Discovering Societal Norms

            Room, although it is at the core a terrifying story that you wish on no one, naturally intrigues us as readers. As we talked about in class the other day, for some reason people have always been interested in these kinds of experiments, where a child is born into a totally different world with no exposure to society and undergoes various psychological effects. We can clearly see many of these effects in Jack. But contrary to what I expected, observing Jack has actually made me question the society that we live in. Why does our society run the way it does? Why do we have these unspoken rules that everyone knows about, and why do we follow them? Obviously we have laws for moral purposes, but there are many rules that society has created and accepted that don’t make sense to Jack, and that I have (kind of) started to question as well.

            One example where society’s rules are confusing to Jack is when Ma is trying to explain the sport of boxing to him (this is when they were still in Room, watching TV). Ma told Jack that hitting is not allowed, but it is if people have special gloves on. She described boxing as “nasty but it’s a game”. Now, even though I knew what she was talking about, I could understand why this might seem so weird to Jack. Hitting is only allowed if you have special gloves on. This may not be a perfect definition, but it is not an inaccurate definition. This is a sport that is accepted by society, yet seems a bit silly when you put it in this perspective. It also makes me question, why is it that parents tell kids that hitting others is bad, yet pay for people to do exactly that on TV for our entertainment?

            Another societal norm that Jack struggles to understand is the fact that people expect those with long hair to be girls. When Jack runs into the stranger walking the dog, right after he escaped room, the stranger asks Nick “I’m so sorry, is your little girl OK?” Jack at first doesn’t completely understand that the “little girl” being referred to is him. We as readers understand this to be just a societal norm, as people with long hair are most likely females (especially in the case of children). But to Jack, it was normal for him as a boy to have very long hair. This is uncommon for the rest of society, and made me wonder why women tend to have longer hair than males, and how this societal norm happened in the first place.

            There were also times when Ma was teaching Jack manners where it was hilarious and relatable at the same time. Jack learned that “when something tastes yucky we say it’s interesting.” We all know that this is part of having manners, as it is rude to say something tastes bad, especially if someone put in hard work trying to cook the food. This is not a rule that I am trying to question, but I just found it funny that Jack was learning this, and that he explained it in such a simple yet truthful way.

            Overall, Room was a very engaging book, and it was very interesting observing Jack as a character and watching him undergo this six week journey. I wish that I could continue to see Jack grow up, as there are so many interesting plots and stories that could develop. How would he adjust to school? What would he be like in 20 years? Maybe Donoghue could write a sequel…

Can Jack Survive in Air and Water?

First some thoughts about Room so far:

            Room has been very captivating, to say the least. I enjoyed (in a scary kind of way) discovering the situation of Jack and Ma throughout these past few readings. At the beginning, the book seemed very happy, as we see everything through Jack’s eyes. However, as Jack mentions things here and there, things start to click and we slowly understand things for what they really are. There were several instances where Jack’s description made something seem completely innocent and even fun at first, but when I caught on to what was really going on, the situation went from fun to frightening. One example of this is when Jack describes the game Scream that he plays with Ma. Jack thinks that they are simply screaming for fun, and as a five year old Jack understandably thinks nothing more of the game. But we as readers realize that Ma is actually screaming for help, and has been doing so every day for at least five years, hoping that someone will hear her cry. Another example is the way Ma flicks the lights on and off, which Jack understands as something that she just does, but is in fact another way Ma is signaling for someone to rescue her and her son. Even finding out about a simple fact like Room being 11x11 was an unnerving experience for me, as I had first assumed Jack and Ma were living in a house or an apartment. As I learned more, the setting became eerie as the scenery slowly changed within my mind. The way that Donoghue reveals the frightening circumstances of this story has a much more powerful impact because nothing is stated directly, and the reader figures things out from the things we perceive through the eyes of an innocent five-year old who doesn’t understand the situation.

Now a question: Can Jack survive in Air and Water?

            The mermaid story that Ma told Jack in the first section of Unlying brought an intriguing question to mind: how would Jack adjust to the real world if he ever manages to escape? Jack asks whether JackerJack (the character in the mermaid story that represents Jack) will drown when he goes underwater into the sea with his mother the mermaid. Ma replies by saying that JackerJack is half merman, and that he is able to survive in both air and water. Ma clearly implies that she believes that Jack can survive both in the Room (although probably not for much longer) and in the outside world. We see that Jack is pretty content with his life in the Room, even though he has several traumatizing experiences with Nick. Room is literally his entire world, and he is able to enjoy his time there despite the horrifying situation that is his reality because of the way Ma raised him and shielded him from the truth as he grew up.

So we know that Jack can survive in the “air”, as he has spent his entire life in the Room. But can Jack survive in the outside world, when he lived the first five years of his life in a totally different universe? The difference between living in the Room and the real world is far larger than between air and water. One can only imagine how bewildering and huge and foreign the real world will be to Jack. Going from an 11x11 room where he, Ma, and Nick are the only living humans to a world with 7 billion other people would be overwhelming. As we discussed in class on Thursday, the psychological impact on Jack would be incalculable, which makes the question of whether he can survive if he escapes an even harder one. Also, I found myself assuming that Jack would definitely be happier living in the outside world, but is this really true? The Room is Jack’s home, and was his world the moment he was born. Although the Room is a horrifying situation for us as readers who actually understand the circumstances, Jack is a little kid and he doesn't understand what the real situation. On top of that, the outside world isn’t exactly a perfect place either. Although I, just as everyone else, am rooting for Ma and Jack to make and escape, the truth is that the outside world is a very dark and scary place as well. What do you guys think? Would Jack be able to adjust to a totally different universe, and would he be able to be happy in this new world if he ever escapes the Room?