Room

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3, Pages 101-122 Summary: “Dying”

The next morning, Room is warm, and Old Nick has left groceries. Ma tries to help Plant, but the stem snaps. Ma explains that the cold killed Plant. Jack tries to fix Plant with tape, but it’s no use.

Jack’s new understanding is that everything outside Room is real. Everything he has learned about exists in Outside. They cannot go to Outside without the door code. Though he struggles to remember all the things that exist outside, he no longer doubts Ma.

On television, kids dye Easter eggs. Jack does not think the Easter Bunny can find Room. As part of physical education, Ma chooses a game called Corpse, where they compete to see who can lie still the longest. Jack makes a backpack out of a pillowcase for when they get rescued. Ma used to hope for rescue. She wrote notes and left them in the garbage bags. She tells Jack that no one is coming to rescue them. Jack is uneasy with Ma’s intensity.

After Jack nurses, Ma tells him they need to get out of Room all by themselves. Jack suggests they trick Old Nick the same way he tricked Ma. Ma comes up with a plan for Jack to pretend to be deathly ill so Old Nick will take Jack to the hospital. She decides that he should pretend to have a stomach bug.

Ma constructs the plan. Once Old Nick takes Jack to the hospital, Jack is to yell for help at the first doctor or nurse he sees. Jack wants Ma to pretend to be sick too, but she tells him the plan will not work that way. Jack is too scared to go Outside without Ma.

The next day, Ma reminds Jack of one of the stories they read about prisoners escaping the Nazis. They revisit the plan, and Jack agrees to it reluctantly. Throughout the day, they work out all the holes in the plan. They go over it multiple times.

Once Jack has the plan down, Ma coaches Jack in pretending to be sick. He practices playing corpse. Ma wants to do the plan tonight, but Jack is scared. Jack thinks everything is fine because the power is back on. Ma grows upset. She apologizes for rushing Jack.

Ma wakes Jack in the middle of the night to see the full moon coming through the skylight. Ma told Old Nick that Jack was coming down with something to lend credit to their plan. She wants to do the plan tomorrow night. Jack is upset, but Ma explains she must decide for both of them sometimes.

The next day, they do not flush the toilet. Ma mashes up their waste to look like diarrhea. They practice the plan. Jack is scared he will mess up his words because he has never spoken to anyone but Ma. Ma writes him a note to keep in his clothes.

Ma keeps a plastic bag of hot water on Jack’s forehead for the hour leading up to Old Nick’s arrival. Jack hates the hot bag. He cries a bit. Ma says it is okay because crying makes him look sicker. Ma makes herself vomit, then rubs some on Jack’s head and clothes.

When Old Nick arrives, he remarks about the terrible smell. He tries to dismiss Jack’s condition, but Ma pleads with him. Old Nick feels Jack’s face and says he will pick up some medication. Ma begs him to take Jack to the emergency room, but Old Nick says Ma is hysterical. He leaves.

Jack thinks he messed up the plan, but Ma says he did great. She tells him that she has a secret backup plan.

Chapter 3, Pages 122-155 Summary: “Dying”

In the morning, Ma tells Jack her Plan B. Ma will tell Old Nick that Jack died of the illness and he has to take Jack and bury him. Jack will be rolled up in Rug, pretending to be a corpse. Ma reassures Jack that he will not actually get buried. When Jack has an opportunity, he will escape from the rug, jump out of the back of Old Nick’s pickup truck, and find help.

They practice the new plan all day. Ma shows Jack what it is like to be carried inside the rug. She teaches Jack how to get out of the rug. Jack struggles but eventually manages it. Jack wants to wait until he is six. Ma says Old Nick lost his job and might lose his house. If that happens, they will be trapped forever. Jack is still too scared. Ma says that it is okay. She is going to do what is best for him regardless.

Ma prepares Jack for what to expect outside of Room. She tells Jack about stop signs that will slow the truck so he can escape, and about how Old Nick might chase him. She stresses the importance of not letting Old Nick catch him. She gives Jack permission to fight Old Nick if he must. Ma and Jack secure the note in his underwear. She tells Jack to say “I’ve been kidnapped” (131). Jack worries about remembering the plan. Ma is emotional as the evening approaches. Jack tucks Ma’s tooth into his sock so it can come with him. Ma comforts Jack one more time before rolling him up in the rug.

When Old Nick arrives, Ma sits in the middle of the floor with the rolled-up rug. She informs Old Nick that Jack died overnight. She yells at him, saying he killed Jack. Old Nick is sympathetic and offers to take Jack away. Ma tells Old Nick to bury Jack far away. If Old Nick buries Jack in the backyard, Ma will stop complying. She tells Old Nick he will have to kill her. Old Nick promises to take Jack away.

While he is being carried away, Jack wets himself a little. He counts his teeth to keep calm. Old Nick loads him into the truck and drives off. Jack struggles to break free from Rug. He misses two stop signs, but he eventually frees himself. At the next stop sign, Jack stands up to jump, but he falls. Old Nick sees, stops the truck, and gets out.

Jack leaps to the pavement, smashing his knee upon landing. He runs as fast as he can to a man with a small dog and a stroller. Jack tries to cry for help, but his voice will not come out right. The dog is startled and bites Jack on the finger.

Old Nick grabs Jack and hauls him away. Jack struggles. The man, Ajeet, stops Old Nick and asks if his child is okay, mistaking Jack for a girl because of his long hair. Ajeet is concerned because his dog, Raja, bit Jack. He wants Old Nick to wait so they can look at Jack’s finger and points out Jack’s bleeding knee. Old Nick tells Ajeet to mind his business. Jack pulls the note from his underwear. It is peed-on. Old Nick rips it from Jack’s hands. Suspicious, Ajeet calls 911. He tells Old Nick that he has Old Nick’s license plate numbers. Old Nick runs, dropping Jack onto the pavement, and drives off.

