-
Ma: You're gonna love it.
Jack: What?
Ma: The world.
-
Jack: Are we in another planet?
Ma: Same one. Just a different spot.
-
Nancy: Hello, Jack. Thanks for saving our little girl.
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Jack: When I was small, I only knew small things. But now I'm five, I know everything!
-
Jack: I've been in the world 37 hours. I've seen pancakes, and a stairs, and birds, and windows, and hundreds of cars. And clouds, and police, and doctors, and grandma and grandpa. But Ma says they don't live together in the hammock house anymore. Grandma lives there with her friend Leo now. And Grandpa lives far away. I've seen persons with different faces, and bigness, and smells, talking all together. The world's like all TV planets on at the same time, so I don't know which way to look and listen. There's doors and... more doors. And behind all the doors, there's another inside, and another outside. And things happen, happen, HAPPENING. It never stops. Plus, the world's always changing brightness, and hotness. And there's invisible germs floating everywhere. When I was small, I only knew small things. But now I'm five, I know EVERYTHING!
-
Jack: There's so much of "place" in the world. There's less time because the time has to be spread extra thin over all the places, like butter. so all the persons say "Hurry up! Let's get going! Pick up the pace! Finish up now!". Ma was in a hurry to go "boing" up to Heaven, but she forgot me. Dumbo Ma! So the aliens threw her back down. CRASH! And broke her.
-
[first lines]
Ma: Ssh. Go back to sleep.
Jack: [reciting to himself] Once upon a time, before I came, you cried and cried and watched TV all day, until you were a zombie. But then I zoomed down from heaven, through skylight, into Room. Whoosh-pshew! And I was kicking you from the inside. Boom, boom! And then I shot out onto Rug with my eyes wide open, and you cutt-ed the cord and said, "Hello, Jack!"
-
Jack: There are so many things out here. And sometimes it's scary. But that's ok. Because it's still just you and me...
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[last lines]
Jack: Say bye to Room, Ma.
Ma: [mouths silently] Bye, Room.
-
[first lines]
Ma: Go back to sleep.
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Jack: You got soup in my eye.
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Jack: It's because door's open.
Ma: What?
Jack: It can't really be room if door's open.
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Jack: Ma and I have decided that since we don't know what we like, we get to try *everything.*
-
Jack: [thinking to himself] One, two, three... There's room, then outer space, with all the TV planets, then heaven. Plant is real, but not trees. Spiders are real, and one time the mosquito that was sucking my blood. But squirrels and dogs are just TV, except lucky. He's my dog who might come some day. Monsters are too big to be real, and the sea. TV persons are flat and made of colors. But me and you are real.
-
Old Nick: What's that smell?
Ma: Sorry, I burned some cheese. Here. I just wasn't thinking.
Old Nick: Well, thinking is not your strong suit.
-
Ma: [about the mouse] He's on the other side of this wall.
Jack: What other side?
Ma: Jack, there's two sides to everything.
Jack: Not on an octagon.
Ma: Yeah, but...
Jack: [Interrupts] An octagon has eight sides
Ma: But a wall, okay, a wall's like this, see? And we're on the inside and mouse is on the outside.
Jack: In outer space?
Ma: No, in the world. It's much closer than outer space.
Jack: I can't see the outside-side.
Ma: Listen, I know that I told you something else before, but you were much younger. I didn't think that you could understand, but now you're so old, you're so smart. I know that you can get this. Where do you think that old Nick gets our food?
Jack: From TV by magic!
-
Ma: I'm sorry that I'm not nice anymore, but you know what? Maybe if your voice saying "be nice" hadn't been in my head, then maybe I wouldn't have helped the guy with the fucking sick dog!
-
Talk Show Hostess: When he's older, will you tell Jack about his father?
Ma: Jack's not his. He's not his.
Talk Show Hostess: So are you saying that there were other men?
Ma: No! No. Um... A father is... a man who loves his child.
Talk Show Hostess: Of course. That's so true in a very real sense, but the... the biological relationship that you...
Ma: That's not a relationship.
-
Jack: When I was four, I didn't even know about the world, and now me and ma are going to live in it forever and ever until we're dead. This is a street in a city in a country called America, and earth. That's a blue and green planet, always spinning, so I don't know why we don't fall off. Then, there's outer space. And nobody knows where's heaven. Ma and I have decided that because we don't know what we like, we get to try everything. There are so many things out here. And sometimes, it's scary, but that's okay, because it's still just you and me.
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[last lines]
Jack: It can't really be Room if door's open.
