the paper menagerie assignment

The Paper Menagerie | Summary and Analysis

Summary of the paper menagerie by ken liu.

The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu is a moving story about a boy of mixed race called Jack and his relationship with his mother. The main themes of this story are mother-son relationship, cultural differences, racism, identity and heritage.

The Paper Menagerie | Summary

The Paper Menagerie begins by the narrator recalling one of his earliest memories- he was sobbing, unable to be soothed. While his father left him in his bedroom to calm down, his mother attempted to make origami animals to cheer him up. The narrator says that though he wasn’t aware at that time, his mother’s breath was special, as she breathed life into all her origami animals. He then proceeds to explain how his parents met- his father picked his mother out of a catalogue, on the very last page. The narrator heard the story when he was in high school, a time when his father was trying to convince him to speak to his mother again. In the catalogue, she said she was good at English, loved to dance and was eighteen. However, when the narrator’s father flew to Hong Kong to meet her, this information turned out to be false. The narrator was contemptuous that his mother had put herself up in a catalogue- in high school, he thought he knew all. Despite this, the father was not angry. He hired a waitress to translate between them, and as sparks flew, he signed papers for her to join him in Connecticut. The narrator was born the next year, in the Year of the Tiger.

His mother would make all different types of animals with paper- anything the narrator asked. Jack’s paper tiger, Laohu, would chase after them, and while watching shows about sharks, the narrator’s mother would make shark origami, too. When the narrator- we now learn his name is Jack- was ten, his family moved to a new neighbourhood where they were visited by two women- their new neighbours. For the first time, Jack hears them speak ill of their mixed family when they think he’s not listening. They condemn his American father for marrying a Chinese woman, and even call Jack “unfinished” looking. Not long after, one of the neighbourhood boys, Mark, came over to play with Star Wars action figures. Mark was annoyed that Jack didn’t show much interest, and when asked to bring out his toys, Jack had nothing but Laohu. Laohu pounced on Mark and as a result, the light saber fell and broke. Mark pushed Jack in anger, furiously shouting that “It probably cost more than how much your dad paid for your mom!” before crushing and tearing Laohu and going home. No matter how much he tried, Jack could not repair Laohu.

The next two weeks at school were terrible for Jack. After all, Mark was popular. Eventually, as they sat at the dinner table one night, Jack revealed the racist slur he had been called at school. He refused to answer his mother when she spoke in her native language. He kept prompting her to speak in English and cook American food. His father told his mother almost helplessly that he would buy her a cookbook, and that she should have expected this day to come eventually- they are in America. He asks her to learn English so that Jack can fit in. She replies in broken English that if she says “love” she feels it on her lips. But if she says  ai – the Chinese word for love- she feels it in her heart. Jack simply asks his father for some “real toys”.

Gradually, Jack stops speaking to his mother. His father buys him a star wars set, from which he returns to Mark the object he broke. He puts all his origami animals into a shoebox under his bed and felt embarrassed whenever she tried to mime things for him to understand. His father told him not to treat his mother like that, but he couldn’t look Jack in the eye. His mother still made paper animals for him which tried to cuddle up to him in his sleep, but he would crush the air out of them. When he came to high school, his mother stopped making the animals. Her English had improved, but Jack was too old to talk much to her anyway. He continued his steady pursuit of the American Dream.

The story then moves to the father and Jack at the hospital, standing on either side of the mother’s bed. She is barely 40, but weak and frail with cancer in her body  Jack feels awkward, not knowing what to do. His mind constantly wanders to his California college campus where he should be for the recruitment session. He knows he should not think of that when his mother is bedridden, but he can’t help it. She tells him not to worry about her, to just do well in school. She then requests one thing- if she does not make it, she asks him to take out his shoebox of paper animals once a year, on Qingming, or Chinese Death Day, and think of her. He tells her that he knows nothing of the  Chinese calendar. She then tries to tell him in her mother tongue that she loves him, her voice hoarse. Jack understands her words and awkwardly tells her not to talk. He soon leaves, as he does not want to be late for his flight. His mother passes away sometime when he is flying above Nevada.

After his mother died, Jack’s father aged rapidly. The house had to be sold, and while Jack and his girlfriend Susan were clearing out the house, she found the shoebox of origami, exclaiming in amazement at its intricacy. Jack notes that the paper animals don’t move anymore, and wonders whether they stopped breathing when his mother did. He then thinks that the animals’ movement must have just been a figment of his childish imagination. It was only two years after the death that Jack felt a tinge of emotion- Susan was on a business trip and he was watching TV when he saw a channel about sharks. Suddenly, the image of his mother making an origami shark appeared in his mind. As soon as that happens, Laohu leaps out of the shadows. His mother must have put it back together herself after Jack gave up. Abd Susan, who had kept the origami pieces around the house, must have kept this one in the corner because of how worn it was.

Jack stroked Laohu, who leapt around playfully. He felt happy to see him after a long time. Then, Laohu stopped jumping and unfolded himself to reveal dense, Chinese characters- Jack’s mother’s handwriting. On checking online, he realises it is Qingming. He cannot read Chinese, so he asks around until he finds a stranger who is willing to read the contents out to him. In the letter, his mother talks about her feelings, wonders why he doesn’t speak to her anymore, and most importantly: tells him her life story. She was born in a very poor province during the Great Famines of China. After things got a little better, her own mother taught her to make red paper dragons and breathe life into them, something she believed Jack would have loved. Then, there was a cultural revolution. Because they had a relative in Hong Kong, they were considered spies. Jack’s grandparents both died, while his mother tried to run away to Hong Kong. She was found by a man whose business was to take girls to Hong Kong and sell them as house servants. For years, Jack’s mother worked as a maid, and was beaten if anything was done wrong. At sixteen, she received advice to leave the house before she became too old and things could get messy. That is how she ended up in the catalogue where Jack’s father found her.

