The Paper Menagerie

by Ken Liu
• Guiding questions:
• Do you sympathise with any one character? Why?
• How do you feel at the end of the story?
• Why do you think you felt that way?
• What are some big ideas or themes you can identify from
the story?
• What are some words, phrases or images you found
striking while reading the story?
 Structure and Form
• Story vs. Plot: Plot refers to the sequence of
events inside a story which affect other events
through the principle of cause and effect. The
story is a summary of what has happened.
• Form: Why is the story told to us in episodes and
vignettes instead of a seamless narrative?
– What do you think is the duration of time in which the
story takes place? Why is this so?
– Is there a sense of closure at the end of the story? Or
is it left open to us for interpretation?
 Genre
• A coming of age story focuses on the growth of
the protagonist from youth to adulthood.
• A coming of age story tends to emphasize
dialogue or internal monologue over action, and is
often set in the past. The subjects of coming-of-
age stories are typically teenagers.
• How does understanding the genre of the coming
of age story help us in reading The Paper
Menagerie? How are we able to trace Jack’s
growth throughout the story? (not just physical
but psychological)
 Menagerie?
• A collection of wild animals kept in captivity
for exhibition
• Why the tiger (lao hu)?
– Motif: A dominant or recurring idea in a piece of
writing
– “I was born a year later in the year of the Tiger”
– How does the tiger origami represent Jack’s inner
emotions and turmoil?
Additional point: Laohu is a dominant Chinese symbol, but the
laohu is made of wrapping paper decorated with Western icons
of candy canes and Christmas trees
 Main themes

• Cultural identity
• Immigration/North-South Divide
• Assimilation/Discrimination
• Alienation
• Power of love/ power of imagination
• Acceptance
 Cultural Identity
• A person’s cultural identity comes from the way they take certain
aspects of each culture they belong to and use them to shape and
define who they are
• Mom – origami, Chinese language, Chinese cooking, Chinese
songs, Qingming, filial piety (her history and her past)
– “Mom used to write a letter on Qingming to her dead parents back in
China, telling them the good news about the past year of her life in
America.” (p49)
• Jack – English, American food, American toys, American pursuits,
downplays/rejects his Chinese heritage
– “I don’t know anything about the Chinese calendar,” (p49)
– “The language I had tried to forget for years..” (p50)
– “Son, I know that you do not like your Chinese eyes, which are my eyes.
I know that you do not like your Chinese hair, which is my hair.” (p52)
• Does our prescribed cultural identity unite us or divide us?
 Language as cultural expression
愛(aī)
The parts of "爫" and "夂" both mean actions."夂"also
means for a long time, and "心 (xīn)" means heart. So the
Chinese character "愛" means to love people through
your actions and with your heart for as long and as best
as you can.
– “If I say ‘love,’ I feel here.” She pointed to her lips. “If I say ‘ai,’ I feel here.” She
put her hand over her heart.”
→ Language serves as a medium to convey a culture’s beliefs, values, and
customs
→ Our experiences of the world and who we are cannot go beyond our mastery
of the language. For instance, Mom is unable to connect with the American
culture because her unfamiliarity with English prevents her from understanding
and being understood.
 North-South Divide & Immigration
• Mail-order bride : women from developing countries seeking to
marry men from better developed nations to escape their present
way of living and gain financial security
• This is normally due to the imbalances between the number of
available women and the number of men desiring partners
• Normally among blue-collar men
– “Dad had picked Mom out of a catalog.” (p45)
– “The catalog said she was eighteen, loved to dance, and spoke good
English because she was from Hong Kong. None of these facts turned
out to be true.” (p45)
– “She told me about American men who wanted Asian wives. If I can
cook, clean, and take care of my American husband, he’ll give me a
good life.” (p52)
• Now that you understand the cultural context, how does this set
the stage for the story to unfold? Does this give you greater
empathy for the mother?
 Assimilation
• Cultural assimilation is the process by which a
person’s or group’s culture comes to resemble
that of another group
– “We should eat American food.” (p47)
– “ She tried to hug me the way she saw American
mothers did on TV. I thought her movements
exaggerated, uncertain, ridiculous, graceless.” (p48)
– “Mom learned to cook American style. I played video
games and studied French.” (p48)
• Did she really assimilate fully into the American
culture though?
 Alienation
• Lack of acceptance in terms of interracial marriage as well as
appearance
– “He seems like a normal enough man. Why did he do that?” (p46)
– “Something about the mixing never seems right. The child looks
unfinished. Slanty eyes, white face. A little monster.” (p46)
• Do you think society’s harsh judgement affected Jack’s perception
of his mother?
• Communication barrier between Mom and other women as well
as Mom and Jack
– “The three of them stood in a triangle around me, smiling and nodding
at each other, with nothing to say, until Dad came back.”
– “If Mom spoke to me in Chinese, I refused to answer her.” (p48)
• While Jack’s actions towards his mother seem cruel, can you see
from his perspective and give reasons why he behaved that way?
• Feeling of isolation
– “Other families don’t have moms who don’t belong.” (p47)
– “It was hard for me to believe that she gave birth to me.
We had nothing in common. She might as well be from the
moon. I would hurry on to my room, where I could
continue my all-American pursuit of happiness.” (p127)
– “I reached out to touch her hand, because I thought that
was what I was supposed to do. I was relieved. I was
already thinking about the flight back, and the bright
California sunshine.” (p49)
– “Your father was kind and gentle with me, and I was very
grateful to him. But no one understood me and I
understood nothing.” (p52)
• Consider also, the father’s actions to the mother.
Would you describe him as kind?
 Power of love/ power of imagination