Ajeet tries to comfort Jack. Jack struggles to speak when asked questions but manages to say his name is Jack. The man says the police will be here soon. Jack looks around and sees trees and a streetlight for the first time. He is shivering. Ajeet offers Jack his jacket, but Jack refuses. Ajeet asks where Jack’s shoes are, but Jack does not answer.

Ajeet speaks to the police when they arrive. Jack worries Old Nick is going back to Room to hurt Ma. An officer named Officer Oh speaks to Jack. Jack tells her his age with his fingers, but he cannot manage to speak. She asks about Jack’s address, but he misunderstands.

Through their conversation, Officer Oh gets the name Old Nick from Jack and learns that Jack does not live in a house that’s on any map. Jack says he and Ma tricked Old Nick. He explains that he was supposed to jump out at the first stop, but he was stuck and jumped out at the third instead. The officers think they have enough info to search for Ma.

Officer Oh sits in the back of the police car with Jack as they drive. Jack says it is a shed in a backyard with a skylight. Through satellite images and running Old Nick’s plates, the police find the house and call for backup. One officer keeps Jack company while the rest go free Ma. Jack is scared Old Nick has killed Ma.

Officer Oh escorts Ma back to the police car. Ma and Jack embrace. Ma tells Jack he saved her. Jack is sad he missed the door opening because he wanted to see an explosion. Ma says they are free now and can watch more explosions later. Jack is tired, but Ma says they must talk to the police first. Jack wants to sleep in Room. Ma says they are never going back.

Chapter 3 Analysis

Chapter 3 focuses on Jack and Ma coming up with their plans for escape and executing them. Through this, the themes of The Innocence of Childhood, and The Impact of Trauma are developed. This chapter also features several significant symbols.

The chapter begins with Plant—the one other living thing in Room besides Jack and Ma—snapping at Ma’s touch. Ma explains to Jack, “I think it was the cold, it made Plant go all stiff inside” (101). Prior to this, Plant lived in Room but struggled to thrive as it lost leaves and bloomed only once, much like how Jack and Ma have lived in Room without experiencing any quality of life. Plant’s death after three days of no electricity and cold temperatures has greater implications for Jack and Ma. Ma understands this clearly, as Jack observes, “This is a pretty happy day because of the heat and the food, but Ma’s not happy. Probably she misses Plant” (103). Though Jack does not understand it, Ma is realizing how urgent their situation has become. Plant’s death symbolizes Ma and Jack’s ultimate fate if they never escape from Room. Plant’s death also contributes to the Impact of Trauma theme by showing how trauma takes its toll over time.

The Impact of Trauma theme continues to unfold as Ma begins to get emotional about their situation. She tells Jack how she realized nobody is going to rescue them while flashing the lamp the previous night. Jack does not like Ma’s intensity and he narrates, “I’d rather she was Gone for the day than all not-Ma like this” (105). Jack can sense that Ma is disturbed but he does not fully understand it. After Ma and Jack discuss their plan for escape for a while, Jack tells Ma he wants to wait to do the plan, “Maybe when I’m six” (113). In response, Ma “puts her face down on her arms” and “[h]er voice is shaky” (113). Ma gets upset because it is devastating for her to hear that Jack is not ready to help her escape yet. Ma has lived with the trauma of being in Room for seven years, and she is desperate to escape after Old Nick’s stunt with the electricity. Ma’s emotional reaction develops the Impact of Trauma theme by showing how seven years of imprisonment has pushed Ma to her breaking point.

Jack, on the other hand, does not have the same trauma as Ma because of how she has shielded him from their situation for most of his life. When Ma introduces the plan for Jack to fake sickness and go to the hospital, Jack replies, “I don’t like this plan” because he is “not going in Outside without [Ma]” (108). He would rather wait until he is six to try to be brave for Ma. Jack’s lack of urgency and lack of understanding for the severity of their situation contributes to the Innocence of Childhood theme by showing how Jack cannot comprehend something as bad as what they are experiencing—not fully. This comes back at the end of the chapter after the police have recused Ma. Jack expresses that he wants “to go to Bed” (154), clarifying that he means the bed in Room. He says, “I’ve seen the world and I’m tired now” (155). Jack does not realize that they are freed from a prison, and he cannot understand why Ma does not want to go back inside Room to sleep, as that Is all he has ever known. This develops The Innocence of Childhood theme by showing Jack’s innocent attachment to Room, despite it being his prison his entire life.

However, Jack does not completely escape the Impact of Trauma. When Jack is going head-to-head with Old Nick, Jack has so much adrenaline and is so terrified that he is unable to speak properly. When he spots Ajeet, he tries to cry for help, “but it doesn’t come out very loud” (141). He continues to struggle with his voice. He narrates a plea to Ma, “Ma, Ma, I need you for talking. She’s not in my head anymore. She’s not anywhere” (142). The trauma of being separated from Ma and fighting for their lives against Old Nick is enough to hinder Jack’s ability to speak when he needs it most.

Jack’s attachment to Ma is a large part of Jack’s decision making, both in wanting to wait to work out the plan and later in going on with the plan. Ma’s tooth is a symbol of this attachment. Jack holds onto the tooth because “He’s made of Ma, her dead spit” (103). He plays with Tooth when Ma is not available to play, and he tucks Tooth into his sock when he knows he is about to be separated from Ma for their plan. Jack’s keeping Tooth with him as the only thing on his person besides the note from Ma represents how important Tooth is to Jack as a piece of Ma. In this way, Ma’s tooth represents Jack’s attachment to Ma. Jack’s attachment to Ma becomes a significant hurdle for Jack and Ma as Jack adjusts to the world outside of Room for the first time.