A STUDY OF JACK AND MA'S LIFE IN EMMA DONOGHUE'S ROOM.

A STUDY OF JACK AND MA’S LIFE IN EMMA DONOGHUE’S ROOM

THESIS

Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Sarjana Degree of
English Department Faculty of Arts and Humanities Islamic State University of
Sunan Ampel Surabaya

By:
Ida Yulia Maya Syaroh
Reg. Number: A73212099

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES
ISLAMIC STATE UNIVERSITY SUNAN AMPEL SURABAYA
2016

ABSTRACT
Syaroh, Ida Yulia Maya. 2016. A Study of Jack and his Ma’s Life in Emma
Donoghue’s Room. Thesis. English Department. Faculty of Arts and
Humanities. Islamic State University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

The Advisor: Sufi Ikrima Sa’adah, M. Hum.
This thesis focuses on Jack and his Ma as the two main character in
Donoghue’s Room who survive without any contact with society and when they are
back to the society. The aims of this thesis is to describe Jack and Ma’s life when
they are forcefully kept in a single locked room and their plan to escape from that
room. It also describes Jack and Ma’s life after getting out of the room. Dealing with
the focus, this study uses New Criticism as the main theory to analyze the plot line. It
explains the beginning of Jack and Ma stay in the single locked room and describe
their life out of the room by its structure.

Key words: Life.

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ABSTRAK
Syaroh, Ida Yulia Maya. 2016. A Study of Jack and his Ma’s Life in Emma
Donoghue’s Room. Skripsi. English Department. Faculty of Arts and

Humanities. Islamic state University of Sunan Ampel Surabaya.

The Advisor: Sufi Ikrima Sa’adah, M.Hum
Skripsi ini fokus terhadap Jack and Ibunya sebagai dua karakter utama dalam
novel Room karya Donoghue yang mana mereka bertahan tanpa kontak apapun
dengan masyarakat dan ketika mereka kembali berhadapan dengan masyarakat.
Tujuan dari skripsi ini adalah mendiskripsikan kehidan Jack dan Ibunya ketika
mereka dengan penuh ancaman dijaga didalam sebuah kamar yang terkunci dan
mengenai rencana mereka untuk melarikan diri dari kamar tersebut. Juga
mendeskripsikan kehidupan mereka setelah berhasil keluar dari kamar tersebut.
Berhubungan dari fokus, studi ini menggunakan Kritik Baru sebagai teori utama
untuk mengkaji jalan ceritanya. Hal tersebut akan menjelaskan awal mula Jack dan
Ibunya bisa tinggal di sebuah kamar yang terkunci dan menjelaskan kehidupan
mereka keluar dari kamar tersebut menggunakan susunan dari jalan ceritanya.

Kata kunci: Kehidupan

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Inside cover page ............................................................................................................................ i
Inside title page .............................................................................................................................. ii
Declaration page ........................................................................................................................... iii
Dedication page ............................................................................................................................ iv
Motto ............................................................................................................................................... v
Advisor’s Approval Page .............................................................................................................. vi
Examiner’s Approval Page .......................................................................................................... vii
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... viii
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ x
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ xii
Abstrak ........................................................................................................................................ xiii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1
Background of the Study ................................................................................................................ 1
Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................................ 5
Objective of the Study .................................................................................................................... 5
Significance of the Study ................................................................................................................ 6

Scope and Limitation ...................................................................................................................... 6
Method of the Study........................................................................................................................ 7
Definition of Key Terms ................................................................................................................. 9
Organization of the study ................................................................................................................ 9

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 10
2.1

Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................................... 10
2.1.1 New Criticism .......................................................................................................... 10
2.1.1.1 Plot ............................................................................................................ 12

2.2 Review of related studies ........................................................................................................ 15

CHAPTER 3 ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................ 16
3.1

Plot analysis ...................................................................................................................... 18

3.1.1 Exposition ................................................................................................................ 18
3.1.2 Complication ............................................................................................................ 21
3.1.3 Crisis ........................................................................................................................ 30
3.1.4 Climax ...................................................................................................................... 37
3.1.5 Resolution ................................................................................................................ 45

CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ................................................................... 47
4.1 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 47
4.2 Suggestion ............................................................................................................................... 49
WORKED CITED ........................................................................................................................ 50

