Room's Ending

I greatly enjoyed the ending of Room, especially after reading the end of The Memory of Running. At the beginning of Room, Jack is perfectly content with his surroundings. He is never upset that he can't go outside to play or that there is only one window in Room because he does not know what the outside world is like. Jack doesn't think that Room is cramped or that it's kind of gross because of a lack of fresh air. He likes Room and gets angry with Ma for disliking the only home he's ever known.

In the middle of the book, we see Jack's discomfort at the thought of leaving Room when Ma is planning an escape. Jack is always hesitant when Ma tells him that the escape will take place that night. It's understandable that Jack fluctuates between being that hyped kid who wants to be his mom's hero and being a scared five-year-old, but we can see Jack's maturity in the end when he finally agrees to hide in the rug to escape. Ma is able to persuade Jack that leaving Room would be best for both of them. Jack's decision to escape just for Ma seems as heroic as his actual escape.

After Jack and Ma arrive Outside, Jack misses Room, but Ma could not be happier to be free from her prison forever. Throughout the second half of the book, Jack continues to think of Room as his home and has difficulty adjusting to Outside. He constantly asks Ma when they will go back to Room and is always disappointed when she replies that they will never return. At the very end of the book when Jack is finally able to convince Ma to let him visit Room for the last time, we see a big jump in his maturity level. Sure, he's still the same tiny five-year-old he was two months earlier, but now he realizes that Room looks cramped and dirty. He also starts to realize that there's more than one of every object. At the end of the book, Jack recognizes that he must say good-bye to Room and is able to let go of his childhood home. The ending of Room shows how much Jack has developed in a short time period.