Ma Quotes

Ma > Jack

Quote 10

"You don't even know what it's doing to you." [Ma's] voice is shaky. "You need to see things, touch things—" (3.251)

Ma longs for Jack to explore Outside more than Jack does. Jack is content staying inside Room, his home, but Ma knows how many wonderful things are Outside for him to experience.

Ma > Jack

Quote 11

"Will we go explore?" "Where?" "Outside." "We're in Outside already." "Yeah, but let's go out in the fresh air and look for the cat," says Ma. (4.247-4.251)

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.

Ma

Quote 12

I find a triangularish thing the big of my nose that Noreen says is a rock. "It's millions of years old," says Ma. How does she know? I look at the under, there's no label. (4.874-4.876)

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.