Ma: Do you want me to close it?
Jack: Nah.
Ma: Jack, can we go?
Jack: Bye, plant. Bye, chair number one. Bye, chair number two. Bye, table. Bye, wardrobe. Bye, sink. Bye-bye, skylight. Ma, say bye-bye to room.
-
Ma: He needs to play with something real. I'm worried about him being on the phone.
Nancy: He's doing fine.
Ma: Well, I don't give him my phone, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't give him yours.
Nancy: Okay, I won't.
Ma: Great.
[pause]
Ma: I just want him to connect with something.
Nancy: Joy. Joy, he's really doing fine.
Ma: I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm supposed to be happy.
Nancy: You just need to rest, okay?
Ma: No, I don't. I don't need to rest!
Nancy: That's... That's what the doctor...
Ma: [Interrupts] That is not what the doctor said. You don't know what he said, because it was a confidential conversation, and you don't know what he said!
Nancy: All right, all right, all right! You're impossible to talk to right now.
Ma: Well, sorry.
Nancy: No. No, you're not sorry!
Ma: Yeah, I'm not sorry! You have no idea what's going on in my head.
Nancy: Yeah. Well, try me! I have asked you.
Ma: And then what? Then, every time you look at me, that's all that you see?
Nancy: When I look at you, Joy, I will see my daughter.
Ma: You don't need me. You've been doing just fine without me.
Nancy: Oh. How can you say that, huh? Do you honestly think that you were the only one whose life was destroyed?
Ma: [Interrupts] Actually, that's exactly what I think.
Nancy: Yeah? Well how would you feel if somebody took Jack away from you?
Ma: Oh, shut up!
Nancy: Look at him! You should be thinking about him!
Ma: Oh, don't you tell me how to look after my son. I'm sorry that I'm not nice anymore, but you know what? Maybe if your voice saying "be nice" hadn't been in my head, then maybe I wouldn't have helped the guy with the fucking sick dog! Stay there, Jack. I'm calling the fucking lawyer. I can't stay in this place.
-
Jack: Is bad tooth hurting?
Ma: Mmhmm, but you know mind over matter.
Jack: If you don't mind, it doesn't matter
Ma: You're right. Hey do you know what we're gonna do today?
Jack: What?
Ma: We're going to bake a birthday cake
Jack: A birthday cake?
Ma: Mmhmm
Jack: Like from TV?
Ma: Mmhmm, but for real
Jack: No way!
-
Jack: Grandma?
Nancy: Yes?
Jack: I need the scissors.
Nancy: What for?
Jack: For cutting my hair.
Nancy: Do you really want to do that?
Jack: I want to send it to Ma.
Nancy: How come?
Jack: She needs my strong more than me, so I want to send it to her, or you could take it to her?
Nancy: I could help you, if you'd like?
Jack: Yes please.
-
Jack: Do you think this will work? Can my strong be her strong, too?
Nancy: Oh. Of course it can. We all help each other stay strong. No one is strong alone. You know, you and your mom, you help each other through, don't you?
Jack: Yep.
Nancy: Mmm-hmm. And you and me, you and Leo, Leo and me. We all have the same strong.
Jack: [thinks] I guess you're right.
-
Jack: I love you Grandma.
Nancy: I love you too Jack.
-
Ma: I'm sorry Jack.
Jack: It's okay. Don't do it again.
Ma: I promise
Jack: Are you better now?
Ma: Yeah, I'm starting to be. Hey, Jack?
Jack: Yeah?
Ma: When Grandma brought this to me
[Shows Jack the trimmings of his hair]
Ma: I knew that I could get better. You saved me... Again.
-
Jack: Eggsnake's our longest friend and fanciest. Meltedy spoon's the best to eat with because he's more blobbier. Labyrinth is the twistiest and she hides things so I don't know where they are. Toilet's the best at disappearing poo. Lamp's the brightest, except when the power's cut. You're the best at reading and songs and lots, except if you're having a gone day. I'm the best at drawing, and jumping, and growing, and nearly everything!
-
Old Nick: What is that? !s that a birthday cake?
Ma: Mm.
Old Nick: You should have told me. I'd have gotten him a present. So how old is he, anyway? Four?
Jack: [whispering] Five.
-
Ma: One day when I was seventeen, I was walking home from school...
Jack: Where was I?
Ma: You were still in up heaven. But there was a guy. He pretended that his dog was sick.
Jack: What guy?
Ma: Old Nick. We call him "Old Nick". I don't know what his real name is. He pretended his dog was sick...
