In "Room" Development - An Anaylsis on Emily Donoghue's Triumphant Characters

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Development is a fragile and delicate process, that can be stunted as well as sped up. The factors that determine this “stunting” or “speeding up” can be chalked up to environment, or inborn qualities of a human being. This is the nature vs. nurture conflict, which has been a popular topic of discussion for sociologists and psychologists for years. This conflict has been inspiration for other sociological issues in recent years, such as the impact of television on a developing mind, and how being isolated or lacking social interaction can hurt or slow a child’s development. Childhood development has been thoroughly studied by many psychologists and sociologists alike, including Sigmund Freud. Freud came up with his own theory of development, which he described in different stages that children must go through and master. Failure to succeed in one stage may result in unhealthy fixations or habits later in life, according to Freud. However, many times, upon researching the topic of development, researchers focus on young children. One must remember that a brain still develops well into a person’s late teens and early twenties, and that if a teenager suffers abuse for years, their development will make them a different adult than a person who never experiences that hardship.

A woman is kidnapped at the young age of 17, and kept in an isolated shed with less than acceptable conditions. She lives in fear of an unknown captor, suffering physical and sexual abuse for two years before giving birth to a son, one who will not know the outside world. She mothers the child despite only being 19, and all the while still endures abuse and doing the best she can for her child. Her child’s name is Jack, and she is known as Ma. They are main characters in the movie Room.

Room does a stellar job of depicting the real world consequences of development being toyed with. For instance, the impact of television on a young mind. Jack spends a lot of his day watching the television and asking questions about it, and being that he’s only ever known “room,” it is his only input for outside information. He appears almost fixated on it at times, because it’s ever-changing, unlike the room he lives in. Jack struggles with understanding what is real and what’s not. Part of this has to do with Ma’s parenting of Jack, telling him that all the images within the television are fictional to keep him from knowing the truth of how they live, as prisoners. Later in the film when Ma comes clean to Jack about some of the things on TV being real, he quizzes himself to try and distinct between the real (reality tv and news broadcasts) and the fictional (cartoons.) Jack also struggles with the concept of “actors,” and doesn’t quite understand how something can be real, but not quite. This is displayed once Jack and Ma are rescued and in the hospital, when he asks Ma if the doctor is real or not.

When discussing the topic of how social isolation can alter development, it’s important to realize that while Jack’s development is clearly slowed, Ma’s development shows as damaged once the two are rescued. Jack doesn’t know how to communicate outside of talking to his mother, so once the two are put in a situation where Jack can openly talk to people, he often whispers what he would like to say to Ma, and she delivers the message. It can also be inferred that Jack is simply scared of social interaction, due to the scene in which Jack touches old Nick. That was his first opportunity at any kind of social interaction with someone other than his mother, and it ends in his mother getting hurt and Old Nick yelling. Jack becomes frightened and instantly apologizes frantically to his mother, crying on her shoulder once Old Nick leaves. This interaction cements in his head that all social interaction is scary and ends badly, not to mention the possibility of hurting people you love. Jack’s first successful go at social interaction happens when he sits down at the dinner table with Leo, his Ma’s stepdad. Leo plays a bit of a game with Jack to actually get him to come sit and eat with him. As Jack crouches to hide behind a balcony, Leo sees him and jokes about not being able to see Jack, and that he “sure wishes he had someone to share this delicious cereal with.” Jack curiously goes down the stairs to join Leo, and together they sit at the table, eat breakfast, and have a conversation. Jack learns that Leo has a dog named Seamus, and Jack tells Leo about his Dog, Lucky, who Jack points out isn’t real.

Another aspect of Jack’s development that is altered by his lack of social interaction is that he gets angry and overwhelmed very easily. If something contradicts what he knows to be reality, it’s easy for him to start yelling and get angry, and it’s hard for him to venture out into the unknown. He’s developed comfort in small spaces (similar to room) and feels vulnerable in large ones. Jack actually plays in a closet sometimes because it’s what he’s used to, it’s his safe space.

