mae would have had prior to her crisis, it shows Mae’s first steps towards bringing meaning back into the world.

Night in the Woods is a fully realized dialogue about the loss of meaning in ones world. The focus of the story was not on the creation of new meaning, but on overcoming the dread of having every point of reference wrest from ones world. There is no doubt that Night in the Woods succeeded at conveying this crisis convincingly. Certainly there are many other aspects of this game to examine, as it touches upon politics, religion, and the nature of relationships in far more depth than this single argument could consider. Perhaps we will examine such topics in the future.

Works Cited

Infinite Fall, Night In the Woods. Finji, Feb 21 2017.

A note on citations: Lines in text are cited according to the in-game chapter they occur in, followed by "NitW" (standing for Night in the Woods) so that it is easier for the reader to find the dialogue. The "//" in quotes denotes different speech bubbles.

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