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Ellen Collins

Mrs. Cramer

Period 6B

November 15st, 2019

Life without Light

Imagine life in a small room controlled by a kidnapper. He controlls your heat, your

water, your food, as well as your child. Room by Emma Donoghue is a literacy roller coaster.

Joyce, better known as Ma, has lived eight years in an 7x11 ft room. In those eight years Ma

gave birth to Jack. This book takes the reader on the journey of rescue through five-year-old

Jack’s perspective. Jacks perspective plays an important structural and character role in the book.

This choice causes the reader to understand the characters situation and credits the characters

believability.

The situation the reader has to understand is a hard pill to swallow. The character Ma was

captured at the age of eighteen and kept in the room for eight years. When raising Jack, Ma had

to create a scenario where she explained to Jack that everything that was shown on TV was

simply just TV. This decision was based off the situation of never escaping. Having the dream of

escape come true, Ma explains to Jack the reality of the outside world. “Listen what we see on tv

is real life...’’ (Donoghue, Page 55/56). Jack’s reaction is completely normal of a five-year-old

that has been lied to. Being written in Jacks point of view, the reader can grasp his thoughts and

how he takes on a small situation. This is only a small part of Jacks daily life. Old Nick, the

name given to the man who kidnapped Ma, comes down into the room when Jack is in the closet

“sleeping” and sexually assaults Ma. Jack during this time counts the creaks to fall asleep.

Looking through this daily event in the eyes of Jack lets readers understand the conditions and
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surroundings Jack is growing up with in this room. When seeing it through the main character’s

eyes, the choice of the point of view is to know the thoughts. Seeing that Jack relies on the

creaks of the bed to sleep supplies understanding to the conditions. These two examples further

the authors choice of the point of view of jack and creat the understanding of the situation.

Character believability relies on how real the characters would react and express emotion

in a situation. Ma is a good example of the reality of life. Jack always sees Ma has a fearless

person who can never become broken. Upon returning to room towards the end of the book, Ma

expresses her unwillingness for going back. When Jack insists on going into the room with her

only, no police officers or such, Ma hunches over and vomits into her hands and onto the ground.

“But Ma’s hand dropped mine and her hunched over the ground...” Room (Donoghue, Page 319).

This example from the book displays how sick the thought of going back into a triggering space

affects someone. Ma shows the effects of true emotional and mental damage. This is how Ma

would react and express emotion realistically to the situation. Showing this through Jacks point

of view lets us understand how he sees his mother and what he thinks of her situation. Another

part of the book is when Ma attempts suicide. In this part of the book Ma begins to struggle with

balancing the trauma, her old life, and her new life. This takes a toll on her and Ma, in an upset

state of mind, ends up trying to overdose. Jack end up saving her life by calling the nurse. Jack is

sent to Ma’s mother’s house. A month or two passes and Jack receives a phone call from Ma.

Jack is confused of how she is calling and asks the question “Are you in heaven”. This is an

emotional moment as we see from Jack’s eyes how confusing and traumatic losing a parent is.

We also see Ma open and explain life and death and how her recovery can take a while. Seeing

this from Jacks eyes open up the emotional impact of how young and vulnerable Jack truly is.

This deals with character believability because this example shows realistic problems dealt with
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realistic reactions. The emotional aspect creates a situation for the reader that makes the

characters start to seem real. These two examples make the characters believable in a lot of

different ways.

In conclusion, the book Room is an extraordinary book that deals with realistic emotions,

creates reactions one would see from a real person, and helps to understand the many situations

that the characters get themselves into all through the point of view of Jack.. This choice causes

the reader to understand the characters situation and credits the characters believability. Ma is

shown through Jacks eyes as someone who is brave and fearless until the emotional moment of

her suicide attempt or seeing the reaction of Ma telling Jack that everything on TV is real and not

just made up on TV. All examples shown supply further evidence of the authors choice letting

the reader understand and connect with the characters. Room is not a 7x11 square but is a story

of the bond between mother and child.

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Work Cited

Donoghue, Emma. Room: A Novel. Toronto: HarperCollins, 2010.