Now onto Ma, who is a young adult in the time Room takes place. As stated above, It’s unclear just how much Ma’s development is influenced until she is rescued and safe from “Room.” When she was abducted, she was a 17 year old girl, getting ready to graduate high school, unaware of the “real world.” All she knew, as all teenagers know, was her parents. They were the biggest parts of her life, and the biggest part of her development thus far. When Ma is rescued and finds out that her parents, her life, have split up and moved apart from each other, she’s unsure of how to handle this change, and when she’s at her childhood home, she begins to reminisce on her high school days, and almost resents Jack for a short period, because she can’t just pick up where she left off. She struggles so much with the concept of being a mother, and with finding her role and place in the world, that she makes an attempt on her own life, and is rescued yet again by her five year old son, Jack.

Ma feels out of place due to the fact that she went from a carefree teenager, to an adult so quickly, and before realizing how she’s supposed to be upon getting out of “room,” she’s abused for years sexually and domestically. This will most likely lead to trust issues, anxiety, and trouble keeping up with an intimate relationship throughout the rest of her life. Ma also goes through a depressive state after being rescued, in which time she “rests” for multiple days, unmoving, just staying in bed from dawn till dusk. Ma appears to resent everyone around her, including her parents, because she not only envies them for moving on and living life while she was away, but is angry that life seemingly served her such injustice. In the last scene of the movie, Ma apologizes to Jack, because she feels that she hasn't been a good enough ma for him. Jack responds by saying “but, you're ma.” At this moment, the two simply smile and hold each other, and for the first time in the duration of the film, things seem to be getting better. Ma realizes that despite her mistakes and struggles, she's Jack’s whole world, and the only constant thing he's had thus far.

Factors such as social isolation tend to trend with the “nurture” debate rather than “nature.” The “nurture” side states that people are products of their upbringing, and for both Jack and Ma, their environment is a clear factor in their personalities, due to the impact on their development.

Revisiting the topic of Sigmund Freud, many consider Freud to be outdated and quite frankly, just odd. However, in the stages of development, he does have an upper hand.

Freud’s stages of development are as follows: The Oral Stage, lasting from birth to age two, puts emphasis on a child's mouth. When children are just born and early on in their development, they chew on their hands and put various things in their mouth. This is also the typical period of life in which a child is breastfed. Second, The Anal Stage, puts emphasis on potty training. Next comes the Phallic stage, with emphasis on the genitals, lasting from ages three to six. The next stage, The Latency Stage, takes one up to the age of puberty. Thoughts are becoming more concrete, and it is a time of individual discovery. Last is the Genital stage, emphasizing sexuality. Freud says that each developing mind must successfully go through each of these stages to remain mentally sound in adulthood, and failure to succeed can cause fixations later in life, such as smoking, drug abuse, and relationship problems

In Room, Jack is seen struggling with development in all of the ways discussed above, but the most obvious is his failure to progress past the Oral Stage. Jack is five years old throughout the film, yet is still seen breastfeeding. Toward the end of the movie, he pulls at Ma’s shirt, but she rejects him, symbolizing her assistance to help him move into his other stages of development, and the simple fact that at his age, he is too old to be still lagging behind in this stage.

Because Jack’s mind is “plastic,” meaning it can be molded or mended easily, it's safe to assume that he will be able to finish developing with a few minor hiccups, but he will be able to function in society and overcome his obstacles. This does not mean that, because of the traumatic experiences of isolation and seeing his mother trying to take her own life, he will not need more help developmentally than he would have otherwise.

The impact of television and social isolation in accompaniment with psychological and sociological themes such as the stages of development and the Nature vs. Nurture conflict, are all topics that can influence a child's, or even an adults development on a perceptual and general mental level. Room is a cinematic masterpiece that is seemingly designed to illustrate these principles in specific and easily understood detail. It brings to light how major these factors can be in anyone's development, and makes these factors easier to see in today's society. However, despite negative impacts on today's society, any one person can be a hero. No matter how big or how small, just like Jack, or even Ma, for that matter.

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#Room #EmilyDonoghue