Language and Communication Quotes in Room

This is a pretty good definition of sarcasm, and it's impressive that five-year-old Jack not only understands what sarcasm is, but can pick up when someone is using it. That's more than a lot of adults are able to manage.

It's difficult to tell these two things apart. You can't really pretend without lying, and you can't really lie without pretending it's true. In Jack's mind, they're two distinct concepts. He doesn't understand that to an outside person, like Ma, they look like the same thing sometimes.

With every new concept comes new vocabulary. It's a lot for Jack's little brain to process, this whole the-brother-of-my-mother-is-my-uncle thing, so his brain pretty much shuts off and thinks of something much simpler, like lunch.