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In the 2015 film, Room... During a scene at dinner following the escape, the daughter remarked to her father that he would never look at or make eye contact with her son, his grandson.

Her father looked kind of disgusted and stood up, and she pressed the point further. He left the room without saying anything.

Why was he unable or unwilling to look at his grandson?

Note: Wiki article here.

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    It is unnecessary to include the title of the film in the question title... that's what the tag is for.
    – Catija
    Commented Jan 15, 2016 at 19:14
  • Because maybe he is the father himself.
    – Henk
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 1:54

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I will preface this by saying that I haven't seen the film yet. However, in the novel Jack's father is Old Nick - the man who was holding Ma and Jack captive. Ma's father would not look at Jack because doing so would make the father think of Old Nick - thus leading to anger, etc at the the kidnapping of his daughter.

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    Old Nick is Jack's father in the film as well. I assumed this was the reason for Ma's father's reluctance to look at Jack, but it was not explicitly stated.
    – Carl Fink
    Commented Mar 2, 2016 at 0:49
  • can you add some quote from the novel that says that? it would definitely improve the answer.
    – Luciano
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 15:40
  • I borrowed the book from the library and didn't have it available (and still don't) to pull out a quote. I agree that it would improve the answer.
    – djmadscribbler
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 18:36
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It's because he's ashamed.

We could see that Joy's father is genuinely happy and relieved when he meets his lost daughter at the hospital. But even though Jack is as innocent as he is and even though Jack is the one who helps his mom (Joy) escape from the room and even though Joy believes that Jack is no one's son other than her own, Joy's father is unable to let go of the fact that Jack is a rapist's and a kidnapper's son and he's ashamed of Jack for that and could not look at him.

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  • Indeed. I guess he is more disgusted than ashamed, though.
    – Eric Duminil
    Commented Feb 29, 2020 at 8:53

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