Jack Quotes

Jack might understand a lot of words, but being trapped inside Room limits his ability to understand some of them. He thinks that he and Ma are the only "real" people and that everyone else, even the humans, inside the television are not real. It takes him a while to grasp this concept.

Because Jack only understands things (and people) he has seen in person, and because all his other knowledge comes from TV, he uses the word "TV" to mean "fantasy" or "imaginary." To Jack, anything that he hasn't laid his hands on is imaginary—even bunnies.

This is a pretty good definition of sarcasm, and it's impressive that five-year-old Jack not only understands what sarcasm is, but can pick up when someone is using it. That's more than a lot of adults are able to manage.

It's difficult to tell these two things apart. You can't really pretend without lying, and you can't really lie without pretending it's true. In Jack's mind, they're two distinct concepts. He doesn't understand that to an outside person, like Ma, they look like the same thing sometimes.

With every new concept comes new vocabulary. It's a lot for Jack's little brain to process, this whole the-brother-of-my-mother-is-my-uncle thing, so his brain pretty much shuts off and thinks of something much simpler, like lunch.

This is the first time Jack learns that Ma has a name other than Ma (though we never get to know it). Maybe we never get to know it because Karen Jones, or whatever her name is, is never who she'll be to Jack. To Jack, the only word to describe her is, and always will be, Ma.

Now that Jack is in the Outside, he's going to experience lots of euphemisms and idioms that seem strange to him. He doesn't understand that "vulture" is another term for "paparazzi," though it'll make a lot of sense to him once he does get it… he'll understand that the photographers are scavengers.

Jack takes language very seriously. His spelling is good, his pronunciation impeccable. He's a little grammar Nazi in training, seeing these little puns on the crayons as serious offenses against the rules of good grammar.

Ma is scared of Old Nick and for good reason. He abuses and rapes Ma multiple times a week. Even though Jack doesn't know exactly what's going on, he knows it's a reason for fear.

Yikes. That sounds terrible. And it would be. There's no way Jack made up all this detail by himself. He must have gotten it from Ma. She's made sure to scare Jack into being safe, because she doesn't want to lose him, especially not in such a horrible way.

Ma's reaction to Old Nick's appearance is instant fear. It's incredible how much she manages to compose herself in his presence, given how frightening he is.

Jack is expressing quite a bit of empathy here. He's not afraid for just himself; he's afraid for Ma and her safety. That's very sensitive for a five-year-old.

Jack understands a lot at five, but he still has a rough grasp of time. He doesn't yet understand that he is getting older every single day, not just magically clicking over from four to five on the night of his birthday.

Unless the cake is burned black by the time it comes out of the oven, there's no way it takes this long to bake. Jack just thinks it takes so long, because it does take so long in kid time… when he's not doing something to keep his mind occupied, time goes by so slowly.

Jack doesn't understand the difference between a week and a year, because both are still an insane amount of time for a five-year-old. Ma, however, does understand the difference, and she cannot bear having to spend another year trapped inside Room.

It's true that kids have longer attention spans than adults, at least when it comes to certain things. But being forced to entertain himself with very little, Jack has a very long attention span compared to most other kids. When he's doing stuff that he loves, it doesn't feel like any time is passing at all, whereas time seems to be dragging and dragging for poor Ma, having to read Dylan the Digger over and over again.

A day just has twenty-four hours, and Jack is probably only awake for sixteen of them, tops. But when he's bored, without Ma, the hours seem like they're stretched out forever and ever.

Jack already has a very poor concept of time. Add panic to the mix, and he completely loses all sense of it. He has no idea how long he's in the truck; all he knows is that it's been too long, and he fears that it's too late to attempt an escape.

In Room, Jack was always aware of the time, but it seems that he's even more aware of it in the Outside. He's starting to realize that time is merely a suggestion, not a hard and fast rule to abide by when setting things such as mealtimes.

Good question, Jack. We don't quite understand it either. It seems that the more obligations you have, the less time you have to do them in, whether it's a job, family, or being home for the latest episode of So You Think You Can Dance.