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Room by Emma Donoghue Summary Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Room


Plot Summary Part 2

It shows how reliant they are on Nick.


Ma tells Jack that this 12 by 12 foot shed was originally a garden shed but was reinforced with lead walls and a keypad lock on the door. She tells Jack that one day in the outside world Nick said his dog was dying and he needed help. This was a lie to get Ma into his pickup truck. Why a dying dog would require Ma to get into his pickup truck is unknown. Then he put a blindfold on her. Why Ma let Nick put a blindfold on her is unknown. Then he drugged her so she fell asleep. Why Ma let Nick drug her is unknown. This is not the greatest example of storytelling.


Ma tried to escape from the room before. She tried digging under the floor but Nick put a chain link fence under there. Another time she smacked Nick with a toilet lid and put a knife to his throat, demanding the access code to unlock the door. He gave her a code and she put down the knife to enter the code and the predictable happened. Ma's point is that she tried to escape but couldn't.

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This seems totally ridiculous to me. Even you, the reader, should know how Ma could have escaped.


Step 1: Wait by the door with knife


Step 2: As door opens, rush out with knife, surprise Nick, stab, stab, stab, and repeat as necessary.


Not so complicated.


But instead Ma comes up with a totally convoluted method of escape. She will pretend that Jack is sick and force Nick to take him to the hospital and then Jack will yell, "I've been kidnapped!" Remember Jack is only five years old. How ridiculous is that?


Anyway, to make Jack look sick, Ma goes to the toilet with her favorite tasting spoon and mixes all the shit until it is liquidy. Then she throws up some fish sticks and rubs them on Jack's face.


........................


Sorry, I had to stop typing for a moment because I was laughing so hard. I'm better now. What got to me is that Ma is doing all these disgusting things and exposing her 5 year old to peril because she won't take on Nick herself.


Anyway, it doesn't work. Nick won't take Jack to the hospital. So Plan B is to pretend that Jack is dead, wrap him in a rug, ask Nick to bury him in the forest, expect him to put Jack in the back of the pickup truck, have Jack break out of the rug, jump off the truck, run away, and get help.


Does any of this make sense to you? Let's consider all the problems with this plan:


1) Jack is only 5 years old.


2) Jack has no idea where Ma is being held captive, so can't tell the police.


3) A 5 year old can't jump off of a pickup truck.


4) A 5 year old running is like an adult walking.


5) Running away in a forest--how long would it take Jack to find someone, assuming Nick didn't notice he was missing?


6) How does a 5 year old wrapped in a rug breathe anyway?


7) And Nick would never once check to see if Jack is really dead? Come on.


But anyway that was the plan. So that evening when Nick comes Ma tells her that Jack is dead and wrapped in the rug. She insists that Nick not examine his body and Nick, who is usually quite suspicious, readily agrees.

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