This is Jack's first time meeting Ma's mother, and he doesn't yet understand that he can just call her "Grandma" instead of "the Grandma." It takes Jack a while to understand that everyone has a family, not just Ma, and that her family is his family, too.

Defining family isn't easy, especially when the family is as complicated as this one. Grandpa has trouble accepting Jack as an addition to the family. To Grandpa, Jack is only evidence that his daughter was raped. He can't see Jack as his Grandson, only as that horrible reminder.

Ma definitely thinks that an intense bond between mother and child instantly exists. She'd do anything to protect him, so when the talk show host asks her if things were "difficult," Ma doesn't think of it that way. It wasn't hard or easy; it's just what she had to do.

Ma is insulted by the talk show host, who implies that Jack would have been better off with a "loving family." Ma is his mother. Shouldn't she be family enough? And doesn't she love Jack enough?

Ma is irritated about having to talk about her captivity on TV, because she knows that others have been through it and are going through it all the time. She isn't special. She's talking about both literal captivity—whether it's other girls like her, or the slaves of the past—and the figurative captivity that comes from, say, being in an abusive relationship. Everyone wants to break free of something, and that is why so many people identify with Ma and Jack and their plight.

Jack doesn't yet understand that there are different versions of Outside. For him, being cooped up in a hospital is a world of difference from being cooped up inside Room. But for Ma, being cooped up anywhere is still being cooped up… she wants to be in the outdoors, and she wants to convince Jack to come with her.

Everything is so new to Jack, it's sometimes difficult to realize at first what he's describing. Here, he's in the cafeteria breakfast room, and everyone is eating waffles. Jack really does have to learn everything out in the world (but don't we all?). Good thing no one tells him to leggo my Eggo, or his head might explode.

Looking out the window is the only way Jack is comfortable exploring his surroundings at first. As a kid who enjoys TV so much, this isn't unusual. It's a way for Jack to explore Outside without actually having to interact with it.

Jack explores the world the only way he knows how, through the lens of Room, where he has grown up. Everything in Room was bought for him, so it would have a label or some sort of identifier. He doesn't yet understand that there are things in nature that have been around a lot longer than labels have.

Whew, that's one paragraph. One long, exhausting paragraph. Of course, it's not exhausting to Jack. While he's listing a whole bunch of mundane objects, they're all new and fascinating for him to see. Each of these things flying by as the car zooms down the room provides Jack with an opportunity for exploration.

Jack personifies almost everything, so of course he worries that his old books are now homeless. To Jack, Room no longer exists. And since Jack defines a home as a place where something belongs, if his books don't belong anywhere, they don't have a home. Jack is dealing with the same problem himself. Where does he belong?

Ma is conflicted because she definitely wants to forget Room. It's where she was held captive for seven years. But she understands that it is actually home to Jack. It's where he was raised. What will he lose if he forgets his home?

A home is a place you feel safe. It takes a long time for Jack to find a safe place when he's in the Outside. No wonder he wants to go back to Room even though other people, including Ma, see it as a prison.

Ma is experiencing some culture shock of her own on the Outside. Even though Ma and Jack have lived outside of society for years and years, everyone else expects them to abide by their societal norms. Breastfeeding in public is weird enough to most people; breastfeeding a five-year-old is just unacceptable.

Jack doesn't like people staring. Who does? People think Jack is weird because he doesn't fit into a neat little bubble dictated by society—so they stare at him. But staring isn't polite at all. At least Jack isn't doing anything to make them directly uncomfortable.

Okay, the outside world is weird. When we find out stuff like this, it makes us wonder if things were better in Room after all. At least there, strangers don't send you poo in the mail…

Ma has to teach Jack how to behave in "polite society," and a lot of being polite is all in how you word things. It's funny how little tricks like this are passed down from generation to generation. We later learn that Grandma taught Ma this sly way of wording things.

All of Jack's questions make Ma, and us, question society's arbitrary rules and customs. Ma has to strike a balance between letting Jack live the way he wants to live and teaching him to conform to society's rules.

Jack wants to know everything, and we mean everything, even if it makes him feel uncomfortable, scared, or weird. That's pretty ambitious for someone of any age.

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.