The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

Adam’s main OCD compulsions involve counting in sets and performing clearing rituals to enter new thresholds. Trying to explain his thoughts, he says, “I believe there are times that my molecules are nuclear and that they’ll explode, raining radiation on all those I love unless I execute certain cleansing and clearing rituals, but I’m going to work on that too” (134). Adam copes with the stress and chaos of life is by neutralizing any anxieties or threats through his cleansing rituals. This motif connects to Adam’s biggest fear, which is confrontation with his mother and other forms of chaos. It also connects to the theme about perceived heroism because Adam clears chaos in an attempt to save others through his OCD compulsions.

Additionally, Carmella symbolizes the constant chaos in Adam’s life because of her excessive hoarding problem. She collects so much junk that their house becomes a physical manifestation of all the chaos in Adam’s life. This becomes increasingly apparent as Adam’s threshold issue is most troublesome at home, and it only gets worse the longer he lies about the toxic letters Carmella receives. He simultaneously feels that he is at fault for all the chaos in his life and that he alone can protect his loved ones.