By Faith Zochowski
Imagine what life would look like to someone who has never stepped foot outside of a small shack. Room gives us a glimpse into what this life would look like told by five-year-old Jack, the narrator of Emma Donaghue’s novel. Jack has never known anything different than Room, as he terms the shack, but to his mother, it is her prison cell. It is where she has been held captive for seven years by Old Nick, their kidnapper. This shocking novel illustrates the incredible bond between mother and son and how they cope with their captivity. Room has been adapted into a movie starring Brie Larson as Ma and Jacob Tremblay as Jack. Read below to discover just how accurate the book is to the film.
1. Point of View
As mentioned previously, the book is told from Jack’s point of view. Because Jack is a five-year-old boy, he does not have the widest vocabulary. Even so, Donaghue’s creative approach in choosing Jack as the narrator is effective. It allows the reader to comprehend his understanding of Room better and to have more sympathy overall towards the situation. For example, he associates many objects in the room as proper nouns instead of nouns. When referring to the telephone, duvet, and rocker, he refers to them as the capitalized proper noun of that object, such as, “I sit on Rocker with Ma.”
This dynamic does not occur in the movie mainly because there is no set narrator in the movie. The scenes capture what is happening physically rather than the internal thoughts of the characters. Jack’s language stays true in the film, yet the absence of these added details in the movie are missed.
2. The Escape
The movie also succeeds in reflecting the escape scene described in the novel. Ma comes up with a plan to finally get them out of Room, and it entails Jack pretending to be dead so he can go get help. Old Nick puts Jack in his truck to bury him elsewhere, and this is when he jumps out of the truck, discovered by onlookers of the scene. Jack is extremely courageous and determined, knowing he must save his mom but also extremely distracted by seeing the outside world for the first time. Eventually, the police are called, Ma is rescued, and the mother and son are reunited. The scene in the movie is sure to keep you at the edge of your seat. Click the link to view the movie clip on YouTube.
3. Jack’s Understanding of the World
Ma battles throughout the entire film and novel whether to tell Jack the truth about Room or to let him believe that the way they are living is normal. It was easier for her when Jack was too young to comprehend anything, but his curiosity is growing as he matures and gains a better understanding of the world through the TV. She eventually must tell him the truth when she plots their escape, and he struggles to comprehend what she is telling him. He becomes defensive of Room and begs Ma not to make him leave the only place he has ever called home. The movie does an excellent job of portraying these gut-wrenching pages in the novel. Click here to watch the clip.
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