Attachment as a Key in the Development of Personality: A Psychoanalytical Interpretation of Emma Donoghue’s Room

Abstract

The article explores the role of attachment patterns in the development of a child’s personality in Emma Donoghue’s novel Room (2010). The main objective is to observe the personality of a restrained mother, Ma, and her child, Jack, who was born in a confinement, set by a molester, Old Nick. The story revolves around the five years old Jack who became the rescuer of Ma. John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory and Jacques Lacan’s concept of the development of human consciousness are used to examine the evolution of Jack’s personality, keeping in view the pattern of his attachment with Ma. Hence, the novel narrates the depths of maternal love and the persistency of the human spirit. The study concludes on demonstrating the significant role played by the protagonist’s attachment to his mother to shape his personality and let him live a normal life in the outside world.