We're around half-way through the novel by this point, and an important aspect of the book that still seems to be somewhat ambiguous is who the true hero of the story is. On the one hand, Jack is the narrator of Room, and thus it's his story to tell. Surely he would go ahead and make himself the hero. The book is presented in a way such that Jack is central to the story and everything appears to revolve around him, seeming to make his actions the most impactful. As we've learned in this last section of the book Dying, Jack appears to be literally risking his life to free Ma and himself. Sure sounds pretty heroic.
On the other hand, Odysseus' crew risked their lives constantly, and yet we don't call them the heroes of the story. The hero there is the brains behind the operation, Odysseus himself, who appears to be analogous to Ma. Jack didn't come up with any decent plan of escape whatsoever, nor did he really have any desire to do so either (not really of any fault of his own). He ended up being forced to go through with the final plan by their leader, Ma, in a state of total cowardice.
That's a really harsh way of me to put it. Although Jack did fight very hard against the plan, he did end up going through with it, and although he was no doubt experiencing the most terror he'd ever felt before, he executed it flawlessly. Credit where it's due to Ma as well, resisting the urge to stay cooped up in Room until the end of time with her son and instead deciding to risk it all for a very real chance at freedom, all while keeping Jack calm and comforted. I really don't have a definitive answer as to who the primary hero in the story is. I think the concept of an equally dual heroship is a very interesting possibility here, and I'm certainly interested in what others of you have to say about it.
I'm not sure it's really that important to distinguish who the bigger hero is. I think it's clear both Ma and Jack are heroic in overcoming very different fears and I think it's clear both of them have each other in mind through their escape so that they are acting as a team. While Jack is naturally hesitant to carry out the plan, he does do it and not because he's forced to and not in a state of cowardice (I think there's a difference between being absolutely terrified and being a coward, and the fact that Jack goes along with the plan and faces his fears makes him not a coward...). The fact that both are constantly thinking of the other during their acts of heroism really makes me believe Ma and Jack as a team are heroic and that maybe the most challenging and heroic part of all was just them being separated for the plan to work.
ReplyDeleteBoth really have their own roles to play in the situation. In the Odyssey, Athena can be credited with much of the success of Odysseus' journey but we don't really call Athena a hero either. I think both really deserve an equal amount of credit as Ma has been locked up in here so long that its quite surprising that she doesn't really mess up telling Jack much of the plan. I feel like she would be so excited at the chance of escape that something would slip, but nothing really does and the plan is fairly coherent. Both deserve the credit in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI think the parallel you made between the Odyssey and room was very interesting but I think that Jack is nothing like Odysseus but Ma is more like Athena. Ma is the one who is really pushing Jack to be the hero (hence changing the names of the heroes in stories to Jack) which is just like what Athena does. Athena pushes Odysseus to become the hero of his own story and for that reason pushes it to even happen hence she gets the Gods to vote to help him get home. Jack is a complete opposite of Odysseus however. Jack is not too confident in himself hence he keeps on trying to back out of the plan, while Odysseus is too confident.
ReplyDeleteClearly a kid of Jack's age--and especially of Jack's profoundly limited experience--can't be tasked with conceiving a workable escape plan on his own. He's mostly going to provide ideas of the "beat Nick's butt" variety. But--and this is crucial to note--it is Jack who first tilts the conversation toward the idea of a "cunning trick" (a very Odyssean approach to getting out of a jam), building in part on the story Ma told him about Nick kidnapping her with the ruse of the injured dog. (And Ma has just recently complained to Nick that they are cheaper to take care of than a dog--which maybe helps link the ideas in her mind.) Ma takes this inspiration and runs with it, and of course the plan is really hers (using _Count of Monte Cristo_ also as a model). But Jack's initial suggestion changes the whole direction of her thought--before this, her paradigm was either summoning rescuers somehow, or overpowering Nick and forcing their way out.
ReplyDeleteAn analogy was made in class to Ma as a kind of Athena figure, in terms of her guiding role in shaping Jack's escape. I like this analogy, but as with Odysseus (maybe even moreso), it's still up to Jack to pull this thing off, alone and profoundly disoriented. And Ma lacks Athena's ability to, like, shroud Jack in a mist, or lavish him with splendor, or disguise him. Her influence only extends so far.