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Ma
“Old Nick” is, in popular culture and common usage, a nickname for both Santa Claus and Satan—and in Room, Old Nick earns this strange sobriquet. Ma’s captor and rapist (and Jack’s biological father), Old Nick makes visits to Room many nights each week to bring “presents” of food and supplies—and to repeatedly rape Ma while Jack, unaware of what’s really going on, listens from inside Wardrobe. Not much is known about Old Nick other than he is a white man in his forties or fifties, and that he abducted Ma off her college campus when she was 19 by luring her towards his truck with a fake story about having a sick dog. Most of what is communicated about Old Nick is through Ma—because Jack sees so little of Old Nick (and doesn’t really understand who the man is anyway), Ma’s descriptions of Old Nick’s indifference in the face of her years-long suffering and his constant attempts to rub her face in his power over her and Jack show what kind of man he is. Old Nick is cruel, temperamental, and unfeeling—and yet in spite of his absolute power over Ma and Jack, Ma senses a part of him that seems to be growing increasingly fearful and uncertain. Eventually, Old Nick admits to Ma that he has been unemployed for six months, and this admission is what sparks Ma’s intense desire to escape Room before the increasingly unstable Old Nick does something terrible to her and Jack. After Ma and Jack’s “Great Escape,” Old Nick is apprehended and placed in jail to await trial. Ma relishes her captor’s encounter with justice.
Old Nick Quotes in Room
The Room quotes below are all either spoken by Old Nick or refer to Old Nick. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Presents Quotes
Nothing makes Ma scared. Except Old Nick maybe. Mostly she calls him just him, I didn’t even know the name for him till I saw a cartoon about a guy that comes in the night called Old Nick. I call the real one that because he comes in the night, but he doesn’t look like the TV guy with a beard and horns and stuff.
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Unlying Quotes
“I don’t think you appreciate how good you’ve got it here,” says Old Nick. […] “Aboveground, natural light, central air, it’s a cut above some places, I can tell you. Fresh fruit, toiletries, what have you, click your fingers and it’s there. Plenty girls would thank their lucky stars for a setup like this, safe as houses. Specially with the kid—”
Is that me? […] I count my teeth, I keep getting it wrong, nineteen then twenty then nineteen again. I bite my tongue till it hurts.
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“He put a blindfold on me—”
“Like Blindman’s Buff?”
“Yeah, but not fun. He drove and drove, I was terrified.”
“Where was I?”
“You hadn’t happened yet, remember?”
I forgot. “Was the dog in the truck too?”
“There was no dog.” Ma’s sounding cranky again. “You have to let me tell this story.”
“Can I pick another?”
“It’s what happened.”
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“So, Jack, we mustn’t try and hurt him again. When he came back the next night, he said, number one, nothing would ever make him tell me the code. And number two, if I ever tried a stunt like that again, he’d go away and I’d get hungrier and hungrier till I died.”
She’s stopped I think.
My tummy creaks really loud and I figure it out, why Ma’s telling me the terrible story. She’s telling me that we’re going—
Then I’m blinking and covering my eyes, everything’s all dazzling because Lamp’s come back on.
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Get the entire Room LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Old Nick Character Timeline in Room
The timeline below shows where the character Old Nick appears in Room. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Presents
...looks for a place to hang the drawing—he knows Ma will want it somewhere where Old Nick can’t see it. After hanging the sketch inside Wardrobe, Jack asks Ma if he can...
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...unafraid of everything, like Ma. The only thing Ma is afraid of, Jack says, is Old Nick —a man whose real name he and Ma don’t even know. Jack started calling the...
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...he is, but Ma says she doesn’t know exactly—she says that maybe they can ask Old Nick for a measuring tape for “Sunday treat.” When Jack points out that he didn’t get...
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...some twanging noises. As Jack looks at the pictures on the box, he laments that Old Nick no longer brings him and Ma catalogs so that they can pick out their old...
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...who believes that women, men, boys, and girls aren’t “real” except for himself, Ma, and Old Nick . After reading, Ma and Jack lie down for a nap, and Jack breastfeeds.
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...Sundaytreat. Ma tries to calm Jack down and reminds him that they need to ask Old Nick only for things he can get easily and cheaply from the store. Jack retorts that...
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...gets ready for bed while Ma cleans up and writes a list of groceries for Old Nick .
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...why he has to get “hided away,” and Ma explains that she doesn’t ever want Old Nick to be able to look at Jack. She urges him to go to sleep quickly...
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After a long time passes, Jack whispers to Ma and asks if Old Nick is coming. Ma says he must not be. Jack scurries out of Wardrobe and into...
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...lets Ma carry him into Wardrobe. Once he’s inside, he hears the beeping of Door— Old Nick has arrived.
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Jack listens as Old Nick enters Room. He points out the birthday cake and asks how old Jack is now—Ma...
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In the morning, Jack asks Ma why Old Nick didn’t bring him a birthday present. Ma says that she doesn’t want Old Nick bringing...
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...top of Table. Jack is thrilled—one is a remote-control jeep, a “late birthday present” from Old Nick . Jack immediately begins playing with the toy, but Ma warns him to be gentle...
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Soon, Jack hears Old Nick arrive. He hears Old Nick complain about the “ridiculous price[s]” at the store. Soon, Lamp...
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Old Nick begins screaming and Lamp turns on. Someone forces Wardrobe open, and Jack hides under his...