• Breathing the origami animals to life

– “She breathed into them so that they shared her
breath, and thus moved with her life. This was her
magic.” (p45)
– “Perhaps whatever magic had animated them
stopped when Mom died. Or perhaps I had only
imagined that these paper constructions were
once alive. “ (p50)
 Acceptance
• Jack accepts his ancestry and his traditions
– “…I felt the words sinking into me, through my skin,
through my bones, until they squeezed tight around
my heart.” (p50)
– “I asked for her help in tracing out the character for ai
on the paper below Mom’s letter. I wrote the
character again and again on the paper, intertwining
my pen strokes with her words.” (p52)
– “Following the creases, I refolded the paper back into
Laohu.”
 Literary Language

Anthropomorphism
• The attribution of human characteristics or
behaviour to a god, animal, or object
• Why do you think the author gave lao hu and
the other origami figures life?
– What effect did this create?
– How did it make us feel as readers?
– Did we notice a change to the life-like paper
figures upon mother’s death? Why is this so?
 Consolidation
• What makes this a good story?
– We are emotionally invested in the characters and
their struggles (plot and character development)
– The interweaving of perspectives from both Jack and
his mother (structure and form)
– Paper craft as a symbol (symbolism and motifs)
– Note that this is but the vehicle in which the author’s
key messages are conveyed
• What are some of the key messages conveyed
about culture by Ken Liu to us the readers?
• Take 5 mins to jot them down.
 Suggested Points
• One cannot escape from one’s cultural identity; you
can try to avoid and repress it but ultimately you have
to embrace it.
• One’s cultural identity can be fluid through different
phases of life.
• Society can be at odds with your individual identity
and even if you conform to society’s cultural norms,
you might not always fit in.
• Cultural assimilation and acceptance can be a long and
painful process.
• Cultural alienation can exacerbate many clashes on a
personal, national and global scale.
 Links to real-life contexts and
trends
- Rise of interracial relationships/marriages
and changing societal perceptions
- Tension and conflict as a result of cultural
differences
: Rohingya Muslims vs. Rakhine Buddhists in
Myanmar
: Discrimination of African-Americans (Black
Lives Matter)