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Jonathan Culler states in his book ‘Literary theory: a very short introduction’
that literature is language in which the various elements and components of the text

are brought into a complex relation (29). Its relation consist of literary terms. In a
Glossary of Literary Terms, some elements of literary are action, plot, settings,
characters, point of view, style, conflict, mood, and themes. Culler also states the one
reason why readers attend to literature is that its utterances have a special relation to
the world, a relation that is called ‘fictional’. (30)
Novel is one of the form of fictional prose (Holman 298). It has some
elements of literary work as character and characterization, plot or structure (Culler
313). Besides, the writer has also found another literary terms in novel as settings,
symbol, theme, and actions (Holman 298). Novel is a book-length, fictional prose
story (Glossary of Literary Terms 4). It shows that novel is consisted of some pages
and also has a lot of paragraphs.
Before the term novel is used, Roman is term that often used rather than novel
in European countries, so novel is extension of roman in modern era and it has
different characteristic that represent realistic world. In different country English, the
term of novel is English transliteration of word Novella from Italian, and novel
focuses on the act of actual world (309). Terry Eagleton has same idea about novel in

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Syaroh 2

essay “Introduction: What is Literature?” it describes that since the late sixteenth and
early seventeenth centuries, the word Novel are identically both true and fictional
events (www.dartmouth.edu). Holman also states that all novels are representations in
fictional Narrative of life or experience, but the form of it has any kind of style and
the author has to prove it (309). All of the explanation above, the writer may
concludes that novel is relating to the real world. And we know the relation by
actions which is seen in novel.
Action in a play, short story, poem, and novel has dealing with sense. To find
the crudest sense an author has to make clear what was really happened in his story
(5). Thus, the writer will analyze the plot line in this study to find out the story in
detail. The writer has found one of actions which has crudest sense in a novel. It is
about survival.
As stated before, action means major division. Aristotle has implied in
Holman’s book the major parts into five in drama. They are exposition, complication,
climax, falling action, and catastrophe. When Elizabethan era, English dramatist
begun using the five parts, and followed by European dramatist too. In some degrees
the five parts acts relate to dramatic action (5). Holman also takes Aristotle stated that
imitation of action is called plot (6).
E. M. Forster made distinction between plot and story. A story is narrative

events in their time sequences and only arouses in curiosity. A plot is also narrative
events, but it is different because plot focused on causality (335). Holman define plot
as intellectual formulation because there is a philosophical concepts behind it. It

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constructs incidents that makes causal relationship which develop the struggle. The
incidents consist of character, settings, and theme that relate each other (336).
Relating to the writer’s topic, the writer will take an international novel Room
by Emma Donoghue. The writer chooses this novel as the research object because the
writer was interested about the actions which are happened in the real life. So, we get
a lot of valuable things from the novel. Besides that, it has unique and unpredictable
story. It is about two major characters Jack and his Ma who survive in a single locked
room for seven years until they manage to escape finally.
As stated in Canadian author’s biography, Emma Donoghue is a writer of
fiction, history, and drama for radio, stage, and screen. She is the author of some
fiction’s story are Stir-Fry (1994), Hood (1995), Kissing the Witch (1997), Ladies'
Night at Finbar's Hotel (1999), Slammerkin (2000), The Woman Who Gave Birth to

Rabbits (2002), Life Mask (2004), Touchy Subjects (2006), Landing (2007), The
Sealed Letter (2008), Room (2010), Three and a Half Deaths (2011), Astray (2012),
and the last Frog Music (2014). She is the best known by her fiction which has been
translated into over forty languages. (www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com)
Room is an international bestseller as soon as it was published in August
2010, Room has now sold well over two million copies. It won the Hughes &
Hughes Irish Novel of the Year, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize (for best
Canadian novel), the Commonwealth Prize (Canada & Carribbean Region), the
Canadian Booksellers’ Association Libris Awards (Fiction Book and Author of the

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Syaroh 4

Year), the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award, the W. H. Smith Paperback of the
Year Award and the University of Canberra Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for
the Man Booker Prize, the Orange Prize, the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award,
International Author of the Year (Galaxy National Book Awards), the Governor
General’s Award and the Trillium English Book Award. The American Library
Association gave it an Alex Award (for an adult book with special appeal to readers

12-18) and the Indie Choice Award for Adult Fiction. The Canadian Library
Association named it as an Honour Book in their Canadian Young Adult Book
Award. The four-voiced audiobook version won one of three Publishers Weekly
Listen Up Awards and an Earphones Award. (www.emmadonoghue.com)
The story of Room was begun when Jack has five years old. The story is
divided into two parts inside and outside the room. Jack is the second child of his Ma.
His mother has a daughter before Jack, but she got passed away when she was born.
She and Jack are the children from their mother and Old Nick. He is a person who
abducts and rapes Jack’s mother when she is nineteen years old. Jack was born in a
single locked room. His mother does not want Old Nick to see Jack after his born
until he gets five years old. Jack has to survive in a room with his Ma until he is five
years old. Jack is sleeping in a wardrobe at the night because his mother does not
want the kidnapper touch Jack. Jack and his Ma are doing anything in a room for
about 5 years, it means Jack’s childhood only live in a room. His mother wants to live
outside the room with Jack. She asks jack to pretend to die, then he escape to ask for

