Ma in a different (sky)light

I just finished reading Room and I liked the book a lot. A lot. 

Not wanting to leave the world of Ma and Jack yet, I decided to look up the movie trailer as I plan on watching it during break. In the trailer, there’s a song playing in the background, I couldn’t really hear the words all too well but I really liked what I heard so I looked it up. 

The song is called “All the Things Lost” by MS MR and it fits the emotions I imagine Ma feeling so well.  

Here’s the link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKYGp6Pt2Dw and the trailer (the songs starts at around 1:30 in): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Ci-pAL4eE and here are the lyrics for your reference:   

No matter how sweet the salt

We push so hard we finally broke

Oh, no more apologies need be exchange

Oh, no words could ever help relieve this pain

All our silence could not excuse

Disappoint or further prove

Anything other than what we already know

Easier to live a pain than have to let it go

Spent your life collecting so you can never forget

Treasured moments become lost treasures when you can't recollect

Everyone keeps asking are we okay

The truth is we're not but I don't know what to say

We’ve talked a lot about Ma’s role and actions relating to Jack. Was it right for her to lie to him all those years? Did she ever consider giving Jack a better life by parting with him? Should she have let him watch the interview?

These are all fair things to ask considering the situation, but we really don’t focus too much on Ma herself. She’s obviously dealing with depression given the times she is “Gone” and the fact that she tried to commit suicide. She seems to be having a harder time adjusting than Jack because she had a life in Outside before Room (look Jack’s language has rubbed off on me). All the things that made her who she was were taken from her. It’s difficult to stay true to yourself when your world essentially disappears (aside: this kind of reminded me of Marji in Vienna). She has never had the chance to live as an adult normally and have to work for herself (Since she was still in college when she was kidnapped). Now she returns to the Outside to find that her family has grown and lived, she’s missed out on almost a decade of their lives and has to suddenly deal with all the emotions she built up in Room (given she couldn’t talk to Jack or Old Nick about them) and has to get a job and provide and take care of Jack. There are probably more problems that she’s dealing with too such as her health and it’s must be unimaginably difficult. Her family sees her in a different way and the media has painted her and Jack as a sad story for the public to eat up. 

The song states the following “we push so hard we finally broke”. I think this could be connected to Ma’s decision to take the pills. For the past five years she’s had to stay alive to take care of Jack and once they’re out, it’s too much for her to have to deal with so her will breaks down. This is all speculative though, since our picture of Ma is painted completely from Jack’s narrative. From what I can tell, it seems like Ma keeps most of her struggles inside, illustrated through the lyrics, “Oh, no words could ever help relieve this pain” and “Everyone keeps asking are we okay. The truth is we're not but I don't know what to say” because no one could ever erase the pain and misfortune she faced and she has to be strong for Jack and her family so they don’t worry so much. Another thing that stands out to me in the song is the following lyric, “Spent your life collecting so you can never forget, Treasured moments become lost treasures when you can't recollect”. In Room, before Jack was born she likely used her memory of the things that made her life to continue on, but after awhile, your memories of those you love fade, so it must be really hard to deal with a lack of knowledge of people she previously cared so much about.  

Anyway I thought that song was really interesting and fitting, I’m curious to see if they use it in the actually movie during a part where Ma is dealing with all these feelings. Also I wonder how Ma progresses overtime in her new reality. Does she stay depressed or is she able to move forward? What do you guys think?