She was grateful, though she understood nothing. She then talked about the joy she felt on seeing Jack, his features similar to her own, his ability to speak her language- she saw her family in him and loved him incredibly. She says she knows he doesn’t like his Chinese looks and heritage, but when he stopped talking to her, she felt like she was losing everything all over again. The letter ends when she asks beseechingly why he won’t talk to her, and says the pain makes it hard to write. When the letter ends, Jack cannot look at the woman who read it. He asks her to find the Chinese characters which spell  ai – the image of his mother at the dining table with her hand over her heart flashes in his mind. He writes the word again and again. The woman leaves Jack alone with his mother. After some time, he folds the creases to form the purring tiger again, and he and Laohu begin their walk home.

The Paper Menagerie | Analysis

A majority of this story is written in past tense, as the narrator describes the incidents that led him to his current set of thoughts and feelings. Further, we do not know his name immediately- we find out that the narrator is called Jack when another character addresses him. This creates the feeling that we, too, are slowly discovering more about his past with his walk down memory lane. The Paper Menagerie covers very deep themes, but since it’s done in the form of a collection of anecdotes and recollections, the readers are able to understand it in situational context. This way, rather than simply feeling angry or upset at Jack for his treatment towards his mother, we get the opportunity to take in his social context and link that to his behaviour. Further, we are able to understand the depth of these themes as they are in real life scenarios. Liu mainly employs dialogue and description. Most importantly, his depiction of Jack’s thoughts as he grows, and his vivid narration of the paper animals that had life in them, created a picture for the readers to clearly imagine. There is also abundant use of literary devices like personification and symbolism. The main themes of this story are mother-son relationship, cultural differences, racism, identity and heritage.

In the beginning, we can see instances in the narrator’s youth where he accepted his heritage- or, more accurately, was too young to understand its implications in the society. We see the impact that one’s environment as well as others’ actions can have on an innocent outlook. At the same time, there is italic emphasis and translation of everything the narrator’s mother says, as she does not speak English. This subtly sets the scene and acts as a sort of foreshadowing of what is to come. We also see the origami animals, a main point of this story- they have played a role in the narrator’s life since his very childhood. It also displays the intense love the mother has for Jack, highlighting the theme of the mother-son relationship.

The origami animals spoke a language which they could not. It is interesting to note the way the paper tiger, Laohu, was especially given animalistic characteristics. Whether it be Jack’s imagination or the bit of the mother in it, Jack describes it to purr and leap and pounce just like a real tiger. Jack was born in the year of the Tiger himself- hence this paper animal represents him. It is roaring and playful and free in the beginning, just like Jack. But when Mark comes over, Jack experiences an insult towards his family for the first time- and to him, this is a moment that strikes a chord: he realises that he is “different.” Of course, the moment is built up by the incident where the neighborhood ladies make crude comments, but hearing it directly from someone his own age is where it peaks. When Mark rips Laohu in half, it symbolises the destruction of Jack’s pride in his Chinese identity- it’s like a piece of him ceases to function after that incident. He no longer wants anything to do with his Chinese heritage, or his mother.

When Jack starts ignoring his mother, Liu structures a heartbreaking back-and-forth dialogue between the three family members. In this, he encapsulates themes of identity, discrimination and cultural differences. Jack represents discrimination- he faces bullying and racial slurs from his peers because of his mixed race and Chinese heritage. This makes him want to forget everything about that side of him and become completely American like everyone else. His father represents cultural differences. An American man himself, he is well aware that Jack needs to fit in and the Chinese side of his identity will make it difficult for him. He requests the mother to learn English because she “ knew this would happen one day.”   And finally, the mother represents identity. She has strong love for her son and gratitude to the father, and she knows that she needs to adapt to the American setting, hence she complies to their request. But before doing so, she delivers a single, powerful dialogue which captures the emotion behind identity: she tells them that when she says “love” in English, she feels it on her lips. But when she says “ ai”  in Chinese, she feels it in her heart. The fact that she says this in broken English further highlights the importance of one’s native language and the value it holds to a person’s identity.

When Jack seals his origami into a shoebox, it is like he is sealing away a part of himself- those paper animals had life breathed into them by his mother, and Jack is blocking away that aspect of his life. It is truly heartbreaking to read about the lengths he goes to avoid her, even looking down on her and refusing to speak to her, thinking of her with contempt. Readers may feel that he is cruel and unjust, and while his actions are painful, it speaks volumes about how facing racism can affect one’s mindset. Racism and discriminatory bullying is very, very harmful and it completely altered the way Jack looked at his family and even himself. His main aim in life is to live the typical “American dream”, no doubt stemming from the need to become like everyone else around him. It is almost as though he wants to prove to himself that there is nothing different about him at all, and the best way to do so is to live a model American lifestyle.

