The novel's premise was quite heavy, but somehow the tone has always felt a little light. Jack's dialogue is humorous and entertaining even in the darkest of moments, and his future seems open as the halfway mark of the novel approaches. I suspect that Jack will encounter some emotional or psychological trauma along the way, but I feel the story could progress convincingly without the amount of heroic struggle I'm more accustomed to reading. Jack is already an extreme character whose questions and observations provoke analysis of society as a whole, and I hope the author makes use of this throughout the novel.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Jack's Great Escape
The escape scene was definitely a huge release of suspense built up since the early sections of the novel. Jack's concise but emotive narrative style is well-suited to the quick pace of the chapter. There was some controversy concerning Jack's heroism in the escape, and to what extent was he just following a few orders from Ma. While I do think Jack displayed some heroic control of his emotions, I didn't see the escape as Jack's climactic act of heroics. Instead it was Jack's emergence as a possible heroic protagonist, just as he is also emerging into "the Outside". Jack's maturity and intelligence make it easy to forget that he is merely five years old, and I think it's clear at this point (both through Jack's analytical skills and his fairly substantial education) that he will become a very unique character as he interacts with the new world he is now immersed in.
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It is interesting to think about how we can use seeing the world through jack's eyes as some sort of commentary on society in general. Jack's development outside of Room will be cool to see and should give us some interesting things to note about social conventions which Jack has no experience with. It will be cool to see what becomes of Jack and Ma in the outside world and how other people view them and their struggle.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Louis that Jack's future development will be for the most part psychological. I do disagree however, that the escape is the climax of his heroism. I do think that it will be at least the most significant of his heroic acts because for one he is going out into an unknown world. It is also the first time that he has done anything like that, and as the first time I think that it will be the most significant.
ReplyDeleteTo some extent Room is Emma Donoghue's social criticism/criticism to be. Because in Room, the obvious issue that's going to be addressed is how is a person, who has lived in their own world separated from other people/society, now going to adjust to a world that he didn't know existed. Obviously Jack and Ma's escape is quickly going to spread and become THE NEWS. So how is Jack and the World going to adjust to each other, that's the real question.
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