I am super impressed by Ma - even with the shortcomings that are highlighted in the book. She did amazing raising Jack in the environment she had. She made sure Jack understood right and wrong, manners and the importance of learning, playing and physical activity. Jack is an amazing little man despite the limitations that his situation placed on him and a lot of that I think has to do with the way Ma loved and raised him.
Ok, this may seem trivial - and I'm not sure if "most effected" is right, but I was certainly caught off guard the most by the fact that she was still breastfeeding Jack! Why? Why not?
I agree with you both. The whole way through I kept thinking how amazing Ma did with raising Jack and how difficult it would be knowing what was on the outside of Door and not being able to get out and not wanting to indicate to Jack what was out there in the event they never got out. That would be incredibly difficult!
And the breastfeeding definitely bothered me. But for nutritional purpose, there was no reason to stop and probable helped Jack survive.
I think I was most affected by by two things: 1) The way Ma was kidnapped--Nick simply used the very old, trite method of saying he had a sick dog and needed help! I think every mom has warned her children against this trick and not helping a stranger, etc., etc., etc. This is amazing to me that a college student would fall for this; and 2) I am absolutely shocked that Ma's parents were told that their daughter probably chose to simply disappear...and thus, there wasn't police involvement, etc. Ma's mom did say that they posted some flyers, but it seems that that was about all that was done. I can't imagine one of my children disappearing--I would never settle for being told that my child "chose" to disappear! Crazy!
I agree with Patti....I would never let my child just disappear without doing everything in my power to find that child.
And, it did bother me that she was still breast feeding Jack. Several reasons she could have still been doing it could be that shew was not as likely to get pregnant while breast feeding; the nutritional value for Jack; and it was the one thing that she could give of herself to her child that Old Nick did not have to provide - it was totally from her.
It would have been difficult to raise your child in that one room without him wanting to see what was on the other side of the door.
One thing that did affect me was that after Jack left, he wanted to go back to what was familiar. That is a tendency for people who have been abused in all sorts of ways. It is easier than the unknown.
I also agree that Ma was great. It's amazing that she was able to keep her spirits up enough to do a great job raising Jack. It seems that if put in that situation, it would be easy to a depression like Ma's "Gone" days. However, it seemed like she had more days of being a loving, nurturing mom than of being "Gone."
The other thing that affected me was how much the outside world influences us. Jack was in an odd situation where he could see the real world through the TV, but yet had never experienced the outside world and really wasn't influenced by it. For so much of his life, the world inside the TV was just imaginary. It was interesting to see how he started to connect what he saw on TV to what he started experiencing when he was out of the the Room.
I am super impressed by Ma - even with the shortcomings that are highlighted in the book. She did amazing raising Jack in the environment she had. She made sure Jack understood right and wrong, manners and the importance of learning, playing and physical activity. Jack is an amazing little man despite the limitations that his situation placed on him and a lot of that I think has to do with the way Ma loved and raised him.
ReplyDeleteOk, this may seem trivial - and I'm not sure if "most effected" is right, but I was certainly caught off guard the most by the fact that she was still breastfeeding Jack! Why? Why not?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both. The whole way through I kept thinking how amazing Ma did with raising Jack and how difficult it would be knowing what was on the outside of Door and not being able to get out and not wanting to indicate to Jack what was out there in the event they never got out. That would be incredibly difficult!
ReplyDeleteAnd the breastfeeding definitely bothered me. But for nutritional purpose, there was no reason to stop and probable helped Jack survive.
I think I was most affected by by two things: 1) The way Ma was kidnapped--Nick simply used the very old, trite method of saying he had a sick dog and needed help! I think every mom has warned her children against this trick and not helping a stranger, etc., etc., etc. This is amazing to me that a college student would fall for this; and 2) I am absolutely shocked that Ma's parents were told that their daughter probably chose to simply disappear...and thus, there wasn't police involvement, etc. Ma's mom did say that they posted some flyers, but it seems that that was about all that was done. I can't imagine one of my children disappearing--I would never settle for being told that my child "chose" to disappear! Crazy!
ReplyDeletegood comment mom! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Patti....I would never let my child just disappear without doing everything in my power to find that child.
ReplyDeleteAnd, it did bother me that she was still breast feeding Jack. Several reasons she could have still been doing it could be that shew was not as likely to get pregnant while breast feeding; the nutritional value for Jack; and it was the one thing that she could give of herself to her child that Old Nick did not have to provide - it was totally from her.
It would have been difficult to raise your child in that one room without him wanting to see what was on the other side of the door.
One thing that did affect me was that after Jack left, he wanted to go back to what was familiar. That is a tendency for people who have been abused in all sorts of ways. It is easier than the unknown.
I also agree that Ma was great. It's amazing that she was able to keep her spirits up enough to do a great job raising Jack. It seems that if put in that situation, it would be easy to a depression like Ma's "Gone" days. However, it seemed like she had more days of being a loving, nurturing mom than of being "Gone."
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that affected me was how much the outside world influences us. Jack was in an odd situation where he could see the real world through the TV, but yet had never experienced the outside world and really wasn't influenced by it. For so much of his life, the world inside the TV was just imaginary. It was interesting to see how he started to connect what he saw on TV to what he started experiencing when he was out of the the Room.