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Syaroh 5

help of someone to call police, and saving his Ma. She takes care and gives Jack not
only about public knowledge such as number, plants, his family, but also religious
knowledge. Living in a single room with his ma makes Jack’s love no boundaries.
Based on the discussion above, the writer will analyze about Jack’s life in this
study. The writer will use new criticism as the main theory because it has been a
major aspect of literary theory and practice. It is used to analyze plot of Jack’s and
Ma’s story starts from the background of Ma to get staying in a single locked room
with Jack. Thus, the writer is decided to make a study with the title A STUDY OF
JACK AND MA’S LIFE IN EMMA DONOGHUE’S ROOM.

1.2 Statement of problems
Related to the background of the study, the writer formulates one research
question as how is Jack and Ma’s life described in Room by Emma Donoghue?

1.3 Objectives of the study
Based on the statement of the problem above, the writer will collect and find
out the life of main character with his Ma, and their effort through the story of Room.
Then, the writer explains the purpose of the study is to find out the life of Jack and
his Ma based on two different conditions inside and outside in Room.

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1.4 Significance of the study
The significance of the study as the important thing that we get after reading
this study. It is conducted due to both theoretical and practical points.
Theoretically, this study is expected to give additional knowledge in the literary
theory which is related about survival. It helps the readers especially for English
Literature Department students on how to analyze a novel based on New Criticism.
Therefore, the readers are expected to comprehend more about it.
Practically, the writer hopes that this research will be useful to other people
who love novel in order to understand the novel deeply. The writer also hopes that
after reading this study, the readers are able to understand more about survival in their
real life. Moreover, this thesis can elaborate the view of English Department students
who are interested in survival as the field to be further study.

1.5 Scope and limitation
This research is discussing the novel Room by Emma Donoghue. The writer
focuses on Jack and his Ma’s life in the novel and how they survive in a single locked
room then manage to escape.
Dealing with the theories applied, the writer adopts New Criticism view that
applies the concept of plot to help understanding about Jack and Ma’s life inside and
outside the room.

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Syaroh 7

1.6 Method of Study
This study is library research. The analysis is conducted by using descriptive
qualitative method since the description relies on non-numeric data. According to
Wolcott in Creswell’s book, qualitative research is fundamentally interpretive. It
means the researcher makes an interpretation of the data which includes developing a
description of an individual or setting, analyzing data for themes or categories, and
finally making an interpretation or drawing conclusions about its meaning personally
and theoretically based on the subject of research. The writer use novel Room by
Emma Donoghue as the subject. The theory used to help analysis the problem is New
Criticism.

1.6.1

Data and Source of Data
The primary data of this research will be all of the words, phrase, utterances,

and or expression which is consist of the description of Jack and his Ma’s character.
The secondary data, the writer will get it from a western novel Room by Emma
Donoghue which is published on 2015.

1.6.2

Research Instrument
The writer will be the instrument in this research to collect and analyze the

data. According to Dawn Snape and Liz Spencer in box ‘nature of data generation’

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Syaroh 8

that qualitative research uses method which involve the researcher and data in close
relationship, and consider the researcher’s perspective. It means the writer as the
primary instrument.

1.6.3

Data Collection

1. Reading novel Room until the end more than one time to get deep
understanding.
2. Underlining all of paragraphs, sentences or phrases from the novel which is
dealing with the research problems.
3. Selecting some references to support this study.
4. Collecting data that support this study from another resources such as article
and online resource by reading from online library.
5. Collecting and downloading some materials from internet which is relating to
this study.

1.6.4

Data Analysis

1. The writer will classify a few paragraphs through the topic in this study with
intensive reading the whole story.
2. Analyzing the data that has been collected based on statement of problems by
using the theory.
3. Giving the conclusion based on the result of data analysis in detail.