Jack: What's the dog's name?
Ma: Jack, there's wasn't a dog! He was trying to trick me, OK? There wasn't a dog, Old Nick stole me.
Jack: I want a different story!
Ma: No! This is the story that you get! He put me in his garden shed. Here. Room is the shed. He's locked the door. He's the only one who knows the code. You know, the secret numbers that open the door? He's the only one who knows, and I've been locked in here for seven years. I've been in here for seven years, OK.
Jack: This story is boring!
Ma: Jack, the world is so big. It's so big, you wouldn't believe it. And room is just one stinky part of it.
Jack: Room's not stinky, only when you do a fart!
[Both start crying]
Ma: Oh God, OK.
Jack: I don't believe in your STINKY world!
-
Old Nick: [approaching the closet where Jack is hiding] Hey, you want some candy?
Ma: Come to bed. Please.
Old Nick: Please? Didn't your momma ever teach you any manners, young lady?
-
Ma: You're five and you're old enough to understand what the world there is. You have to understand. YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND. We can't keep living like this. You need to help me.
Jack: I wanna be four again.
-
Ma: [finds a photo of her relay race team] You know who that is?
Jack: This? That's you.
Ma: Yeah, that's me. And Stacy Benton and Heather Noel and Laura Sullivan. We were on a relay team. I was the anchor. I was really fast. We did track.
Jack: Real track?
Ma: Mmm-hmm. On a field.
[long pause]
Ma: You know what happened to them?
Jack: No.
Ma: Exactly.
[puts the photo down and tries to busy herself]
Ma: Nothing. They just lived their life and nothing happened.
-
Ma: I'm not a good enough Ma.
Jack: But you're Ma.
Ma: [laughing and crying] I am. I am.
-
Jack: Is this Room?
Ma: Yeah.
Jack: Has it gotten shrinked? Where is everything?
Ma: Taken for evidence. Proof that we were here.
-
Talk Show Hostess: When he was born, did it... did it ever occur to you to ask your captor to take Jack away?
Ma: Away?
Talk Show Hostess: Well, to take him to a hospital, say, leave him there, where he could be found?
Ma: Why... why would I do that?
Talk Show Hostess: So Jack could be free. Now, this is the ultimate sacrifice, and I understand that, but did you think about him having a normal childhood?
Ma: But he had me.
Talk Show Hostess: Of course he did. But was that the best thing for him?
-
Ma: You know when your Grandma asks you a question? You can answer her. You don't need to say everything to me, okay?
-
Jack: What are those?
Ma: Those are toys, gifts for you, from people that are very happy that we got home safe.
Jack: What people?
Ma: Just people.
-
Dr. Mittal: The most important thing you did was get him out while he's still plastic.
Ma: What?
Jack: [whispering in her ear] I'm not plastic.
Dr. Mittal: What's that, Jack?
Ma: He says that he's... he's real. He's not plastic.
Dr. Mittal: Well, you got me there, Jack. You're real. And you're very brave.
-
Officer Parker: Is there daylight in your room?
[Jack nods]
Officer Parker: Okay, good. How many windows?
Jack: Zero.
Officer Parker: Well, then how does the sun come in?
Jack: Through Skylight.
Officer Parker: Skylight? Okay, excellent. So you live in a house with a skylight?
Jack: No, it's not a house.
Officer Parker: Okay.
Jack: It's a...
Officer Parker: Yeah?
Jack: It's a...
Officer Grabowski: Uh, you'd get more out of him after he's had some sleep.
Officer Parker: Tom, give it a second.
Jack: Room's a... a shed.
-
Officer Parker: What made you jump out the truck, Jack?
Jack: Ma said in my head.
Officer Parker: Okay, what exactly did she say?
Jack: Jump when it slows down, but I couldn't.
Officer Parker: All right. So what did you do? What did you do?
Jack: Third time, I got bent.
Officer Parker: The... third time of what, Jack?
Jack: Third slow. Everything went sideways, and then it stopped, then I jumped...
Officer Parker: I got it.
Jack: ...into...
Officer Parker: I got it, buddy. I got it.
[into her radio]
Officer Parker: 54-09 call. Dispatch, listen carefully. We have a rough location. All right, uh... south on Elm, three stop signs past the junction with Beech. Look for a garden shed with a skylight. Also check the most recent satellite images for a red pick-up in the driveway. 54-09 en route.
Officer Grabowski: Unbelievable.
Officer Parker: Good boy, Jack.
Room Quotes
Extended Reading