This thought process pushes him so far from his mother that he does not even mourn at her death. As she lies on her deathbed, Jack’s mind is elsewhere- on his college campus. We see that even in her final moments, his mother tells him with improved English not to worry about her and to just focus on his studies. The awkward way in which he tries to reply, not sure how to comfort her, emphasises the years they have spent apart despite living in the same house. He had been contemptuous of even the Chinese songs she used to hum in the kitchen- it had drawn a wall between them completely. Despite this, his mother has unrelenting love for her son. Her last words to him are in Chinese-  “Son, mother loves you”.  The notable word here is “  ai”  which means “love”- she says it in Chinese, because only then does it come from the heart. When Jack and Susan clean up the house and she notices the origami, Jack mentions that they don’t seem to breathe anymore- this shows that in the back of his mind, he still associates his mother with that sense of magic.

Two years later, a shark documentary reminds him of his mother. It is as though the old memories are pushing their way forth from the back of his mind. The moment acts as a rebirth of his identity, represented by Laohu pouncing back to life and Jack welcoming him. The importance of this moment is strengthened with the discovery of the letter written inside Laohu. This is extremely significant- Laohu represents Jack. Hence, the mothers letter being written inside Laohu represents the fact that she and her culture and identity will always be inside him, a part of him, no matter what- and so will her love for him. Reading the letter on Qingming, Jack comes to understand the struggles faced by his mother and the joy his birth brought her. He is hit by several emotions at once as he processes everything- guilt, sadness, pain, and most prominently: love for his mother, as can be seen in the way he writes “ ai”  as many times as he can.

At the end, he quietly folds Laohu up into its tiger form. Laohu purrs, and they walk home together. This gentle, heart wrenching conclusion implies a new beginning in terms of identity and cultural pride. After years, Laohu is by Jack’s side again and Jack has finally had a chance to “talk” to his mother and truly understand her. Finally, he can be the complete version of himself, embracing all the parts of his identity.

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The Paper Menagerie

107 pages • 3 hours read

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

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Summary and Study Guide

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories is a collection of 15 short stories from the award-winning science fiction author, Ken Liu. The collection includes tales of magical realism , futuristic technology, historical fiction, and gritty noir. Simon and Schuster published the book in 2016.

Through these narratives, which often switch back from past to present or from story to book excerpts or legends, Liu invokes several diverse worlds with many Asian protagonists. In his stories, he references Chinese and Japanese games, language, folklore, and history and covers themes of memory, the implications of advanced technologies, and immigrant experiences in America.

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In stories like “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species” and “An Advanced Readers’ Picture Book of Comparative Cognition,” Liu details the unique storytelling, story recording, and cognitive abilities of different alien species. The first of these functions as a faux nonfiction account of alien species, and the second is a book composed by a mother astronaut who leaves her husband and daughter for a century-long journey into space.

Magical realism appears in several of the stories as well. In “The Paper Menagerie,” for example, the origami animals that the speaker’s mother creates for him come to life. When the speaker, Jack , abandons his mother and his Chinese culture to assimilate to American culture, he loses both his mother and her magic, only to regain it at the end of the story.

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Another major theme in the collection is the future of technology and its potential for both good and bad. Stories like “The Perfect Match,” “Simulacrum,” and “Good Hunting” embody this theme. In “The Perfect Match,” humans have become so dependent on artificial intelligence that the AI seems to be controlling them, and in “Simulacrum,” a desperate father creates a replica of his daughter as a young girl, as his real, adult daughter grows distant from him. In “Good Hunting,” Westernization moves into China with the arrival of the railroad, leaching the Chinese magic. Magical creatures adapt by using technology and changing into mechanical shapeshifters.

A few of the stories are science fiction tropes with a fresh spin. “The Waves,” for example, is about humans in a generational starship who gain immortality and eventually evolve into light beings. In “The Regular,” Liu combines a gritty noir detective story with science fiction in his character Ruth, a half-bionic detective who uses an emotion Regulator to help her ingore her tragic past.

History inspired some of Liu’s stories. “The Literomancer” for example, takes place after World War II when the US had operations in Taiwan, and follows the friendship of an American girl and an elderly man. “All the Flavors” is another piece of historical fiction, set in Idaho in the 19th century, when a girl befriends the Chinese gold miners who arrive with strange customs and foods. “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” delves into a World War II atrocity, the “Asian Auschwitz,” through time travel technology that only allows travelers to visit that point in time once.

Other stories mirror history, like in “A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel,” which details a Japanese underground pneumatic tube that takes travelers to the other side of the Earth. The effectiveness of the story comes, in part, from its parallel to the historical time when Asian workers labored to build American railroads.

In the story “State Change,” the characters’ souls live outside their bodies in the form of everyday items, like ice cubes or salt shakers. In “Mono No Aware,” the main character, Hiroto, saves one of the last spaceships full of humans by sacrificing his own life, and in “The Litigation Master and the Monkey King,” Litigation Master Tian dies to save a banned book that details the corruption of his country’s leaders.

Some of the tales are “silkpunk,” which is a term coined by Ken Liu to describe a blend of science fiction and fantasy that is informed by Eastern Asian ideas, aesthetics, and inspiration. Many of these tales also won or were nominated for awards, including the Locus Award, Hugo Awards, FantLab’s Book of the Year Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Nebula Award.

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The Paper Menagerie

Many short stories end with a twist, or a change in perspective which invites reconsideration of the story that has just been read. In Ken Liu’s story this takes the form of the mother’s lengthy letter. Though it is in itself worded clearly and dispassionately, the letter creates a very moving final stage as Jack is made to revaluate his life and his relationship with his mother.

