The Room Book Trajectory

Room is a 2010 book written by Emma Donoghue. The story is told of a five-year-old child's who is being detained together with her mother in a room. The author conceived the narrative after getting information about a five-year-old Felix in the Fritzl and a 2008 legal case. An Australian lady and her kids had been detained for seven years in a room identical to the one depicted in the story. In the book, Jack stays with his mother in a tenable single-roomed building that contains a kitchen, a small lavatory, a wardrobe, and a Television set. The properties in this room are what Jack has ever seen since he was born. Jack's mother is unwilling to disappoint him with the life she cannot afford and thus lets Jack have faith that the rest of the world happens on a TV. Besides mom, the only other individual Jack knows is Old Nick, who occasionally comes to the room while Jack is asleep. The Old Nick provides them food and other requirements, but Jack is not aware that Nick kidnaped her mother at the age of 19years and has held her captive for the previous seven centuries. The Old Nick frequently assaults his mother, and even Jack himself is a product of a sexual assault.

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From the facts derived from the book, this paper aims to use Erikson's eight stages of child development to determine how Jack will grow from childhood to adulthood. For instance, Jack will grow up with a sense of mistrust, shame, and guilty. He has been held in detention in a room alongside his mom for the last 8years, and his early stages of development, such as trust vs. mistrust, Anatomy vs. shame, and initiative vs. guilt, were not likely successful. Jack is 5years old, and we can categorize him at the 3rd stage of Erikson's developmental theory (Donoghue et al., 2013). Due to the circumstances surrounding the background in which Jack is raised, his mom does not have the potential to provide him with basic needs. Thus, the first stage of child development is most likely that, jack did not get the basic needs any child deserves.

Similarly, we can also determine that, when Jack was an infant, he already developed a mistrust sense due to lack of basic needs. He already has the emotions of mistrust, and he already has the perception that the world around him is an unfavorable place to stay. Additionally, during the second and third stages of child development, he most likely did not get support and parental care. As a result, we can determine that Jack has already developed a sense of shame and guilt (Schickedanz et al., 2018). Similarly, from the story, Jack is a product of sexual assault, which is a fact which he will eventually come to realize as he grows up. When this fact shall come to his knowledge, the feelings of despair, shame, and guilt shall affect his mental health. These feelings might limit his potential to be successful and particularly at school.

Moreover, Jack has been brought up in a lonely environment. He has nobody to play with and knows only his mom and Old Nick. It is one aspect that will affect his ability to socialize with other students at school. This kind of life in solitude will have a detrimental effect on his love life. The lack of intimacy will likely lead to loneliness, isolation, and occasionally hopelessness. On the other hand, when Jack's mother recovers from illness, she and Jack transfer into a home, where they start creating plans for the coming days. Jack's mom has an increasing individuality, which battles with Jack's yearning to retain her for himself, simply as they used to stay before (Liming & Grube, 2018). At a similar moment, Jack himself is growing and changing as his world around him develops. This fact may create confusion for Jack and significantly impact his ability to make decisions. It will contribute to failure in the seventh stage of human development, which is generativity vs. stagnation. The failure in this stage will result in low participation in social activities. By failing at this stage, he will live a sedentary life with and feelings of failure in life.

By using the facts of Erikson's theory, the success in the early stage of child development leads to the virtue of confidence. By evolving the intellect of trust, the child can have the courage that, as new emergency rises, there is an actual likelihood that other individuals will be there as a source of backing. However, this is not the case in the environment in which Jack brought up. Jack is currently 5years of age, and her mom has been in captivity for a period of 8years. In the room, Jack's mom does not have the potential to provide Jack's basic needs even though she has Jack's interest at heart.

In conclusion, we can ascertain that Jack did not gain the virtue of confidence, which is the foundation of all other life stages. It will lead to the advancement of dread during his lifetime. It means that he will carry with him a sense of mistrust to all his social relationships. From the facts derived from this book, we can conclude that, unless these circumstances change after Jack and his mom are freed from captivity, the rest of his life stages all through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood will likely be unsuccessful. Hence, he will develop the perceptions of inferiority, confusion, isolation, stagnation, and despair.

References

Donoghue, A. J., Ades, A. M., Nishisaki, A., & Deutsch, E. S. (2013). Video laryngoscopy versus direct laryngoscopy in simulated pediatric intubation. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 61(3), 271-277 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/chem.201101157.

Liming, K. W., & Grube, W. A. (2018). Wellbeing outcomes for children exposed to multiple adverse experiences in early childhood: A systematic review. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 35(4), 317-335. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10560-018-0532-xSchickedanz, A., Halfon, N., Sastry, N., & Chung, P. J. (2018). Parents' adverse childhood experiences and their children's behavioral health problems. Pediatrics, 142(2), e20180023. https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/142/2/e20180023.short