I'm a few dozen pages into After at this point, and some interesting dynamics are definitely beginning to develop. Spoilers beware if you haven't done much of this reading yet.
in Dying, Jack plunged himself face-first with his safety on the line into a universe he knew basically nothing about, where he had to rescue Ma, alone. This a terrifying experience and almost certainly a traumatic one for him. To say his whole world has been turned upside down would be an understatement. As far as he could tell, he and Ma had just lived there peacefully forever, but with their escape, their true differences begin to emerge. For seven years Ma had been presumably been fantasizing about what she would do once she got out, and with her escape, she can't wait to return to normal life as best she can. Jack, on the other hand, knows nothing other than Room, and so, in a complete role reversal, Outside seems to feel more like the prison to him.
This is especially interesting because neither Ma nor Jack seem to be fully aware so far about what exactly the other is feeling, both just seem to kind of translate their emotions onto the other person, more or less assuming that they should both feel the same way. This mentality disalignment has increasingly caused them to butt heads in the hospital, and I greatly look forward to how both characters, as well as their intense relationship, develop throughout the rest of the novel. We're not even half way done yet with Jack and Ma's story.
It will also be really interesting to see how Jack progresses with his understanding and interaction with the rest of the world outside of Room. Just the fact that there can be more than one pill bottle is surprising to him just a few days before this escape happened so I can imagine many more interactions with people and items that will be interesting to see develop. Although he has some general knowledge of the world, he hasn't really interacted with people either so it will be cool to see that develop also.
ReplyDeleteJack's hero journey definitely hasn't ended with escaping Room, in a way escaping Room was easy compared to now trying to adjust to the Outside. I feel that the escape was simply just a catalyst for Jack's real change and challenge: adjusting to the Outside. This new chapter in Jack's life, I feel that, will result in him growing up. Not only going through physical changes, but also going through emotional/mental changes. Jack is going to need to get used not having Ma all to himself, and also to the presence of other people.
ReplyDelete