Character Development In ROOM

Saying

By the end of the book Jack is as independent as he could be. We see this when he is saying goodbye to all of the things in Room. He would usually ask Ma if he could say goodbye to things but instead he does it on his own. “‘Good-bye, Wall.’ Then I say it to the other three walls, then ‘Good-bye, floor.’ I pat bed, ‘Good-bye, Bed’...” (320) Ma is standing in the doorway this whole time and with these “good-byes” Jack has begun to accept the real world.

Doing

When Jack is in the police car with Officer Oh and the man police he thinks to himself, “Outsiders don’t understand anything, I wonder do they watch too much TV.” (152) This is at a midpoint in the book (right before After) and shows both Jack’s way of coping with the real world and his complete and utter ignorance to it.

Others

During one of Jack’s in-closet encounters of Old Nick, Old Nick sees Jack’s eyes through the cracks in the wardrobe and asks Ma why she’s never let him see Jack. “‘I figure there must be something wrong,’ he’s saying to Ma, ‘you’ve never let me get a good look since the day he was born. Poor little freak’s got two heads or something?’” Jack doesn’t know what a “little freak” is and asks Ma. He knows it’s not a good thing and this gets him thinking about Old Nick more. He knows Old Nick is bad because he’s beaten Ma before but Jack has never been insulted by him personally. This gives Jack more reason to hate Old Nick and consequently break free of Room.