Today in class, we turned in and
shared our creative genre projects. My group did a rewriting of Jack’s escape
scene in Room from four new
perspectives. I wrote my section from Ma’s perspective, and the other three
group members wrote parts for Raja (the dog), Ajeet (the dog’s owner) and
Officer Oh. What the project taught me might be obvious, but was simply that
Jack is the perfect narrator for this story. I learned to appreciate the
narrative style more, as I realize how well it fits the telling of this plot.
I want to first compare the story
told through Jack to the story if it were to be told by Ma. I tried to simply translate
one scene, and it was very difficult. There is so much more complexity to a
character who has suffered through so much like Ma has. It was nearly
impossible to keep a reader interested in such a depressing story when it is
told through Ma’s eyes. As people have said many times in class, the innocence
Jack brings allows him to narrate these difficult passages, because Jack
defamiliarizes the horrors the reader faces.
The other important aspect of Jack’s
narration is in the style itself. Donoghue spins the story through a mix of
dialogue, classic narration and thought. There are times in which Jack’s
narrative voice feels like it is disconnected from the 5-year-old which allows
us to simply get a picture of the scene around him. By doing this, Donoghue can
show us some important images without Jack interfering. There is also a large
amount of dialogue in the novel which is crucial. The time that it is most
important is during the interview. By simply repeating the words being spoken
to the reader, we can make our own judgements on what is being said without having
the meanings of the words changed by Jack’s young mind. The final part of Jack’s
narration is when Donoghue seems to tell us his thoughts. There are many times
in which we are shown Jack’s reaction to things by having his thoughts narrated
to us. This gives us a deeper connection with our narrator, and a deeper
understanding of what he is going through.
Overall, I believe Donoghue chose
the perfect candidate to tell this story. She also crafted the perfect style
for her narrator which improved the novel greatly. After trying to change the
point of view and style in my creative project, I gained a lot of respect for
her choices.
There is a novel by John Fowles, _The Collector_, that tells a story very similar to Ma's (only without a baby) in part from the victim's point of view, and in part (chillingly) from the abductor's point of view. So essentially, large sections are narrated from the "Ma" figure, during the time of her confinement. The book is an incredibly, emotionally intense, compellingly rendered story, and the abducted young woman is a "good" and effective narrator. But the book is not easy to read, and (not to spoil the plot) it's not nearly so life-affirming in its conclusion. Donoghue mentions being influenced by Fowles (some details of the abduction itself are quite close to his story), but she's clearly going for a very different effect by putting the story in Jack's hands.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine teaching _The Collector_ in class.