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1.7 Definition of Key Terms
1. Life

: It is experience of being alive. Life is a series of punches. It
presents a lot of challenges. It presents a lot of hardship, but the people
that are able to take those punches and able to move forward are the
ones that really do have a lot of success and have a lot of joy in their
life and have a lot of stories to tell. (qtd. In Qoiroh 2015)

1.8 Organization of The Study
The writer divides this research into four chapters. The first chapter includes
information about background of this study, statement of problems, objectives of
study, significant of study, research design, and the last is organization of study. The
second chapter includes theoretical frameworks and previous study. The third chapter
includes findings and discussion, and the last chapter includes conclusion.

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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Theoretical Framework
This chapter is explanation about some theory that will be used by the writer
in analyzing novel Room by Emma Donoghue. The writer will focus in the life story
of Jack and his Ma as the major character. The story are divided into two parts inside
and outside the locked room. The writer will use New Criticism as the main theory to
analyze the plot line in this study.

2.1.1 New Criticism
Castle stated in his book ‘The Blackwell Guide to Literary Theory’ that the
twentieth century is often called an age of criticism, and in the richness and
complexity of its systems, the rigor of its application, and the enthusiasm of its
espousal of the cause of the literary arts it can wear that title with honor. The New
Criticism is an Anglo American variety of Formalism that emerged in the early
decades of the twentieth century and dominated teaching and scholarship until the
early 1960s. By the end of the First World War, a new generation of poets were
experimenting with form and language, and their work could no longer be judged
according to the biographical and aesthetic criteria used by traditional critics.
Moreover, these poets were publishing their own criticism, and it was this work,
especially Eliot’s, that created a theoretical foundation for the New Criticism (122).

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Syaroh 11

As the following of Elliot’s emphasis I A Richards, with his focus on close textual
analysis, inspired the development of the New Criticism in America. (Castle 21)
Leavis in Castle’s book is different to Richards, Brooks, and others who wrote
extensively about Modernist poetry, Leavis focused on the novel, specifically a
closed system of canonical “great” works in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. In The Great Tradition he notes that the “great novelists” are “very much
concerned with ‘form’; they are all very original technically, having turned their
genius to the working out of their own appropriate methods and procedures” (Castle
126).
In Chumairoh 2015, According to Tyson in Critical Theory Today, the New
Critics introduced to America and called “close reading”. It means that New Critical
focus the reader’s attention on the literary work as the sole source of evidence for
interpreting the text, so that Tyson also called New Criticism as “the text itself”
(Tyson 136). The Images, symbols, metaphors, rhyme, meter, point of view, setting,
characterization, plot and so on (137). Richard in Carter’s book involved the any
consideration of context, historical or social, and of the biography of the author, its
scope was limited but it did have one positive effect. It nurtured the close reading of
literary texts (Carter 25). Furthermore, in analyzing one of literary text novel, we
have to do close reading to understand well about the text. Close reading means the
writer analyze some elements which is included in text as character, plot, theme,

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Syaroh 12

point of view, symbol, etc. In this study, the writer takes the plot analysis by using
New Criticism as the theory.
2.1.1.1 Plot
Abrams states that plot in drama or narrative is work based on act and events,
because it is given to achieve the effect of certain artistic and emotional (224). Plot
has a function as demonstrate the quality of moral and dispositional by the authors. It
means story in plot is integral to human experience; the author uses it constantly to
make sense out of his experience, to remember and relate events and significant, and
to establish the basic patterns of behavior of his lives. (qtd.in Alfisuma 17)
According to Cuddon in dictionary of literary terms and literary theory, plot is
the plan, design, scheme or pattern of events in a play, poem or work of fiction; and
further, the organization of incident and character in such a way as to induce curiosity
and suspense in the spectator or reader. In the space or time continuum of plot the
continual question operates in three tenses: why did that happen? Why is this
happening? What is going to happen next? (676).
Wellek and Warren state that Narrative structure of novel has traditionally
been called the “plot”. It is composed of smaller narrative structures, like episodes
and incidents. It means, plot includes literary structures. On the other hand, in book
‘Fiction’, Kennedy and Gioia state that story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
In fact, it is unusual to find a story so clearly displaying the elements of structure that

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Syaroh 13

critics have found in many classic works of fiction and drama (12). Its structure are
divide into five steps:

Exposition

Complication

Crisis

Climax

Resolution

1. Exposition
It is the beginning of the fiction. An exposition opening a story by all setting
of the scene (if any), introduces the main characters, tells us what happened
before the story opened, and provides any other background information that
we need in order to understand and care about the events to follow. (12)
According to Cuddon, exposition at the beginning of his play the dramatist is
often committed to giving a certain amount of essential information about the
plot and the events which are to come. He may also have to give information
about what has ‘already happened'. All this comes under the heading of
exposition (296).
2. Complication
Kennedy and Gioia state that complication is the middle section of story
begins. This moment introduces the new moment (12). In article Mrs. Welty’s
Guide to Literary Elements, This part is also called Rising Action. She states
that the rising action occurs as you begin to move throughout the story. This is

