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:
RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR: Jack returns home and rescues Ma, completing his physical hero's journey.
-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.
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
Another thing that I think is interesting about Jack's supposedly complete hero's journey is that there is no return to the ordinary world because he can never go back to Room. I think this is one of the things Donoghue is going to address in the more mental journey that Jack is nowhere near finished with.
ReplyDeleteI feel really bad for Jack because this is another huge journey that he's going to start at age 5. Getting used to the outside seems like it's going to be very hard for Jack since he's so dependent on Ma.
ReplyDeleteI think the main complication of Jack's mini hero's journey in the chapter Dying is that he really doesn't have a return to normal life, which is why there is still so much left to read in the book. He cannot become the master of two worlds because he is forced to totally leave behind the world he knows. I feel like in the broader context of the book, Jack has only really gotten to the "entering the unknown" part and the supreme ordeal is still ahead of him, as there is really no foreseeable way for Jack to return to normal life or become the master of two worlds in the near future.
ReplyDeleteThe end of dying goes back to the topics that we discussed in class regarding how Jack would be able to progress in the real world. We overhear bits of information from the doctor about how Jack's psychical and psychological development has slowed, even if his intellectual development surpasses the average intellect of others his age. Luckily, Jack has Ma beside him to help guide him through the wonders of the outside world, as it seems that living behind the comfort of Ma is currently the only thing that is keeping Jack afloat in the real world.
ReplyDeleteGreat job spelling out all the parallels to Campbell's Hero's Journey. I definitely agree with you that we will see the next hero's journey be in Jack's adjustment to the real world.
ReplyDeleteIt is very convenient to lay out exactly what Jack's actions and situations are and how they relate to a larger context (I'm totally going to refer to this post when I write my essay on Room). It also gives a chance for us to draw parallels to other heroes' journeys in ways that we might not have seen before. Like comparing Ma to Athena, or the Cyclops and some of the tests Jack went through.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the success of the escape could wrap up Jack's heroes journey when looked at in the way you do in this post, but all the same the books only about half way done and the story and its heroic arc can't just cut out there. Regardless, the way you laid out your post was new and I think presented your point a lot better than messy paragraphs would have done. Nice post
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about Ma serving as mentor here: it's not as simple as her being the one who "coaches" him through the plot, Athena-style, although she does do this. You note that as a "seasoned escape attemptee" (and, we might add, consumer of escape narratives like _The Great Escape_), she helps Jack understand what she's already tried (and THAT she's already tried, which helps make it *thinkable*), so they can move toward a "cunning trick" instead of direct assault. Remember, Jack's first "plans" are to attack Nick and "blast" him and "beat his butt"--not particularly wise ideas for such a small kid who doesn't actually own a megatron blaster.
ReplyDelete