Magical Realism

Liu blends the vocabulary and style of realism with fantasy, a genre known as magical realism. On the one hand there is the reality of life in Connecticut, with neighbours, school and ‘Star Wars action figures’; on the other hand we have origami animal figures which ‘pounced’, ‘growled’ and ‘vibrated’. An important feature of the genre is that the story never acknowledges the elements of fantasy – they are narrated in exactly the same way as the rest of the story so that they appear as true. Liu also adds other details to make this magical truth persuasive, like ‘the capillary action’ which ‘pulled the dark liquid high up into’ the legs of the water buffalo which ‘jumped into a dish of soy sauce on the table at dinner.’ The magical paper animal is juxtaposed with the ordinariness of dinner, while the soy sauce gives the cultural background of the story.

Mother’s Magic Origami

There are other quick switches in the story, notably of chronology. In this way, Liu encourages the reader to make comparisons between Jack’s different attitudes and behaviours at various points. Importantly, the story starts with the creation of ‘magic’, a word the narrator uses himself about his mother. The first appearance of Laohu, the origami tiger, associates him with comfort, reassurance and love as his mother makes the animal to ease her son from a fit of childhood ‘sobbing’. Her skills are first emphasised by the precision of the verbs which Liu uses: ‘pleated, packed, tucked, rolled and twisted’. She blows into the flattened animal in order to inflate it and it is this which breathes life into it – as the narrator says, ‘This was her magic.’

In a lurching transition, this phrase is immediately followed in the next paragraph with ‘Dad had picked Mom out of a catalog.’ The change is uncomfortably jarring and Liu also moves the reader forwards in time, from one of Jack’s ‘earliest memories’ to ‘One time, when I was in high school’. There is also an unexplained change in the relationship between mother and son, as the father is ‘trying to get me to speak to Mom again.’ Coming immediately after the magical creation of Laohu, this seems heartless and shocking.

Contempt for the Catalogue

Jack narrates the story of his parents’ meeting as a sequence of short, factual paragraphs, as if he is refusing to get involved in the story. His own perception of it is highlighted with italics, questioning ‘ What kind of woman ’ his mother is, acknowledging the ‘Contempt’ which he feels. The reader is conscious that the answer to his question is the kind of woman who makes him living origami creatures with ‘her magic’.

Liu emphasises this by taking the reader immediately back into Jack’s earlier years and his mother’s creation of ‘a goat, a deer, and a water buffalo’ and two different sharks, the second out of ‘tinfoil’ that swims ‘happily in a large goldfish bowl.’ Every detail of the animals, their activities and Jack’s mother’s repairs and adaptations demonstrates her maternal love. That love is as living as the magical origami animals, which ‘got into trouble’, ‘liked to pounce’, ‘whimpered and winced’ – many of these verbs could be applied appropriately to a young boy. In this way Liu forges a close association between Jack and the paper animals his mother has created for him. This connection is made very clear when Laohu and he ‘watch the tinfoil shark’ in the goldfish bowl and their eyes mirror each other across the bowl – ‘I saw his eyes, magnified to the size of coffee cups, staring at me’. Laohu, Jack and his mother share a world of the imagination.

Effects of Racism

That idyllic childhood world crumbles when it comes into contact with different values and casual racism. Liu establishes the racial prejudices of the American neighbours in a few lines of dialogue, where they comment about Jack that ‘mixing never seems right’, that he ‘looks unfinished’ and that he has ‘Slanty eyes’. They even refer to him as a ‘little monster.’ Though it is a first person narrative, Liu chooses not to indicate Jack’s reaction to these comments; the dialogue sits baldly within the narrative to allow the reader to feel their own shock. This is the first stage of Jack’s alienation from his mother’s ‘Chinesey’ culture.

The second is the encounter with Mark, another boy from the neighbourhood and school. The narration clearly suggests how underwhelmed Jack is by Mark’s Obi-Wan Kenobi plastic figure. It is able to ‘swing his arms’ and has a ‘tinny voice’; implicitly the reader is encouraged to compare this with the liveliness of the descriptions of the antics of the origami figures. After the irritatingly dull ‘five’ time repetition of the Star Wars ‘performance’, it is not surprising that Jack asks ‘Can he do anything else?’ There is no ‘purring’, ‘growling’ or ‘chasing’ here.

Obi-Wan versus Laohu

The fight between the two toys is symbolic of the clash between the two cultures. Jack sees Laohu through Mark’s eyes – ‘very worn, patched all over with tape and glue’ – and despite Laohu’s approach to Mark, he is dismissed as ‘trash’ and ‘garbage’. But despite the flashing ‘lightsaber’, plastic Obi-Wan Kenobi is no match for the vibrant movement of the paper tiger, who ‘turned and pounced’. The vigour of those verbs is matched by ‘growled and leapt’ as Laohu defends Jack after he is punched, but the tiger is ‘only made of paper, after all’, and Mark reduces him to the ‘garbage’ he considers him to be – ‘crumpled’, ‘tore’ and balled’ are the verbs which show Mark’s violent disrespect. The two toys represent two different imaginations, two different cultural backgrounds. In the clash, both are found wanting and both are damaged.

However, the damage is wider than the toys. Jack and his family are living in the USA and Liu shows how the fight with Mark is a catalyst for Jack’s rejection of his Chinese heritage. He ‘pushed… away’ his Chinese food and stridently demands that his mother speak English. Tellingly, Dad buys Jack ‘a full set of Star Wars action figures’ and ‘the paper menagerie’ is packed away ‘in a large shoe box’. America has replaced China as Jack’s value set.