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Syaroh 14

where conflicts start to build just like when you climb a mountain you are
moving further along. (http://edtech2.boisestate.edu)
3. Crisis
Crisis is a moment with high tension. The tension is momentarily resolved
(12). It is also known as Conflict. Holman states that conflict is the struggle
which grows out of the interplay of the two opposing forces in a plot. The
forces in conflicts are divided into four different kinds as at the first is a
struggle against the forces of nature, secondly a struggle against another
person, thirdly a struggle against the society, and fourthly a struggle for
mastery by two elements within the person. Holman explains the term of
conflict not only implies the struggle of a person against someone or
something. It also implies the existence of some motivation for the conflict or
some goal to be achieved by it. Conflict is the raw material out of which plot
is constructed.
4. Climax
Kennedy and Gioia states that climax is the last section of the story. It is the
moment of greatest tension at which the outcome is to be decided (12).
Holman states climax is the point of highest interest, the point at which the
reader makes the greatest emotional response. The term used in this sense is
an index of emotional response in the reader. In dramatic structure climax is a
term used to designate the turning point in the action, the place at which the
rising action reverses and becomes the falling action (84).

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Syaroh 15

5. Resolution
It is the outcome or conclusion. The events which follow the climax in a plot
(376). According to Cuddon resolution describes those events which form the
outcome of the climax of a play or story. It is also the equivalent of falling
action (743). In the same article of Mrs. Welty’s Guide to Literary Elements,
the Resolution is the solution to the problem as you have reached the bottom
of the mountain. The solution might not be what you want, but the conflict has
been resolved.

2.2 Review of Related Studies
There is no one who analyze novel Room in literary thesis, because probably
it is included the new novel. But, there is one article from internet that analyze novel
Room. The writer will put thesis by using plot analysis in New Criticism theory as the
previous study in this thesis.
The first previous study is an article Separation Anxiety by Aimee Bender on
September 10th 2010. In that article, Bender describes room is two different world for
Jack and his Ma. Ma feels room is like a prison, it is a room with villain holding the
key, and Ma must keep against her will to go outside. The opposite of Jack’s feeling
that he does not feel trapped in his condition. Jack does not anything about his Ma’s
will because he is only son. Jack seems happily in doing routine activity where he
sees his Ma all day. But, Ma achieves to make the best life for Jack as creating

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Syaroh 16

exercise, singing, and reading. She always understandable her condition with Jack in
room.
Secondly, is thesis with the title A Rejection of Saleem Sinai and His Family
to Islamic Sharia’ as Reflected in Midnight Children : New Criticism Studies by
Amelia Dewi Novitasari, the student of Islamic State University Sunan Ampel
Surabaya on 2016. In her study, Novitasari described New Criticism aspects reflected
in Midnight Children. She analyzes the form of Saleem Sinai and his family’s
rejection to Islamic sharia and the effects of that rejection. The characters of Saleem’s
family are Adam Aziz, Naseem, Saleem Sinai, Amina Sinai, and Ahmed Sinai. The
fact, Saleem as the main character was not a biological family members.
Unfortunately his father was getting bankrupt and becoming a person with worse
attitude. Then, his father was die and Saleem’s family disappear one by one because
the war between India and Pakistan. Finally, he becomes alone. By using New
Criticism, she tries to answer the research questions in her study. She analyze
character, characterization, plot, and moral value.
Thirdly, The Acts of Loving the Orphan in J.K. Rowlings’s Harry Potter
‘Harry Potter and the order of Phoenix’ by Ahmad Syamsudin on 2014, he also the
student of Islamic University Sunan Ampel Surabaya. He described the acts of loving
based on New Criticism, although he did not mention it in his title. The main
character is an orphan Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the order of Phoenix. The
acts are done by Ron’s family. They are Mr. and Mrs. Weasly, the twin Fred and

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Syaroh 17

George, Ron, and Ginny weasly. Harry Potter is an orphan because of a tragedy. He
has two best friends Hermione and Ron. He lives with Ron’s family in series which is
used by this study. They love Harry Potter as their family, and always caring to him.
By using New Criticism, he answer his research questions. He analyze character,
characterization, and moral value.
Based on the two previous studies and one article above, there are similarities
and differences which is seen in this study. The writer analyze an international novel
Room by Emma Donoghue. The article and this study focus on Jack and his Ma, but
the article only describes their life in the room. The opposing, this study also focuses
on Jack and his Ma’s life outside the room. The writer puts two thesis that use New
Criticism theory. The first and this study are same. It describes about life of a family.
But, the differences is that the first study analyze character, characterization, plot, and
moral value. And the second previous study also analyze which are in the first
previous study, but without plot. It difference to this study that only analyze the plot
story without other aspects of close reading in New Criticism. The last, this study
does not use Islamic perspective likes in the first and second previous studies.