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Unlying
...apologizes for making his jeep fall down in the middle of the night—Ma says that Old Nick thought she was attacking him. Jack laughs, thinking the situation silly, but Ma explains it’s...
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...on Ma—the marks around her neck have turned purple, and Jack wishes he could kick Old Nick . Jack watches so much TV he starts to feel sick, but he is unable...
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Old Nick arrives and complains about the pungent smell of food in Room. Ma suggests putting in...
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That night, Jack awakens to the sounds of Ma and Old Nick arguing. Ma is begging for more vitamins and fresh vegetables, but Old Nick complains about...
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Jack wakes in the middle of the night. Curious to see what Old Nick looks like, he steps out of Wardrobe and stands over Old Nick, watching him. Old...
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...up in Bed with Ma. He apologizes for the night before and asks Ma what Old Nick meant by where Ma “got” Jack. Ma explains that Old Nick thinks Jack “belong[s]” to...
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...wake up the next morning, the air is even colder. Jack says he’s happy that Old Nick didn’t come in the night, and he wishes aloud that Old Nick would never come...
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...is “unlying.” Jack begins listening more intently to Ma, and asks her questions about how Old Nick made Room. Ma ruefully explains that Room is entirely sound-proofed, a fact about which Old...
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...Ma if they can go Outside “tomorrow.” Ma explains that they are held prisoner by Old Nick , and since he is the only one who knows the code to Keypad, they...
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...about how she came to be in Room. Ma explains that when she was 19, Old Nick “stole” her from a parking lot on her college’s campus after telling her that he...
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...and dig through the floor—but once she got through the cork floor, she realized that Old Nick had lined the walls and ground of Room with chain-link fence.
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Jack says he wants to “have a mutiny” against Old Nick and hurt him. Ma says hurting Old Nick doesn’t work—one time, she smashed the lid...
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Ma explains that she and Jack can’t try to hurt Old Nick again, and then goes quiet. Jack understands why Ma has told him her “terrible story:”...
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Dying
Jack suggests the two of them pull off a “cunning trick” just like the one Old Nick used to lure Ma to his truck years ago. Ma tells Jack he’s “brilliant”—the two...
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...very hot with a bag of water. Worst of all, Jack will have to let Old Nick touch him—just once—to see how high his “fever” is. Ma has Jack get into Bed...
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...Escape” tonight. Jack doesn’t feel ready, but Ma says there’s no way of predicting what Old Nick might do to them next. Jack begs Ma to wait a couple days. Ma relents,...
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Jack asks if Old Nick came tonight—Ma says he did, and that she told him Jack was coming down with...
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That night, at 8:41—twenty minutes before Old Nick ’s arrival—Ma fills a plastic bag with hot water and presses it against Jack’s face....
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...up over Jack and hides the bag of water beneath the bed. As soon as Old Nick walks in, he comments on how bad it smells in Room—Ma tells Old Nick that...
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...Jack to pretend to be dead. She will roll him up inside Rug and instruct Old Nick to take him far away to be buried. During the drive, Jack will wriggle out...
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...Jack doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the plan, but Ma explains that because Old Nick has lost his job, his house may be taken away from him. If that happens,...
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...Ma rolls Jack up inside Rug. The two of them sit in silence waiting for Old Nick to come. He is late, but soon enough, they hear the beep beep of Door....
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Old Nick tells Ma he needs to take Jack away. Ma warns Old Nick that if he...
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Jack feels himself being grabbed and lifted up—he knows Old Nick has him. As Old Nick carries Jack out the door, Jack urinates and defecates in...
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...the truck bed, he falls out and screams. He begins running, even as he hears Old Nick exit the truck and start following him. Jack runs as fast as he can, unable...
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Jack begins screaming wordlessly and hitting at Old Nick , and the owner of the dog intervenes, asking Old Nick if his “little girl”...
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As Old Nick keeps walking towards the truck with Jack in his arms, the dog owner shouts that...
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...male cop talks into his radio, Officer Oh continues asking Jack questions, such as whether Old Nick is his father and how he got scraped up. Jack answers in his peculiar way...
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After
...As Ma helps him put some slippers on, however, he becomes afraid, and asks if Old Nick will find them again. Ma blithely assures Jack that Old Nick doesn’t know where they...
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Dr. Clay asks Jack if Old Nick ever hurt him. Ma interjects, insisting she never let such a thing happen, but Dr....
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...the room, Morris and Ma talk about the impending trial and Ma asks how long Old Nick will go to prison for. As Morris lists the charges against Old Nick, he estimates...
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...girl. The umbilical cord, Ma says, was tangled around the baby girl’s neck, and though Old Nick was in Room while Ma delivered the baby, he refused to help Ma at all—and...
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...her child about the reality of the world outside Room, and about whether Ma believes Old Nick cared “in a warped way” for her and Jack.
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Living
...away, and warns him that he could get snatched by a stranger. Jack asks if Old Nick is coming back for him. Grandma replies that while Old Nick is in jail, there...
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...that Sundaytreat doesn’t exist anymore. Ma assures Jack that he will never have to see Old Nick again—though she’ll have to, just once, at his trial. Ma and Jack walk around town...
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...visit over with—she is never coming back again. Jack and Ma approach the door of Old Nick ’s house and find yellow caution tape strung all over. A male police officer lets...
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