The Hardening of the Heart

Mom makes a moving discrimination between the English word ‘love’, which is only a word, and the Chinese ‘ ai ’, which she feels in her heart. That love is apparent in her continuing to create new origami animals for Jack, despite his growing separation from her. She tries to adapt, but Jack’s scorn is apparent in his choice of adjectives for her: ‘exaggerated, uncertain, ridiculous, graceless’. Just as he ‘squeezed’ the new animals ’until the air went out of them’, Jack squeezes the life out of his relationship with his mother. He mentally pushes her as far away as possible: ‘We had nothing in common. She might as well be from the moon.’ In the unflinching honesty of the narration, the reader recognises Jack’s lack of self-knowledge, his lack of comprehension and his lack of love.

Liu makes another sudden place and time shift to ‘Mom lying in her hospital bed’, but the emotional distance remains. Jack’s narrative seems more concerned with ‘interview schedules’ than his mother’s illness and he is ‘already thinking about the flight back’. His mother’s dialogue shows her selflessness, telling him ‘to go back to school’, to ‘do well’ and not to ‘worry about me’. As she tells him with some urgency about Qingming and the box of animals, the reader recognises an indication of significance, but Jack does not, fobbing her off: ‘Just rest, Mom.’

The next time shift takes the reader to some point after mother’s death and it is a new character, Jack’s girlfriend Susan, who begins the revaluation of his mother, recognising from the box of paper animals that she ‘was an amazing artist.’ The key moment, though, is the transformation of the ‘ball of wrapping paper and torn tape’ into Laohu and in a parallel with the ninth paragraph of the story, Jack again ‘laughed’ as he was ‘stroking his back’ and we have a return to the mood of the story’s beginning. It is Qingming and Laohu unfolds into his mother’s letter. This is the focus of his mother’s final words in the hospital.

It is significant and poignant that Jack is so detached from his Chinese heritage that he cannot read the letter and relies on a stranger to translate it for him. The letter is his epiphany; it recounts the arduousness of his mother’s life, the effects of the Cultural Revolution, her journey to the catalogue. Finally, we have mother’s own story, in her own narration, and fully understand her sense of loss of her family, her hope in her son and then the loss of those hopes: ‘ I felt I was losing everything all over again. ’

It is a devastating conclusion, but Liu ends with a note of hope, though too late for mother, as Jack walks home with Laohu ‘cradled… in the crook of my arm’.

Narrative methods to consider:

• First person narration
• Magical realism
• Time shifts
• Letter format
• Change of perspective

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Text Review Assignment: “The Paper Menagerie”

The short story “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Lui follows a young boy named Jack as he grows up and struggles with his identity as an Asian-American. Jack has a White dad and a Chinese mom who immigrated to America. Jack’s mom does not speak English well, and Jack finds that as he grows older it is difficult to have a good relationship with her because of it. Throughout his childhood, though, Jack’s mom communicated with him through origami animals in which she was able to turn them alive. Jack’s origami animals served as a tie to his mother as it was one of the only true ways in which they connected. Jack loved his origami animals until a friend made fun of him for having toys made from trash. Following, he began rejecting his mother and his Chinese culture after that same boy at school was giving him a hard time. He grew bitter and became resentful of being Chinese altogether. He shamed his mother for not speaking English and for giving him his Chinese features. When Jack’s mother becomes ill and eventually passes, she leaves him a note and outlines her story and how she and her family had struggled greatly in China.

Jack’s struggles with his identity and accepting his identity as a bi-racial child is relevant in this story as he actively rejects his culture following his desire to be accepted by classmates. This desire to be accepted him follows him throughout his high school years and until his mother’s death. The note his mother left him finally allows Jack to feel connected to his mother once again, and he feels ashamed to have treated her with such anger and ill judgement, as he was not aware of the obstacles she had to overcome. This rejection of identity and struggle with acceptance parallels to Lisa Ko’s The Leavers , as Deming rejects his culture as he is separated from his mother and finds himself wanting to fit in with the other kids at school.

Lui would want the reader of this short story to try to understand the struggles of a biracial child without much guidance or support from family. Lui would also encourage the reader to be empathetic towards those who struggle to assimilate into American culture after immigration, as their stories are often complex and difficult to conceptualize.

A depiction of one of Jack’s favorite origami toys. https://www.bulbapp.com/u/the-paper-menagerie-by-ken-jiu~2

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The Paper Menagerie

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One of my earliest memories starts with me sobbing. I refused to be soothed no matter what Mom and Dad tried.

Dad gave up and left the bedroom, but Mom took me into the kitchen and sat me down at the breakfast table.

“ Kan, kan ,” she said, as she pulled a sheet of wrapping paper from on top of the fridge. For years, Mom carefully sliced open the wrappings around Christmas gifts and saved them on top of the fridge in a thick stack.

She set the paper down, plain side facing up, and began to fold it. I stopped crying and watched her, curious.

She turned the paper over and folded it again. She pleated, packed, tucked, rolled, and twisted until the paper disappeared between her cupped hands. Then she lifted the folded-up paper packet to her mouth and blew into it, like a balloon.

“ Kan ,” she said, “ laohu .” She put her hands down on the table and let go.

A little paper tiger stood on the table, the size of two fists placed together. The skin of the tiger was the pattern on the wrapping paper, white background with red candy canes and green Christmas trees.

