When we were reading about Jack's interactions with people in the outside world, I was struck by Jack's lack of manners. People definitely picked up on this, causing Ma to have to "teach" Jack manners. Yet, due to Ma's decent job at raising Jack in Room, I'm not sure why she wouldn't have taught him manners in the first place. Jack is able to understand what most people are saying, and respond appropriately, yet has no idea what "no, thanks" means or when to use it. He needs to constantly remind himself which polite phrase to use when talking to people.
It's not Jack's difficulty in using manners that surprises me most; it's that Ma didn't teach him them. I was raised by a single mother, and although we weren't trapped in a room, we spent most of our time together. My mom still emphasized using manners when talking to her. Did Jack's Ma simply not think about using manners with Jack after destroying her body during the first two years in Room? Probably not, as she used polite etiquette when talking and writing notes to Old Nick after she bore Jack. So why did she explain these phrases to Jack? Jack also probably heard people with proper manners on TV. Does he think that it's something only for those people? Or did Ma never teach Jack manners because she didn't think they would escape from Room and that Jack would never need to use manners? Either way, I'm not very satisfied with Jack's or Ma's opinions on manners?
It's been really interesting to watch Jack adjust to manners. It would have been easier for him to adapt if Ma had used manners in Room, but it's understandable that she didn't. There was not a need to at the time. It would have been one more thing to explain, and considering Ma already had to eventually explain the whole world to a five year old, it's understandable that she skipped over the manners for the time being. With manners being seen on TV, why would he think to use them, as nothing on TV was real to him in Room?
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