Wow. (would not recommend reading any further if you haven't finished "Dying")
I finished "Dying" last night, and that was intense. In my last post, I talked about how I don't really see Jack as a hero but just a normal five year old, and he's making everything more difficult for Ma, who is definitely a hero for just being able to raise him. A lot of things are going through my head right now, so this post is really just going to be about a bunch of different things, sorry.
Well I guess for starters, I see how Jack is a hero now. Well actually, I can see how he's able to perform a heroic act. I still see Ma as the hero of the story. Jack executes the plan, but it was all Ma's idea. So I guess I consider both of them to be heroes, but just because Jack carried out the escape, doesn't diminish my belief that Ma is the hero of Room.
I also said that I don't find Jack's narration to be annoying, but now that he has to communicate with other people to execute this dangerous plan, he's becoming more and more annoying to me. He doesn't understand how dangerous their situation is and how it's imperative that he listens to Ma, his first experience with the outside is so overwhelming he's incapable of talking to the police officers so they can save Ma. I'm constantly forgetting that he's a 5 year old, but reading his thoughts ("I'm hating her again a bit"), I understand Ma's frustration when he continually refuses to take part in the plan. I'm finding it very difficult to kind of put myself in his position to understand why he doesn't want to go through with the plan, or why he can't talk to the police officers properly. (By the way, I'm incredibly impressed with the police officer's patience with Jack. I would've been as exasperated as the male officer) It's bad, I know I should be taking his upbringing into consideration, but it's kind of difficult. The one thing that helps me understand is his line, "'I've seen the world and I'm tired now.'" (p. 155) I'm glad Jack was able to pull off the plan, but now that they're free, I can tell that his confusion with the rest of the outside world is going to make him seem even more annoying.
Is Jack more annoying to you now, or do you know enough about him that his actions are understandable?
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I think Jack is becoming a bit annoying in this section of the book. Mainly because he's been listening to his mother and doing what she tells him for the entire book and when stuff is becoming really dangerous and they need to work together the most, he decides to make everything difficult. With him constantly refusing to do what she says or hesitating, its not much of a surprise that their plans have so many problems.
ReplyDeleteI think I felt a little annoyed at Jack when he kept refusing to go through with the plan, but I actually found his reluctance pretty understandable. Now that they are out, I see how his complaining about everything can appear annoying, but I've been trying to imagine how foreign everything must seem for him and I mostly feel concerned for his recovery and how he is going to be able to function in the outside. While Jack has certainly become much more emotionally traumatized, I'm more annoyed at the people around him (like the news reporters and some of the hospital staff) who keep trying to treat him like a normal kid without thinking about what his situation is like. Even Ma has trouble understanding him completely now that they've escaped, and I feel less annoyed at and more sympathetic for Jack.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. By "annoying," we mean something like Jack isn't especially to social cues, he isn't considering how others are hearing the things he's saying, he's being sort of self-involved and not taking the bigger picture into account. (Sounds like a lot of five-year-olds, actually.) And while Ma isn't "annoyed" with Jack in this plotting scene, she is getting frustrated at how hesitant he is to go through with the plan--because now that it's under way, they may never have another chance to try it, and everything depends on Jack's performance, so he has to be *committed*.
ReplyDeleteBut Jack's social affect is "annoying" in large part because he's been socialized in such a radically unusual manner. It's akin to saying he's short, or his bones aren't as developed as other kids his age--his social skills are stunted as well. I find it hard to actually be annoyed with Jack, because it's so not his fault, but there is a nightmarish kind of frustration when he's unable to explain to Officer Oh, and we're on the edge of our seats waiting to find out what will happen with Ma. Jack's limitations are extremely frustrating to read, but it's these limitations that he must somehow overcome to emerge as a hero. His heroism is proportionate to his overcoming of these limitations.