Problem 8-3A
Captured and Sacrifice in Emma Donoghue's Room
“Everybody’s damaged by something” this quote relates to Emma Donoghue's novel, the Room. Donoghue’s characters are damaged by the experiences that they are going through. The novel is about a little boy named Jack and his mother whom he calls Ma, who is being held captive in this small room by this mean Old Man Named Nick. Jack and his mother are trying to survive so they can escape. The theme comes through the characters; they are put through certain situations that develop the theme.
Donoghue is an Irish native who lives in Ontario with her partner and two kids. Donoghue discovered she was a lesbian at the age of 14. In 1993 writer Donoghue published Passion between Women. In the book, it discusses Lesbian’s culture between 1688 and 1801. It has been said, “Donoghue convincingly shows, was fascinated by the varieties of engagement possible between women” (Holmes1). Donoghue was furious as to how people ignored and mistreated lesbians for so many years. Being a Lesbian writer is a significant influence that impacts Emma Donoghue's writing. Back then, women who loved each other had a difficult time to the point they had to cross-dress like men. In the source, it says, "cross-dressing might have been a strategy of social survival for women who wanted to live together" (Holmes 2). As a lesbian she had to endure much to overcome the social and cultural constraints to reach the epitome of glory.
The motherhood is the other factor that influences Donoghue’s writing. Donoghue has two kids named Finn and Una. Donoghue's partner Chris said, "She would rather be stabbed in the eye before having any kids." Kids have limited Donoghue's free time and given her great enthusiasm for writing. They keep her motivated and on toes with her work. Finding a Donor was a problematic process and took a long time to find the right person. When her children turn 18 years of age and 14 years of age and would like to meet their donor, they most definitely can.
Lastly, the reason that influenced Donoghue to write is she always wanted to be a writer. Donoghue dabbles in different genres, but her favorite is historical fiction. On a source, Donoghue states, “...historical fiction is so enjoyable to research on. And obviously, it's easier than doing the writing" (Donoghue). Historical fiction might be easy to write, but it is the very hardest to sell. Donoghue also has a unique style of writing her books. Her process was, “ write down the ideas as they occur to me and keep adding thoughts…” (Donoghue). She does this because there is always room for creativity, challenges, and changes.
As of 2019, she is still writing, and her book Room had gotten her the Good Readers Choice Award for best fiction. Overall, Donoghue is a lesbian, mother, and writer, and she manages to do all of it thoroughly. She doesn't let the lesbian backlash stop her from being who she is as a person. Without a doubt, sacrifice can change your perspective on how you view the world. The book Room by Emma Donoghue, throughout the book, this mother has made a lot of sacrifices for her son. She has done so much for him, and he doesn't even realize it.
The exposition is developed at the beginning of the story. It's the morning of Jack's 5th birthday, and his mother, Ma, happily bakes him a cake, but instead of him being happy, he is upset. In the novel, Ma doesn't have candles for the cake, so she uses five chocolate candies to represent them; Jack becomes mad (Donoghue 23). Every Sunday, they get a treat from Old Man Nick. They have to choose wisely what they need and want. Ma gets painkillers in case one of them gets sick or hurt; they will have them.
Another thing Ma does to watch out for Jack is to keep him out of harm from Old Man Nick, the man that has been holding Ma captive since she was 19. This is shown when Jack asked Ma, " why am I hidden away like the chocolates? I just don't want him looking at you" (Donoghue, 26). Ma hates Old Nick so much that she doesn't want any interactions between him and Jack. She is afraid if he sees Old Nick abusing her, he might start abusing him.
Furthermore, the book develops into some rising action after Jack's birthday. Old Nick buys Jack a toy jeep with a remote. Old Nick comes to visit, and Jack puts jeep and remote on the shelf, then go and hide. While he is hiding, Nick goes to sit right underneath the shelf, and the jeep falls on his head. He got so angry and was about to yell at Jack, but Ma stepped up and took the blame, so he grabbed her and raped her while Jack was in the room (Donoghue 48). She takes the responsibility because she can't bear to see Nick try to lay a finger on Jack. She rather, he hit on her and not Jack. Another occasion was when Old Nick came into the room and tried to start a conversation with Jack; this is being shown when she says, "Get away from him! Getaway!...shut up…. Don't forget where you got him from" (Donoghue74). He says that to show her that I'm the one who brought him into this world so I can do as I please. After that, she gets so fed up that she is ready to pack up and leave the room. Her first plan was for Jack to act sick so Nick would take him to the hospital, but that plan didn't work. Since plan A didn't work, they had to come up with a plan B for Jack to play dead, and it worked. The plan was “dead, truck, wiggle out, jump, run, note, and police” (Donoghue120). She wants Jack to be brave so they can escape because she’s tired of Old Man Nick.
