The situation in Room has evidently reached a tipping point—Ma has revealed more about the world to Jack in the last few days than she
had in the previous five years. But why? What happened to cause such
cataclysmic reveals about Jack’s reality?
Well, it all seems to start with Jack’s birthday. Literarily
speaking, it’s not surprising that this is the starting point of the novel: if
we jumped in the story before his birthday, we’d just get more of their daily
routine than we need, and we’d miss important events if we came in after his
birthday. But what about a birthday makes it such a significant starting point?
First of all, a birthday is a time when everyone is very
much aware of the passage of time. Even though nothing in particular changes,
it’s been a whole year since the last birthday; it gets you thinking about what
all has happened since then. Jack succinctly summarizes what’s already
happened: “Today I’m five. . . . Before that I was three, then two, then one,
then zero” (3). Ma, on the other hand, has obviously been more aware of the
time passing than Jack has been. For her, this birthday marks yet another year
that she has been confined to a workhouse by a psychopathic kidnapper. This
unfortunate milestone certainly does nothing to set Ma at ease and probably
renews her thoughts about how to try escaping from the room.
Jack, not disturbed by his birthday as Ma is, discovers a
newfound responsibility and sense of self-assurance once he turns five. He
wants to make his own decisions:
“Either
way would be fun. Will I choose for you?” asks Ma.
“Now
I’m five, I have to choose” (4).
(Above, they’re talking about when Jack will receive Ma’s
present for him.)
Jack also wants answers to his questions and presumably
presses for them more than he has before. When he sees the bottle of
painkillers in a TV commercial, he doesn’t drop his question when Ma tries to
play down its importance.
“But
the bottle, how did he get it?”
“I
don’t know.”
The way she says
it, it’s strange. I think she’s pretending. “You have to know. You know
everything.”
“Look,
it doesn’t really matter.”
“It
does matter and I do mind.” I’m nearly shouting.
“Jack—“
Jack
what? What does Jack mean?
Ma
leans back on the pillows. “It’s very hard to explain.”
I
think she can explain, she just won’t. “You can, because I’m five now” . . .
(59).
Jack suspects that Ma is holding something back and thinks
that Ma can tell him now that he’s five. In this way, Jack’s personal sense of
entitlement and ability to process new information has grown.
As we’ve discussed, Ma surely knows that she can’t hold the
illusion that Room is all that exists forever, so it was really just a question
of when it would break down. Jack’s birthday and all the change that comes
raining down with it seem to be the formula which ultimately created the events
of this novel. Now the only question is: what next?
Totally agree with you Timmy! You physically can't hide Jack as he grows -- Wardrobe will be too large for him to fit in eventually, and Ma (and Jack) realizes this problem. Once Nick finds out Jack can't say in the Wardrobe and Ma won't deal with their situation anymore, well... something's gonna go down. Ma and Jack have to strike first, and that's another reason why Ma is explaining to Jack about the real world.
ReplyDeleteThe passage of time that your brought up was interesting. To Jack, he's getting older and also generally birthdays are a good thing. But to Ma, she's basically reminded about how long she's been in Room. At one point, Jack talks about what he'll get when he turns six, and I think that's when Ma really starts to think about the escape as reality. To Jack, turning six is just next year, but to Ma, Jack turning six is another year imprisoned in Room.
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