If it makes you feel any better, I wrestled with the prospect of this a bit for my story. The solution was definitely to kill the MC's mother though, as it was the "last straw" for him and caused him to launch the real action of the story. Had she not died, his loyalty to her and her beliefs would have kept him obedient to her way of life and he would not have rebelled. I may interpret it differently than it's meant (or maybe this is exactly part of deaths being necessary), but I think a character's death is useful if it becomes a motivation and therefore a legitimate reason to kill a character. For instance it wasn't only sad that Batman's parents died, but it was a direct cause for him becoming what he did. At least I assume... he wouldn't have become a grown man dressed in a bat costume hellbent on punching crime if his parents had not died and he had not endured that trauma.
I'm glad you see my point and have retroactively changed your entire story to follow my critique. (Or perhaps I misinterpreted your original post, but I find it far more likely that you went back in time to take up my idea.)
I think you misunderstood me my friend. But I see the mistake, I meant to put a comma in my comment but forgot. Also, I can see how my last comment could be confusing. My MC for the story is a woman and always has been . In regards to the two characters in question, the mother and son, they are secondary characters. In which I decided to let the mother live to see what develops and plus I start liking her.