The climax of the story is the great escape, so later that night, they get ready to perform plan B. When Old Nick came to visit started carrying out the plan. Ma starts crying, screaming and saying, he dead, he dead, you need to take him. Nick got up and put him in the truck to bury him. Once in the truck, Jack remembered what Ma said, when the truck comes to a complete stop jump and run for help. When he did jump, the ground breaks my feet. I'm running, running, running, where's somebody? (Donoghue140). Jack is running for his life and looking for help, out of nowhere Old Nick comes and finds him and tries to take him back to the truck, but a man saw Jack hollering and call the police. Police come and get Jack out of Nick's hand and arrested Nick. Jack was taken to the police car to talk.
Donoghue doesn't make the escape that easy she adds some falling action to show the struggle. While Jack is waiting and sitting, a police officer gets in the car and starts to question him. The officer is asking Jack where comes from? Where is his mother? Jack's just mumbling because he is too scared to talk. A few seconds later, he repeatedly calls out Ma, Ma, Ma. He says she is in the room, and he has to go and get her. The police make Jack corporate by asking him you read books, right? Well, tell me where you live in a story type of way (Donoghue 151). He tells the story, and the police catch on to it and know exactly where to find Ma. They make it to the location just in time to save Ma and set her free. They took them to the police station and questioned Ma. The next morning the story is worldwide, and when they are about to leave the police station, Jack describes the outside as "Vulture...people face with machines flashing and black fat sticks.” (Donoghue 155). This is showing how the news spread so fast that people are already trying to be all in their business.
Last but not least, the resolution of the book, after all the flashing lights and news Ma's, mom finds out and goes to get her and bring her home. Ma and Jack go to stay with grandma, and it's just a lot of rejoicing, catching up, and tears, but this time, they are happy tears. Jack goes and learns new things about the outside world. He doesn't like the outside too much as they have too many rules. In the end, he starts to come around and loves it. One day he asked, Ma a question, “may we go see Room one last time? (Donoghue 318). He misses it and knows he might never see it again. One last visit is all he wants. MA doesn't want to go but goes anyway only to see her son happy. Before they left Jack said, goodbye to all the things he loved and played with while in the room. After that moment, it felt like Jack had some closure and can move on with his life.
Emma Donoghue developed the theme through the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution. She does it so well, showing sacrifice, how a mother always sticks up for their children. Never give up; always try your best; you may discover something about yourself that you never knew. The outside world is different than what Jack thought. He needs to relax, take it easy, and it will all fall in place.
Along with the theme of Emma Donoghue's novel Room, she creates a character in the little boy Jack that exemplifies the naivete of being held captive from the outside world. Jack is a five-year-old boy who has turned this small room into a vast playground. Donoghue builds Jack's character traits as curious and innocence.
Jack, who is the protagonist in the novel, is a curious boy who always wants to know why to certain things. Jack always has a question for his mom," why am I hid away like chocolate” (Donoghue 26). The reason why Jack is getting put away is that his mom is trying to keep him safe from Old Man Nick. Jack doesn't see anything odd about Nick. Another incident was when he asked, “what’s wrong with needing” (Donoghue 9)? Jack and his mom need food and other daily living essentials to survive. Healthy living isn't that easy; they can't just ask for what they need every day Nick only brings them materials on Sunday as a treat.
In addition to Jack's curiosity, he is naive, and he acts innocent at times. When ma and Jack escaped the room, he became very inquisitive. When he goes to the restroom with his aunt and her daughter, “it's not like a penis, I put my finger on it and press its squishy” (Donoghue245). After the incident, his aunt hit his hand to discipline him; Jack should have known better not to touch his cousin's private area. His mom has been practicing and talking to him about personal space and not touch the stuff if it isn't yours. Another action of the jack is what he does to himself, “I get the scissors from the drawer and cut my ponytail all off” (Donoghue 284). The night before, he and grandma were talking about cutting his hair. Donoghue puts that part about Jack cutting his hair to show the reader you have to be careful about what you say around kids. Jack has a certain look he has brown eyes, big mouth, pointy chin, and long brown hair. He is portrayed with long hair to show the condition of not being able to get a haircut. Later it affects him when he entered the outside world because everyone mistakes him for a girl. It frustrates him; he starts to feel and say, “the outside world is so rude and dumb” (Donoghue). Donoghue puts this in here to show how, of course, Ma knows he is a boy but, other people usually see boys with low haircuts, and they assume he’s a girl because he has long hair.
Finally, the literary device in Room is juxtaposition; it is shown between Jack and his mother they are experiencing the same conditions but have different outlooks. Character Ma has been kidnapped for the past eight years. She wants to return to the outside world. She can't quite do that in the view of Jack, who loves room since that's the only home he knows. Throughout the book, Ma deals with a lot of abuse and depression. She is 28 years old and "has old rotted teeth, very thin hair, and is real skinny" (Donoghue 8). Ma looking this way indicates the rough living of not having any food and lack of personal hygiene supplies. Jack, on the other hand, doesn't see anything wrong since his teeth are healthy. Besides, when Ma starts to tell Jack the truth about how there is an outside world, he gets mad. She didn’t tell him the truth at first because he was too young to understand. That’s why she waited until he was older to understand.
Works cited
Joosten, Melanie. Room by Emma Donoghue: Notes. CAE Book Groups, 2012.