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Syaroh 18

CHAPTER III
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The writer presents the analysis of Jack’s life in a novel by Emma Donoghue
Room. This analysis focuses on Jack and his Ma as the main characters in novel.
Relating to the title as an image of this study’s content and the research problems, the
writer wants to describe the plot for the beginning. It tells the reader exactly how
Jack’s story is begun. In all parts of the plot, the writer finds how Jack’s life before
and after getting out of the single locked room. The results will be discussed in the
section of discussion below.
1.1

Jack and his Ma’s life in Room
1.1.1

Exposition

The story is begun by the exposition part first. Analyzing exposition does not
answer two research problems in this study, but the writer analyzes the exposition
because it is included in plot organizing. It helps the readers to know about Jack’s life
well. The exposition describes how Jack and Ma could live in a single locked room.
The exposition of this story tells us a person who becomes the cause of it. In this part,
the writer also tells the scene and the way how the person makes his Ma in a single
locked room at the first time without Jack. The quotation that shows its story as
follows:
“Old Nick — I didn’t even know him, I was nineteen. He stole me.” I’m
trying to understand. Swiper no swiping. But I never heard of swiping people.

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Syaroh 19

Ma’s holding me too tight. “I was a student. It was early in the morning, I was
crossing a parking lot to get to the college library, listening to — it’s a tiny
machine that holds a thousand songs and plays them in your ear, I was the
first of my friends to get one.” (Donoghue 116)

From the quotation above, the scene is in the college at morning time because
Jack’s Ma is a student of university. She is abducted by a man whom she never
knows before. She and Jack call him Old Nick. Old Nick abducted Jack’s Ma when
she was nineteen years old.
“Anyway — this man ran up asking for help, his dog was having a fit and he
thought it might be dying.”
“What’s he called?”
“The man?”
I shake my head. “The dog.”
“No, the dog was just a trick to get me into his pickup truck, Old Nick’s
truck.”
(Donoghue 116-117)
The second quotation of the exposition tells us the way Old Nick abducted
Jack’s Ma. He tried to get Ma’s help by doing a trick. He pretended that there is
something wrong to his dog. It was the way Old Nick made Ma comes into his pickup
truck.
Her hands are too tight, I loosen them. “He put a blindfold on me”
“Like Blindman’s Buff?”
“Yeah, but not fun. He drove and drove, I was terrified.”“Where was I?”
“You hadn’t happened yet, remember?”

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Syaroh 20

I forgot. “Was the dog in the truck too?”
“There was no dog.” Ma’s sounding cranky again. (Donoghue 117)
The third quotation shows the next step of Old Nick’s trick to Ma. When she
arrives in his pickup truck, he puts a blindfold to her. Then, he just drive his truck. In
that quote, the writer prove the lying of Old Nick. There is no dog in his car like his
asking, it is only his word tricks.
“Listen,” says Ma, putting her hand over my mouth. “He made me take some
bad medicine so I’d fall asleep. Then when I woke up I was here.” It’s nearly
black and I can’t see Ma’s face at all now, it’s turned away so I can only hear.
(Donoghue 117)
The last quote of this part is showing Old Nick’s last trick. He gives Ma
medicine after putting a blindfold to her. She has the medicine, then feeling asleep.
And Old Nick takes her to a locked room. It is the day which Ma begins to stay in a
single locked room in her nineteen years old. She is abducted by an unknown man in
her college.
Exposition takes quotes in the 116-177 page because it based on the true story
telling of Ma to Jack. It introduces that they live in a single locked room because
Jack’s Ma has been abducted by a man who is called Old Nick. But, the author of
Room doesn’t present the motive of abducting. The author only shows that Jack’s Ma
never knows the man before. Ma is abducted by doing a trick. Old Nick pretended for
asking help when she is in the college. Then, she comes to his pickup truck and he

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Syaroh 21

put a blindfold to her. She has the bad medicine after that and feeling sleepy, and the
last she wakes up in a single locked room.
1.1.2