I reached out to Mom’s creation. Its tail twitched, and it pounced playfully at my finger. “ Rawrr-sa ,” it growled, the sound somewhere between a cat and rustling newspapers. I laughed, startled, and stroked its back with an index finger. The paper tiger vibrated under my finger, purring.

“ Zhe jiao zhezhi ,” Mom said. This is called origami.

I didn’t know this at the time, but Mom’s kind was special. She breathed into them so that they shared her breath, and thus moved with her life. This was her magic.

Dad had picked Mom out of a catalog.

One time, when I was in high school, I asked Dad about the details. He was trying to get me to speak to Mom again.

He had signed up for the introduction service back in the spring of 1973. Flipping through the pages steadily, he had spent no more than a few seconds on each page until he saw the picture of Mom.

I’ve never seen this picture. Dad described it: Mom was sitting in a chair, her side to the camera, wearing a tight green silk cheongsam. Her head was turned to the camera so that her long black hair was draped artfully over her chest and shoulder. She looked out at him with the eyes of a calm child.

“That was the last page of the catalog I saw,” he said.

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.

He wrote to her, and the company passed their messages back and forth. Finally, he flew to Hong Kong to meet her.

“The people at the company had been writing her responses. She didn’t know any English other than ‘hello’ and ‘good-bye.’”

What kind of woman puts herself into a catalog so that she can be bought? The high-school-me thought I knew so much about everything. Contempt felt good, like wine.

Instead of storming into the office to demand his money back, he paid a waitress at the hotel restaurant to translate for them.

“She would look at me, her eyes halfway between scared and hopeful, while I spoke. And when the girl began translating what I said, she’d start to smile slowly

He flew back to Connecticut and began to apply for the papers for her to come to him. I was born a year later, in the Year of the Tiger.

At my request, Mom also made a goat, a deer, and a water buffalo out of wrapping paper. They would run around the living room while Laohu chased after them, growling. When he caught them he would press down until the air went out of them and they became just flat, folded-up pieces of paper. I would then have to blow into them to reinflate them so they could run around some more.

Sometimes, the animals got into trouble. Once, the water buffalo jumped into a dish of soy sauce on the table at dinner. (He wanted to wallow, like a real water buffalo.) I picked him out quickly but the capillary action had already pulled the dark liquid high up into his legs. The sauce-softened legs would not hold him up, and he collapsed onto the table. I dried him out in the sun, but his legs became crooked after that, and he ran around with a limp. Mom eventually wrapped his legs in Saran wrap so that he could wallow to his heart’s content (just not in soy sauce).

Also, Laohu liked to pounce at sparrows when he and I played in the backyard. But one time, a cornered bird struck back in desperation and tore his ear. He whimpered and winced as I held him and Mom patched his ear together with tape. He avoided birds after that.

And then one day, I saw a TV documentary about sharks and asked Mom for one of my own. She made the shark, but he flapped about on the table unhappily. I filled the sink with water and put him in. He swam around and around happily. However, after a while he became soggy and translucent, and slowly sank to the bottom, the folds coming undone. I reached in to rescue him, and all I ended up with was a wet piece of paper.

Laohu put his front paws together at the edge of the sink and rested his head on them. Ears drooping, he made a low growl in his throat that made me feel guilty.

Mom made a new shark for me, this time out of tinfoil. The shark lived happily in a large goldfish bowl. Laohu and I liked to sit next to the bowl to watch the tinfoil shark chasing the goldfish, Laohu sticking his face up against the bowl on the other side so that I saw his eyes, magnified to the size of coffee cups, staring at me from across the bowl.

When I was ten, we moved to a new house across town. Two of the women neighbors came by to welcome us. Dad served them drinks and then apologized for having to run off to the utility company to straighten out the prior owner’s bills. “Make yourselves at home. My wife doesn’t speak much English, so don’t think she’s being rude for not talking to you.”

While I read in the dining room, Mom unpacked in the kitchen. The neighbors conversed in the living room, not trying to be particularly quiet.

“He seems like a normal enough man. Why did he do that?”

“Something about the mixing never seems right. The child looks unfinished. Slanty eyes, white face. A little monster.”

“Do you think he can speak English?”

The women hushed. After a while they came into the dining room.

“Hello there! What’s your name?”

“Jack,” I said.

“That doesn’t sound very Chinesey.”

Mom came into the dining room then. She smiled at the women. The three of them stood in a triangle around me, smiling and nodding at each other, with nothing to say, until Dad came back.

Mark, one of the neighborhood boys, came over with his Star Wars action figures. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber lit up and he could swing his arms and say, in a tinny voice, “Use the Force!” I didn’t think the figure looked much like the real Obi-Wan at all.

Together, we watched him repeat this performance five times on the coffee table. “Can he do anything else?” I asked.

Mark was annoyed by my question. “Look at all the details,” he said.

I looked at the details. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say.

Mark was disappointed by my response. “Show me your toys.”

I didn’t have any toys except my paper menagerie. I brought Laohu out from my bedroom. By then he was very worn, patched all over with tape and glue, evidence of the years of repairs Mom and I had done on him. He was no longer as nimble and sure-footed as before. I sat him down on the coffee table. I could hear the skittering steps of the other animals behind in the hallway, timidly peeking into the living room.

“ Xiao laohu ,” I said, and stopped. I switched to English. “This is Tiger.” Cautiously, Laohu strode up and purred at Mark, sniffing his hands.

Mark examined the Christmas-wrap pattern of Laohu’s skin. “That doesn’t look like a tiger at all. Your mom makes toys for you from trash?”

