We step in through Door and it’s
all wrong. Smaller than Room and emptier and it smells weird. Floor’s bare,
that’s because there’s no Rug, she’s in my wardrobe in our Independent Living,
I forgot she couldn’t be here at the same time. Bed’s here but there’s no
sheets or Duvet on her. Rocker’s here and Table and Sink and Bath and Cabinet
but no plates and cutlery on top, and Dresser and TV and Bunny with the purple
bow on him, and Shelf but nothing on her, and our chairs folded up but they’re
all different. Nothing says anything to me. “I don’t think this is it,” I
whisper to Ma.
“Yeah it is.”
Our voices sound not like us. “Has
it got shrunk?”
“No, it was always like this.”…
There’s the mark of Track around
Bed. The little hole rubbed in Floor where our feet used to under Table. I
guess this really was Room one time. “But not anymore,” I tell Ma.
“What?”
“It’s not Room now.”
Donoghue,
Emma. Room. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2010. Print.
This passage is a very important
part of the main story. Jack and Ma are prisoners of a kidnapper by the name of
Old Nick, and Ma has been held captive for seven years. Jack is five years old
and has spent his whole life in the eleven by eleven foot room. He knows
nothing of the outside world, and to him the only world is Jack and Ma in the
small room. Ma keeps him sheltered from knowing about the world while they are
locked up. One day, Ma comes up with a plan to escape. Ma gets Jack to fake being really sick, and
eventually fakes his death with the help of Ma. Old Nick takes the body to bury
it and throws it in the back of his truck.
Jack jumps out of the back of the truck and right to a passing by dog
walker. The dog walker threatens to call 911 after an exchange with Old Nick.
Old Nick runs and the police arrive on the scene. They get enough out of Jack
to go and rescue Ma out of the eleven by eleven foot room. Once they make their
escape, they are thrown back into the world and everyone in the media is trying
to get pictures and figure out the tragic story behind the two. They live under
the care of doctors and other people to help them get over the shock of being
in the world. Ma however almost overdoses on the medicine she receives. Jack
goes to live with his Grandma and Steppa, and he is exposed to so much more of
the world. Originally he was quite skeptical and was used to how things were in
room. Now he has to adjust to the social and cultural norms we have in our
society and it is a slow process.
When Jack went back to the room
after being out of it for a couple weeks it seemed completely different. It
seemed much smaller, and many of the items he had are no longer there. This
passage shows the importance of setting and the environment kids have when they
are growing up. I learned that if a child is stuck in a room his whole life he
will not have developed many of the social skills we take for granted today, we
just assume that everyone has these skills. There are many examples towards the
end of Room where Jack is scolded or told you can’t do that, or it’s not right
to do that. It was very well done because you got the feel he really didn’t
think it was the same place he lived the first five years of his life. He was
confused, and once he experienced the outside world, the small room looked even
smaller. Many of the things that happened in the room Jack thought would be the
same in the world. When he wanted something he would ask his mom to ask for it
for Sunday treat, and want to do the same things he did in the room. Jack’s
actions and thoughts really surprised me from both this passage and the book in
general. I couldn’t imagine being stuck
in a small room with just one other person for five years, and those five years
being the first five years of my life. Having no knowledge of the luxuries or
memories of the outside world would really crush me. It is amazing how the
author portrayed Jack’s thoughts and feelings.
This passage was written very well and many people take for granted the
simple things in life we enjoy that many people around the world do not have,
for example, a childhood.
I think that the model capstone
project was a success. The freedom the project grants you is a nice change from
always being told what to do. Sometimes however the complete freedom to choose
between so many things can cause a little anxiety of trying to make sure that
you picked the right thing and picking something and sticking with it general.
The blog posts were interesting as well, I have never thought about blogging
before and it is an interesting way to analyze and look at different texts. I
enjoyed the model capstone project, and learned a lot about the environment on
the way. The main thing that shocked me was all the harmful chemicals that are
being put into simple things just so companies can cut costs and make them more
resistant to things. I have no idea how our ancestors could live without flame retardant
mattresses, that of course is an example of sarcasm. We are putting unneeded
chemicals into certain products that don’t need them. In general, I liked the
format of the model capstone, it was very nice to be able to work on the things
I wanted, and be able to just have a lot of work time. I look forward to
accomplishing the actual capstone project and making it a similar success.
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