Little kids believe in Santa. Not always, and if they do, not because of any inherent belief, but because of their parents telling them about him. Parents lie to their children about this, and the children believe them because they don't know any better. Studies have shown that when the children inevitably find out or are told that "Santa Claus" is actually Mommy and Daddy, they experience a diminishing in trust for their parents that can last for years.
Obviously, the situation being undergone by Ma and Jack is nothing like normal circumstances, but Ma especially attempts to maintain a semblance of normalcy. In everyday life, if not in some of their stranger rituals, it seems almost like a normal mother and child going through a normal day. And, just like other parents, Ma lies a lot to Jack. She lies to make their situations seem normal.
This next part can read like a bad conspiracy theory, so bear with me. Old Nick is, in some ways, a twisted, cruel mockery of a "normal" childhood experience--that of Santa and the "benevolent" deception by your parents. Besides the superficial similarity between their names--Old Nick and Saint Nick--there are several parallels that highlight the strange and horrible situation that Jack and Ma are in.
We don't actually know whether Ma and Jack celebrate anything like Christmas in Room, but there are certainly bits of present-giving within the narrative. First of all, Old Nick is the one who supplies Ma and Jack with everything they need. This is highlighted by Jack's query as to why they don't give thanks to Old Nick rather than Baby Jesus. In addition, however, Old Nick does get Jack an RC car for his birthday, a rather Santa-like gesture in its own way.
Most significantly, however, Old Nick, like Santa in a normal childhood, is something that parents lie to their children about "for their own good." Where Santa is no more than a cute lie to give Christmas time a magical quality, Ma's lies about Old Nick conceal his monstrosity from Jack until Ma thinks he is "ready." Just as it is debatable whether the myth of Santa is any good, it is also dubious whether knowing all there is to know about Old Nick and Jack's situation is good or bad for Jack. Ma concludes in the end that Jack should know, and tells him. In a normal household, on the other hand, around five is usually the time in which the child is most convinced of Santa's existence.
Lastly, in a twist that would be almost comical if it weren't absolutely horrible, both Old Nick and Saint Nick turn out to be the child's parents--or at least father.
Woooah dude yeah I see the parallel you're making. When we were very first introduced to Old Nick and didn't know anything about him besides the fact that he brings them stuff, I also thought he was like, the Santa figure because of the name similarity and his actions. I'm not sure if this parallel was intentional but you mentioned a lot of points that do make it seem like it was and the situations indeed are very similar besides the ugly twist.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember if this came up in class or not, but I've mentioned it somewhere in a comment on a blog. "Old Nick" is an old-fashioned, nineteenth-century euphemism for the devil (Jack gets the name for Nick after seeing a representation of "Old Nick" in a cartoon, somewhat implausibly). But you're right that there are uncanny echoes between the two characters (Nick as this mysterious entity who comes to Room when Jack is sleeping and leaves "gifts"). And, of course, "Santa" is an anagram for "Satan."
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays!