We also can't take away the huge contribution made by Ma. She had to sell the acting that Jack was dead which was crucial to Old Nick taking Jack out of Room. Maybe when Ma was "acting", she actually believed that Jack was going to get killed if something went wrong and I thought it was impressive that she managed to do this. Seven years of torture in a closet finally ending and the way the plan was made and executed really made me believe this could happen. It wasn't a simple plan that just appears after they stare at the roof and not everything happens as planned like in a movie. There was a real chance that too many things went wrong and they both end up dead. I think its because of this possibility of danger for the main characters that makes what they do seem so much more heroic.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Jack of all Trades
In the section "dying", I believe that Jack has truly become a hero. Sure he was confused and really didn't know what he was doing but he did it anyway. He was able to travel to a brand new world that he didn't even know existed. I'm glad that he was able to have a safer escape then what could've happened if say the guy walking his dog didn't come. Although I did think it was funny that everyone kept thinking Jack was a little girl the entire time. It took a lot of scavery to do what he did and be separated from his mother for the first time ever. With this being his first time in Outside, a lot happens. There is so much to take in and it all happens so quickly with Old Nick chasing him. There are so many things that could've gone wrong and did go wrong and he knows that. I think this new experience of traveling out of Room would be like traveling to a different planet and trying to communicate with aliens. He'd have to learn how to talk with the people, understand how they live and even get used to their air. It's something that I would never want to experience because I just wouldn't know what to do.
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I still can't decide which character is the more heroic one. Jack executes Ma's plan perfectly, and it required an absolutely tremendous amount of bravery on his part to blindly step out into the unknown with the stakes so high. Ma, also willing to risk both their lives for a plan she'd delicately concocted for years and keeping both Jack and herself under control while it was being played out. The chapter Dying certainly brought out the absolute best in both of them, a very intense section to read.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that the prospect of danger and death helped to make The Great Escape even more heroic. I think it's also important to mention that Jack's like was very strictly regimentalized up to this point so it must have been an even larger change for Jack to go from being in his element (Room) and doing the same things over and over again to risking his life and possibly that of his mom's in a foreign world (Outside).
ReplyDeleteIn my view, we can't clearly separate Jack's role and Ma's role in the Great Escape--it's a true collaboration from start to finish, fitting Jack's understanding of him and Ma as deeply connected at a spiritual level (when he thinks about hearing her voice in his head when he's Outside). They both have to act, in very different ways, when Nick comes into Room--and I do not believe that acting dead, wrapped in a rug with vomit-soaked hair is easy. (Although the fact that "Corpse" was one of the games Jack and Ma played does serve as some kind of training.) The inspiration is Jack's, when he proposes the "cunning trick," and then Ma takes this idea and runs with it, crafting the plan. Up to this point, she's mainly been thinking in terms of rescue (the flashing light, the screaming) or overpowering Nick (the broken wrist). Jack's suggestion points them in a more Odyssean direction, and this is the strategy that works in the end.
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