The Psyche of Old Nick

Old Nick is possibly one of the most disgusting human beings ever put to paper – and I don’t feel the need for any more introduction than that. I doubt I could make his utter deplorability any clearer in this blog post than Donoghue does in Room, or than we have explored in class, so I’ll just assume everyone knows how horrible he is. However, I have found myself wondering (as the disturbing-ness of this book seeps into my mind) how someone so completely irredeemable could ever have been produced. Hence, the internet. While I have no knowledge at all of mental or personality disorders, I am great at Wikipedia, and would like to share my findings as to what exactly I have diagnosed Old Nick with.

To be clear, I don’t know anything about mental health. This blog post is the equivalent of me going on WebMD and diagnosing myself with cancer.

Anti-Social Personality Disorder

This is defined as a persistent disregard for moral, social norms, and the rights of other people. They exploit others for their own gain/pleasure, and lack remorse for what they do. They can also have difficulties in maintaining stable employment – often leading unlawful and exploitative lifestyles. This could account for Old Nick’s willingness to imprison Ma – as any sane human being would be aware of the repugnancy of their actions. Someone with this personality disorder would care about the feelings (or even existence) of other people.

However, ASPD is often associated with impulsivity and recklessness, which makes me hesitate. Nick is anything but impulsive. The creation of Room was obviously both premeditated and horrifying planned out for any eventuality. Those aren’t the actions of a reckless and only semi-aware individual. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Anti-Social Behavior

This isn’t a disorder, just a recurrent behavioral pattern, but I decided to include it. People who display these behaviors lack consideration of others and can violate basic human rights with little guilt. Again, difficulty in maintaining a job or a healthy relationship is common. However, unlike ASPD, this doesn’t have to appear across every aspect of the patient’s life – consider Nick’s strange, domestic relationship with Ma. Disturbing as it is, it’s the only time we see Nick come close to a human interaction.

Conduct Disorder

Violation of basic rights and norms beginning from childhood. 

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Like the Greek myth, people with this disorder have an obsession with themselves, manifesting as a sense of entitlement and a fixation on power fantasies. I don’t know how much more entitled you can get than believing you have the right to take a living, breathing human being from her life and imprison her for years for your own pleasure. And you’d need a serious lack of willingness to empathize (also a characteristic of NPD) not to recognize what you’d done. Controlling, blaming, intolerant. Sound familiar?

Also: protects the self at expense of others. For example, allowing an innocent boy (who happens to be your son) to die rather than get him medicine so that there’s no chance of anyone finding out about the sex slave you keep in the backyard.

Psychopathy/Sociopathy

While again, I don’t agree with the impulsivity; the lack of empathy, and use of cruelty for power both sound a lot like the relationship between Old Nick and Ma. He is a manipulative, callous man, who gratifies his own desires with no real regard for the lives of those he hurts. Psychopaths are also associated with higher risks for crime, violence, and sexual assault/rape. 

[Tyrannical] Sadistic Personality Disorder

TSPD is a subset of Sadistic Personality Disorder: unlike other subsets, which are characterized by violent outbursts of rage, TSPD involves premeditation and planning. The patient enjoys the power he can hold over people around him, purposely committing inhumane acts. I think this is the best bet as to why Old Nick doesn’t seem to feel any sort of guilt for what he’s doing to them – although we never see any assault within the novel; Ma’s broken wrist, her fear of Nick, and their lack of proper food or medicine all point to a man who is indeed by conscious choice putting an innocent woman through a terrifyingly awful life under his control. The best explanation I can come up with is this: he truly enjoys it.

Beyond all that, I’d say he also has some sort of schizophrenic/schizoid issues, accounting for what has to be an insanely self-deceiving fantasy life: from what we gather of Jack’s narration, Nick truly seems to treat Ma as his wife, and believes that she is incredibly lucky to live in the circumstances he’s provided for her, while imprisoning and torturing her. That is insanity of the highest order.

I also have the theory that he was just born without a heart. Possibly all of his emotions are converted into devious plots and disgustingness before any can manifest as emotions.

Let’s be clear. None of this excuses Nick for what he has done. Even aside from the basic moral standards he violates, he would still be legally at fault for false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault, battery, child neglect (? – depends on if he’s legally responsible for Jack), rape, and I’d argue torture (for denying them light, food, and free movement). Mental disorders do not make any of that go away.

He’s a disgusting human being and I want him to die. I just also want some explanation for his behavior, if only so I don’t lose faith in the rest of humanity. As I haven’t finished the book yet, I’m interested to see whether or not Donoghue is going to choose to expand on Nick’s psyche, or simply allow him to remain an anonymous villain.