I had never thought of Laohu as trash . But looking at him now, he was really just a piece of wrapping paper.

Mark pushed Obi-Wan’s head again. The lightsaber flashed; he moved his arms up and down. “Use the Force!”

Laohu turned and pounced, knocking the plastic figure off the table. It hit the floor and broke, and Obi-Wan’s head rolled under the couch. “ Rawwww ,” Laohu laughed. I joined him.

Mark punched me, hard. “This was very expensive! You can’t even find it in the stores now. It probably cost more than what your dad paid for your mom!”

I stumbled and fell to the floor. Laohu growled and leapt at Mark’s face.

Mark screamed, more out of fear and surprise than pain. Laohu was only made of paper, after all.

Mark grabbed Laohu and his snarl was choked off as Mark crumpled him in his hand and tore him in half. He balled up the two pieces of paper and threw them at me. “Here’s your stupid cheap Chinese garbage.”

After Mark left, I spent a long time trying, without success, to tape together the pieces, smooth out the paper, and follow the creases to refold Laohu. Slowly, the other animals came into the living room and gathered around us, me and the torn wrapping paper that used to be Laohu.

My fight with Mark didn’t end there. Mark was popular at school. I never want to think again about the two weeks that followed.

I came home that Friday at the end of the two weeks. “ Xuexiao hao ma ?” Mom asked. I said nothing and went to the bathroom. I looked into the mirror. I look nothing like her, nothing .

At dinner I asked Dad, “Do I have a chink face?”

Dad put down his chopsticks. Even though I had never told him what happened in school, he seemed to understand. He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “No, you don’t.”

Mom looked at Dad, not understanding. She looked back at me. “ Sha jiao chink ?”

“English,” I said. “Speak English.”

She tried. “What happen?”

I pushed the chopsticks and the bowl before me away: stir-fried green peppers with five-spice beef. “We should eat American food.”

Dad tried to reason. “A lot of families cook Chinese sometimes.”

“We are not other families.” I looked at him. O ther families don’t have moms who don’t belong .

He looked away. And then he put a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “I’ll get you a cookbook.”

Mom turned to me. “ Bu haochi ?”

“English,” I said, raising my voice. “Speak English.”

Mom reached out to touch my forehead, feeling for my temperature. “ Fashao la ?”

I brushed her hand away. “I’m fine. Speak English!” I was shouting.

“Speak English to him,” Dad said to Mom. “You knew this was going to happen someday. What did you expect?”

Mom dropped her hands to her side. She sat, looking from Dad to me, and back to Dad again. She tried to speak, stopped, and tried again, and stopped again.

“You have to,” Dad said. “I’ve been too easy on you. Jack needs to fit in.”

Mom looked at him. “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.

Dad shook his head. “You are in America.”

Mom hunched down in her seat, looking like the water buffalo when Laohu used to pounce on him and squeeze the air of life out of him.

“And I want some real toys.”

From THE PAPER MENAGERIE . Used with permission of Saga Press. Copyright © 2016 by Ken Liu.

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Analysis of Identity Dilemmas in “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu

Introduction, cultural conflict, american ideology, racial discrimination, works cited.

From a cultural standpoint, the problem of self-identity has established several controversies. Culture shapes how and if people prioritize such characteristics as modesty, personality, courtesy, and confidence. On the other hand, identity, as a common phrase, refers to one’s concept of self that stems from any type of ownership in communities that share shared language, ideas, principles, mindset, customs, and lifestyles. The identity dilemma is accurately reflected in the short novel “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu. It illustrates the identity issues brought about by the impact of two cultures. Liu’s work is full of Chinese tradition and is preoccupied with the identity issues of Jack, the character who grew up in both American and Chinese diverse cultures. The story also describes how Jack, born of a Chinese postal bride was delighted by his mother’s wizardry of origami creatures that came to life when she breathed into them. However, after mocked by his peers, he began to detest her for her ethnicity and culture. As per Ken Liu’s “The Paper Menagerie,” Jack’s identity crisis is driven by cultural disputes, American ideologies, and racial prejudice.

Cultural problems result in a person’s inability to identify their own identity, resulting in an identity crisis. Cultural conflicts are mostly depicted in the novel by the clash between Jack’s Origami tiger and Mark’s Jurassic world toy. His mother built an origami creature as a play toy for him in the hopes that he would acquire Chinese identity (Liu 179). At first, Jack was quite satisfied with his toys, but when he competed and won against Mark’s star war toy, he never earned his admiration. According to Liu, Mark ripped Jack’s Origami and yelled, “Here’s your stupid cheap Chinese garbage,” (183). As per this interpretation, Mark displayed cultural tension and prejudice. Cultural conflict, according to Ching et al., can lead to an identity problem (473). This is true if one comes from a weak and sensitive ethnic heritage. Despite initially enjoying the Origami toys, Jack requested that the Star Wars toys be purchased to detach his Chinese identity and eliminate the imprint of Chinese culture from him. From this vantage point, Jack was experiencing an identity crisis in terms of which subculture was dominating over the other.

