Monday, March 16, 2015

Sense of Self: Room

Room
by Emma Donoghue
Read for "Sense of Self" theme

Room is an incredible book. While it pushes the boundaries for young adult and borders fiction for adults, I still stand by the fact that this is an excellent novel and possibly a good recommendation for a (mature) high school student. Room is told from the perspective of a five-year-old named Jack. He and Ma live in a room, and to Jack, Room is the entire world. He was born into a captivity of sorts, as his mother was abducted and then impregnated by her captor. Now the frame description of this novel would make it seem extremely inappropriate for young adult, but I still stand that this could work for (mature) high schoolers.

Jack's perspective offers an innocent look on evil matters. This lesson alone is a great aspect to the novel which makes it, in my opinion, brilliant and great for learning opportunities. Perspective is a difficult trait of writing that is difficult to teach students at times, and understanding the complexity of a foreign perspective or finding meaning in the author's choices with perspectives is no easy feat either. Room is a great tool to help teach these big ideas and make it more understandable for students.

I really could talk for days about this book. I found it ground-breaking in terms of narrative form and intriguing in terms of originality. But what struck me most about this book and my experience reading it was the reaction I saw in myself to what was happening or what Jack was saying. I got angry at Jack for not understanding how Room was a bad place and for not embracing the outside world. Rationally, I should have known to expect this in his behavior. Yet, I was still compelled to judge him and get angry at him. This is not the first book to make me feel like this, nor should I expect it to be the last, so I vie for its place in the young adult world so readers may learn this very lesson. Characters in book could just as easily be people in the flesh, and one should learn to understand perspective before jumping to conclusions or rushing to judgments.

2 comments:

  1. This book seems very interesting. I can see why you believe that t could push the boundaries of a young adult novel. I probably will end up checking out the book. Especially because I am big on people judging on a certain situation without knowing . When you said it is hard to not put it down that really makes me want to read it even more .

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  2. I think that this book is one that mature students would definitely benefit from reading. often people are reluctant to let young adults read books that push the boundaries and I think it is important not to glaze over the issues they present entirely. I was really interested in this book when you presented in class and I definitely want to read it!

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