Complication

Kennedy and Gioia state that complication is the middle section of story
begins. It tells the new moment of the story. This next analysis, the writer introduces
the new condition of Ma. She is not alone again in the room, but with Jack. It is the
beginning when Jack is getting five years old. This analysis includes the activities of
Jack and his Ma. It describes more detail the ways of Ma and Jack on staying in a
single locked room. The quotation that shows Jack and his Ma’s story as follows in
the next paragraphs.
Today I’m five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I
wake up in Bed in the dark I’m changed to five, abracadabra. Before that I
was three, then two, then one, then zero. “Was I minus numbers?” (Donoghue
3)
The quote presents Jack’s conversation to his Ma. It is the first paragraph in
Room. It shows the beginning of the story was started when Jack is five years old. We
know that Jack is sleeping in the wardrobe at night, then Ma takes him to the bed.
There is something happen at night which is making Jack sleep in wardrobe. And Ma
lets him that.
“Tell me, Mr. Five, would you like your present now or after breakfast?”
“What is it, what is it?”

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Syaroh 22

“I know you’re excited,” she says, “but remember not to nibble your finger,
germs could sneak in the hole.”
“To sick me like when I was three with throw-up and diarrhea?” (Donoghue
4)

It is the conversation between Jack and his Ma for asking a present. Ma offers
the present of Jack is given before or after breakfast time. Jack is interested to his
surprise. From that paragraph, we know that Ma not only gives Jack a present on his
five birthday, but also his four, three, and his birthday before it. This part begins to
describe the characters Jack and Ma.
From the quotes, it is one of others way which is done by his Ma to survive in
a single locked room with Jack. It is the better and possible way that can be done in
their condition. Ma gives jack a surprise in his every birthday. Although Ma cannot
buy something special for Jack, she still has an idea to give something as his present.
I stroke Table’s scratches to make them better, she’s a circle all white except
gray in the scratches from chopping foods. While we’re eating we play Hum
because that doesn’t need mouths. I guess “Macarena” and “She’ll Be Coming
’Round the Mountain” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” but that’s actually
“Stormy Weather.” So my score is two, I get two kisses. (Donoghue 7)

The writer finds the second way of Ma in surviving with Jack. Ma makes a
game which is called ‘Hum’. Hum is the first which is described by Donoghue in
Room. It has rule like another game. He will get kiss, if he win the game. The kiss is
as much as his winning times. It is a unique game to spend their time in the room.

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Syaroh 23

Probably, it is like a game when Ma is a child. But, there is no explanation about how
Ma gets that game before.
We have thousands of things to do every morning, like give Plant a cup of
water in Sink for no spilling, then put her back on her saucer on Dresser.
(Donoghue 10)

It shows habitual actions which is always done by Jack and Ma in the
morning. It means there are a lot of things in their schedule. This is the third way of
Jack and his Ma for living in the locked room. They manage their time by doing
positive things, because Ma is really caring to Jack. It is useful for Jack as his great
experience.
At 08:30 I press the button on TV and try between the three. I find Dora the
Explorer, yippee. (Donoghue 12), and
I’d love to watch TV all the time, but it rots our brains
……So now she always switches off after one show, then the cells multiply
again in the day and we can watch another show after dinner and grow more
brains in our sleep. (Donoghue 13)

The two quotes present another activity of Jack and Ma in the morning. Jack
loves watching TV, and he likes to watch Dora the Explorer program. Ma lets Jack
for watching his favorite program, but she does not let Jack to spend his time only for
watching TV. Ma tells Jack, it will rot his brain. Ma also manages their time only for
one TV show in the morning and after dinner. It is the fourth way of Ma in managing
their time.

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Syaroh 24

I’m a bit jiggly so Ma says let’s play Orchestra, where we run around seeing
what noises we can bang out of things. I drum on Table and Ma goes knock
knock on the legs of Bed, then floomffloomf on the pillows, I use a fork and
spoon on Door ding ding and our toes go bam on Stove, but my favorite is
stomping on the pedal of Trash because that pops his lid open with a bing.
(Donoghue 20)

From the quotation above, it shows another game. Ma asks Jack playing an
orchestra. Jack and his Ma push anything in room, and they will make sounds of it. It
makes Jack creative because he knows that different thing has different sound.
Ma hardly ever reads the no-pictures ones except if she’s desperate. When I
was four we asked for one more with pictures for Sunday treat and Alice in
Wonderland came, I like her but she’s got too many words and lots of them
are old. (Donoghue 21)

