Room

Upon finishing Room, I felt a big wave of satisfaction. Donoghue managed to make the book I never wanted to finish, have the most unimaginably poetic ending. So much so that I immediately started re-reading the book after I finished.

I think what made the book so intriguing to me was Donoghue's use of a five year old narrator. This literary choice allowed the book to come off as playful in its introduction and as a result immediately immersing me in the novel.

Donoghue did a really good job at slowly revealing important plot points throughout the beginning, all the while keeping in mind that the reader needs to get used to Jack's interesting dialect. I remember the first strange thing that I picked up on was when Jack, nonchalantly, narrated, "I went to sleep in Wardrobe," but he had woken up in Bed in the novel's introduction.

While most of the beginning of the novel came off as a playful interpretation of a horrific situation, when Ma and Jack started planning the escape, the whole mood of the book changed from a light hearted narration of living in room, to an intense race against the clock.

It was almost like I could hear Jack's heart pumping throughout the entire Dying section, he had just learned that there is a world outside room and now he was expected to execute an escape plan or else risk the death of both himself and Ma. The end of Dying was so intense that in the very end I thought that Jack's reunion with his mother was just his mind trying to cope with a fearful reality.

The chapter After started to kind of lose me as a reader, but the need to see Jack react to all of the new ideas and objects kept me reading. Living however re-grabbed my attention as the new dynamic of Jack without Ma appeared in the book. My favorite section probably being Jack's aloof riddance with his long hair.

Ma and Jack's reunion reins the whole story back in and establishes Jack as a master of both worlds, especially as he exits Room for the final time, remembering its good times (taking Ma's drawing of him) but never looking to go back.

Jack's Journies

By the end of the third chapter (Dying), it seems that Jack has already finished his hero's journey:

THE ORDINARY WORLD: For Jack this is represented by Room and is introduced to the reader throughout the first chapter.

THE CALL TO ADVENTURE: After the 3-day power cut, Ma realizes that Jack and her must act soon to escape Room or they may never get the chance.

REFUSAL OF THE CALL: Jack, while initially enthusiastic about Plan A, starts to reject and postpone; both Plan A and -- especially -- Plan B.

MEETING WITH THE MENTOR: When Ma tells Jack the story of her kidnapping and subsequent escape attempts, the reader is met with a seasoned escape attemptee, whose trials will lead to the formation of a perfect great escape.

CROSSING THE THRESHOLD: As soon as Jack is brought to the outside in the rug, he has entered the unknown.

TESTS:

-Getting out of Rug

-Jumping out of the truck

-Finding someone

-Asking for help

-Talking to the police

ALLIES:

- Ajeet

-Officer Oh

-Raja (in that by biting Jack's finger the dog alerts Ajeet's attention)

-Ma's Tooth

-Ma's voice in his head

ENEMIES:

-Old Nick

-Raja (just because of the physical harm)

-his fear of talking

APPROACH: This could be seen as the two police officers, in particular officer Oh, gently questioning and guiding Jack to reveal Room's characteristics, which eventually lead them to it.

THE ORDEAL: For Jack, this can be seen as talking to the police in order to help them find Ma. Jack mentions that he can talk if he doesn't look at them and pretends he is talking to Ma.

THE ROAD BACK: Jack's whole time in the patrol car is the road back. Jack is brought to a sense of urgency when he thinks of Old Nick going back to Room and killing Ma, as he is brought back home from his Unknown.

RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR: Jack returns home and rescues Ma, completing his physical hero's journey.

At this point it seems that Jack is done being a hero and will spend the rest of the book as a master of two worlds. But, in the last couple pages of the chapter, the reader gets a glimpse of what will begin a new kind of Hero's Journey for Jack, a psychological one. Jack has already faced the world physically and got himself and Ma out of Room, but he is yet to grasp the concept of the Outside and that everything in his life will soon be flipped upside down. I think Donoghue executes the transition between these two journies really well and leaves the reader in suspense by finishing the initial journey just shy of the book's midpoint.

http://www.thewritersjourney.com/hero's_journey.htm