Summary
Emma Donoghue divided her novel Room into two roughly equal sections: the first takes place inside Room, while the second occurs outside Room's limited scope.
Inside Room
Narrated by a young boy named Jack, the story opens on his fifth birthday. Jack describes his life in the space he has only ever known as "Room," where he lives with his mother, "Ma." Room contains a limited number of objects, so each has a proper name (e.g., Table instead of "the table"). Minute differences between the furniture and objects in Room are significant to Jack. He prefers Melty Spoon to the other spoon because he finds its melted handle more interesting than the others. Jack interacts with each object as if it has a personality and seems deeply fond of Room.
Jack's daily routine consists of games like Gym, where he and Ma exercise, and Parrot, where he repeats the words spoken by people on the television to increase his vocabulary. There is also Scream, where Jack and Ma both scream as loud as they can, and Light, where Ma repeatedly switches the light on and off. Jack does not understand the reason for these games; to him, they serve no other purpose than filling up the day.
When night comes, Old Nick enters Room to "visit" Ma. Jack stays in Wardrobe and counts the creaks of Ma's mattress until Old Nick is gone again. Jack informs the reader that Old Nick brings groceries to Room. Once a week, Ma is allowed to ask for something special as a Sunday Treat, like orange juice or a new lightbulb.
Jack, like Ma, is always confined to Room. However, he does not know Outside; he has lived his whole life in Room. That life is about to change. During one of Old Nick's visits, Ma asks him to bring vitamins. Old Nick tells her he does not have the money; he has been unemployed for six months. Furthermore, his lease on the property is running out. Ma fears what will happen to her and Jack if Old Nick leaves. Jack doesn't understand her fears because he doesn't grasp the reality of their situation. Ma fears that if Old Nick leaves, he will murder them first to prevent his crime from being discovered.
Ma formulates a plan to smuggle Jack out of Room so that he can get help. She first has to convince him that there is a world outside Room, and that there are people in it. She then has to explain that Old Nick abducted her from the Outside and has kept her locked in Room for years and years. Jack has difficulty comprehending what she tells him, but he loves Ma, so he works hard to help her plan succeed.
Ma tells Old Nick that Jack has died of an illness. She wraps Jack in a rug and tells Old Nick to bury him; Old Nick takes it and dumps it in his truck. As he drives off, Jack unrolls himself from the rug and scrambles out of the truck. Old Nick tries to catch him, but Jack runs up to a man walking a dog, who asks if Jack needs help. Old Nick flees the scene, and the man calls the police. Jack leads them to Room, where they rescue Ma. Both are taken to a psychiatric hospital, and their life in Room ends.
Outside Room
Outside is full of new people and new experiences. Ma seems brittle and angry, and Jack alternates between feeling curious and feeling overwhelmed. He asks Ma when they can return home to Room...
(This entire section contains 1198 words.)
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because it is the only place he has ever known; Ma devastates him by telling him they will never return.
In the psychiatric hospital, Ma learns how much her family has changed since her abduction. Her mother and father divorced after her kidnapping, and Grandma has a new partner named Leo. Ma's brother married and has a daughter, Bronwyn, who is about Jack's age.
Ma's father comes to the hospital separately. At first, he seems happy to see Ma again, but then he sees Jack and flies into a rage because, to Ma's father, Jack is the living symbol of his daughter's years of sexual enslavement. Ma loves Jack more than anything and is furious with her father, who leaves in anger and does not return.
It is apparent from Jack's descriptions that Ma feels increasingly isolated and that escape from Room is not what she thought it would be. She agrees to do a television interview about her experiences to save money for Jack's schooling, but the interviewer is nosy and callous, and Ma breaks down in tears. She spends the next day sleeping, avoiding interaction with everyone. Jack's uncle comes to take him on an outing, and Jack unwittingly misbehaves, shoplifting a storybook because he doesn't understand about paying for things and touching his cousin Bronwyn inappropriately because he's never met a female child before. Jack's uncle is unhappy with him, although Jack doesn't understand why, and the outing abruptly ends.
When they return to the hospital, they learn that Ma overdosed on medicine to try and kill herself. Everyone is upset, and Jack asks if Ma is pretending to be dead like he did when they left Room. The sad irony of this statement is all too apparent to readers, who know that Ma was indeed trying to escape.
While Ma recovers from her suicide attempt, Jack leaves the hospital to live with Grandma and her partner, Leo, whom Jack names "Steppa" (for step-pa, step-grandfather). Grandma is brisk and impatient with Jack and doesn't seem to know how to deal with him. She is angry that he doesn't understand how to interact with other children and often snaps at him. Steppa, by contrast, is much more forgiving and takes time to explain many things to Jack. He quickly becomes Jack's source of security in this time away from Ma. Jack gradually becomes more accustomed to life Outside, although he still misses Room.
When Ma has recovered, she and Jack move into an apartment in an independent living facility. Grandma wants Ma to move in with her and Steppa, but Ma is determined to live alone. The new apartment feels cavernous to both her and Jack, so, as a coping mechanism, she and Jack write lists of all the things that are new to them and to which they must adapt. They also write lists of the new things they would like to try. It is a tentative first step towards life Outside, but it is significant nonetheless.
Before they fully settle into their new apartment, Jack asks if they can visit Room one more time. Ma is reluctant but eventually acquiesces to Jack's insistent demands, so the pair returns to the crime scene. Jack sees Room from the outside for the first time and is shocked by how small Room seems. He steps inside and sees all the familiar objects of his childhood in Room, but he is surprised to feel no real connection to them. He and Ma say goodbye to Room and, with a final look, leave to start their lives anew.