The quotation shows one of positive activities of Jack and Ma. It is scheduled
for reading a book as Sunday treat. It was begun since Jack is four years old. Jack
likes a book which has picture like story of Alice in Wonderland. It will add
knowledge for Jack in his life because he gets something after knows some story. It is
also exploring Jack’s creativity.
After dinner something amazing, we make a birthday cake. I bet it’s going to
be delicioso with candles the same number as me and on fire like I’ve never
seen for real.
(Donoghue 26)

The writer finds that Ma not only gives Jack a present for his birthday, but
also she asks Jack to make birthday cake. Ma really gives something special for

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Syaroh 25

Jack’s fifth birthday. Jack is getting candles and the shape is his age now. He is very
happy because he gets candles for the real, not in the TV or book. It is the sixth thing
which is done by Ma and Jack as the fittest thing when Jack has birthday.
She points up at Watch that says 08:57, that’s only three minutes before nine.
So I run into Wardrobe and lie down on my pillow and wrap up in Blanket
that’s all gray and fleecy with the red piping. I’m just under the drawing of me
I forgot was there. Ma puts her head in.“Three kisses?”
“No, five for Mr. Five.” (Donoghue 31)

It presents the time for sleeping. Ma does not let Jack sleep under nine at
night. Ma gives Jack kisses before he sleep. As stated exposition part before, it also
shows that Jack has to sleep in a wardrobe. There is still no explanation why Jack
sleep in a wardrobe. It likes something which is done by Jack as usual.
“Ma?”
“Mmm?”
“Why am I hided away like the chocolates?”
I think she’s sitting on Bed. She talks quiet so I can hardly hear. “I just don’t
want him looking at you. Even when you were a baby, I always wrapped you
up in Blanket before he came in.” (Donoghue 32)

The quotes answer why Jack is sleeping in a wardrobe at every night. It
because Ma does not want someone to see Jack since he is a baby. And he is Old
Nick who is coming at night, and sleep in the bed with Ma. It means Old Nick comes
in the room when the time is after nine at night, and he never knows how Jack’s
condition is well. Jack does not know about that reason before, so he tries to ask.
Based on the quotation, the writer also finds that Ma is really hate Old Nick. It is a

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Syaroh 26

great thing which can be done by his Ma since Jack was a baby. Probably, it will give
Jack and His Ma good effect. Because, there is no one knows what will happen in
future.
“Night-night, sleep tight, don’t let the bugs bite.”
The Bugs are invisible but I talk to them and sometimes count, last time I got
to 347. (Donoghue 32)
When Old Nick creaks Bed, I listen and count fives on my fingers, tonight it’s
217 creaks. I always have to count till he makes that gaspy sound and stops. I
don’t know what would happen if I didn’t count, because I always do.
(Donoghue 46)

The two quotations describe that Ma not only tells Jack about some story, but
also giving Jack about number. Jack counts number at night when Jack and his Ma
are going to sleep. Jack counts it after he is in the wardrobe while waiting for Old
Nick’s coming. It is a thing which is always done by Jack. He thinks that he must do
his own rule before going to sleep.
Monday is a laundry day, we get into Bath with socks, underwears, my gray
pants that ketchup squirted on, the sheets and dish towels, and we squish all
the dirt out. Ma hots Thermostat way up for the drying, she pulls Clothes
Horse out from beside Door and stands him open and I tell him to be strong.
(Donoghue 49-50)
The quote shows Jack and Ma’s schedule on Monday. It is time for washing
their clothes. They wash the sheets, and towels which is dirty too. Ma and Jack still
wash their dirty clothes though there is no sun shine comes to their room. It makes
Ma is drying their clothes by another way. She uses the hot thermostat, then she pulls

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Syaroh 27

one by one clothes to the thermostat. From that quote, the writer also finds that Ma
will hang their clothes up after its process. It because drying clothes by the thermostat
is not enough dry.
Tuesdays and Fridays always smell of vinegar. Ma’s scrubbing under Table
with the rag that used to be one of my diapers I wore till I was one. I bet she’s
wiping Spider’s web away but I don’t care much. Then she picks up Vacuum
who makes it all noisy dusty wahwahwah.(Donoghue 55)

It is their next schedule on Tuesday and Friday. It is the noisiest day than
others. Ma do general cleaning of their room. She always wipes the spider’s web. Ma
also uses vacuum to clean their dirt’s room. It is seen how busy his Ma. But, Jack
does not help his Ma, because he likes spider’s web and he does