So far, in my reading of Room, the one thing that has jumped out at me has been Jack's perception of "Outside". Having been born in Room and having lived in Room for all five years of his life, without ever leaving it, Jack has no real idea of what lies beyond the door. His only idea of what's out there comes from TV, and he believes that it's all just pretend. With Jack narrating the story, this sets up a really interesting perspective from which the story is told: Our narrator has no concept of the real world, something that is so familiar to us readers as people living in that real world.
And even when Ma explains to Jack that there is an outside world, Jack doesn't really get it. And I can understand why. The fact that there is a massive world outside of the 11' x 11' room (not sure if I did the math right, but I got that Earth is 4,536,570,000,000 times larger than the room...try comprehending that now, let alone when you're five) is very hard for Jack to understand, since he can only take Ma's word for it. This takes a lot of faith from a five year old to believe in something that he's so unable to comprehend.
This is reinforced by Jack's personalization of household items, like Thermostat or Room. To Jack, Thermostat is not only a thermostat, but THE thermostat. Room isn't a room, but THE room. It's nearly impossible for Jack to understand the concept of there being a huge outside world, since he's never been in it, been able to interact with it, or even been able to see it. Heck, it was hard for me as a five year old, who wasn't trapped in a room, to understand the concept of the outside world, even though I had a lot more exposure to it than Jack had.
And what this sets up is the imminent situation in which Jack and Ma escape from Room, and Jack is exposed to this outside world. While Plan A to get out didn't work, Ma has a Plan B which may just end up working...
It’s interesting because I am writing this comment after reading another chapter of the book. At this point, we know that they are safely Outside. Notice how Jake calls the world Outside. Because that’s the next step in the hierarchy. He doesn’t yet know about the whole Cosmos or that each planet has its own “Outside”. But let’s go on a tangent. Getting back to Jack’s exposure, what I find slightly odd is that Jack doesn’t seem that shocked. Sure he asks around what’s this and what’s that but it’s not as much of a shock to him than I thought it would be. And lastly, your math was correct!
ReplyDeleteI suppose this allows me to have some sympathy for Jack, since it's all a lot for a five year old to comprehend. At times, it can be annoying how much Jack becomes uninterested and unable to understand what Ma is telling him about Outside, but I suppose I should cut him some slack, considering how his life has been so far.
ReplyDeleteIt sort of reminds me of the silos in Wool. For example, with the screens viewing the toxic Outside and the television in Room, Jules and Jack can't be sure they're really showing Outside. With Jack, though, it's much more severe since he only knows 121 square feet and TV shows a much wider range (literally "planets") of possibilities/environments.
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