Identity dilemma is impacted by American ideologies and beliefs with regards to conservatism. Based on Jack’s concerns with Chinese heritage, he unavoidably approached his mother with ethnocentrism, biased perception of western people who detest collectivist countries and unilaterally and mythically depict them in their perspective (Liu 179). Jack’s favorite toys as a youngster were those paper creatures produced by his mother. Star Wars toys, on the other hand, were the most desirable toys in U.S. history. Even while the Origami creatures gave Jack a joyful upbringing, he coveted other American-style toys. As such, found in the dilemma of choosing between the Origami, the Chinese’s traditional toy, and the Mark’s star war toy, the American-style game, Jack developed cultural mix-up conservatism, resulting in identity dilemma. Furthermore, Ideologies and cultural orientations affect not just political allegiances, but also sociocultural endorsements (Campbell 551). Jack, in his view, agreed with the ideals of American society. As a result, when he saw that his personality was fragile based on the American culture, he instantly altered his perspective and began to scorn whatsoever activity was Chinese resulting in loss of conservatism, hence identify dilemma.

Encounter to racial prejudice may have a long-term impact on the evolution of culture and identity dilemma. For example, in “The Paper Menagerie,” Liu narrates how Jack was depicted as “a little monster” with “slanty eyes and white face,” (181). Furthermore, Mark, his friend, insulted him by claiming that his Origami tiger was made of garbage. In this regard, because of his Chinese appearance, Jack was racially prejudiced against by his neighbors and friends, and other pupils at preschool. These embarrassments had greatly damaged young Jack, he came to despise his heritage, and gained an aggressive anxiety to gain the acceptance of Caucasians. In this regard, Jack lost his stand with regards to his true identity because of racial discrimination, hence identity dilemma. According to Galán et al. (4), race-based inequality is a continuing public health concern in the United States, expressed by large discrepancies in societal and bilateral physical aggression. Even though many minority ethnic adolescents display amazing endurance by relying on cultural and family virtues, recurrent interactions with systemic racism can result in considerable psychosocial impairment, commonly referred to as racial identity impasse.

Racial discrimination plays a role in the damage of self-recognition. According to Jack, his mother lost the self-recognition by claiming that she was just a product purchased from China by his father (Liu 182). In this regard, Jack despised his mother for selling herself like a good and service at an appropriate price. From this perspective, despite facing humiliation at school, he was not furious but ashamed of his mother for losing her dignity, consequently developing identity dilemma. Racist societal systems engender discriminatory cognitive structures, which lead to a loss of conviction and a weakened sense of self-recognition (Hänel 257). For example, by Jack not striving to comprehend his mother’s pains due to racism and rather siding with those who insulted her, it showed how prejudice towards Chinese in the U.S. had occupied his mind. Moreover, despite being subjected to racial bigotry; he nevertheless became a collaborator with racist friends, thus becoming trapped in an identity crisis as a result of his inconsistent self-recognition.

In inclusion, it is apparent that “The Paper Menagerie” centers on Jack’s increasing encounters, illuminating his distinctive predicament as a result of cultural interactions, American belief, and racial discernment. The development of a person’s awareness of their ethnic traditions starts at birth and is impacted by behaviors prominent at home and in the external environment. Identity, on the contrary, is distinguished as a component of social identification that relates explicitly to the ethnic groups to which the individual belongs. In the case of Jack, cultural clashes made it impossible for him to appreciate his true self. The influence of the U.S. dogma provoked him to pass judgment on traditional Chinese; and racial prejudice led him to hate himself, which disoriented his self-cognition. In this sense, listening to people’s prior unique traditions is essential for understanding the psychological essence of another culture. For example, for Jack to recover from his identity crisis and rebuild his bilingual culture, he must comprehend the core of Chinese culture in American contemporary society. This topic is important for uncovering an individual’s sense of nationalism and by building togetherness in a multicultural community.

Campbell, David E., et al. “Putting politics first: The Impact of Politics on American Religious and Secular Orientations.” American Journal of Political Science, vol. 62, no. 3, 2018, pp. 551-565. Web.

Ching, Yuerong, et al. “Challenges Facing Chinese International Students Studying in the United States.” Educational Research and Reviews, vol. 12, no. 8, 2017, pp. 473-482. Web.

Hänel, Hilkje C. “Epistemic Injustice and Recognition Theory: What We Owe to Refugees.” Migration, Recognition and Critical Theory, edited by Gottfried Schweiger, 2017, pp. 257-282.

Galán, Chardeé A., et al. “Exploration of Experiences and Perpetration of Identity-Based Bullying Among Adolescents by Race/Ethnicity and other Marginalized Identities.” JAMA Network Open, vol. 4, no. 7, 2021, pp. 1-24. Web.

Liu, Ken. The Paper Menagerie and other Stories . Saga Press, 2016.

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            The purpose of this assignment was to identify a quote that reveals a character or theme of Ken Liu's short story "The Paper Menagerie." I chose to find a quote that illustrates the theme of the story because I found it more interesting to analyze. First of all, I read the story twice and looked for the meaning of words that I did not know. Then, after comprehending that the story emphasizes a conflicted relationship between a teenager and his mother for background reasons, I searched for the perfect quote to integrate through a cohesive set up. the theme of a story identifies what the writer is saying about the subject. 

            I learned how to build the perfect set up for the location of the quote in the text by making it flow through the words of the text as seen. It was challenging because it required a lot of thinking, analysis and brainstorming. Also, I enhanced my vocabulary by discovering the meaning of words from the story which were not familiar to me.

            In his short story, “The Paper Menagerie,” Ken Liu claims that the way people perceive life is linked to the process of integration while growing up. Liu writes about a conflicted relationship between a mother and her son because the young boy goes through the process of integration with others but his mother’s background makes him feel very different. Moreover, his mother is a Chinese mail order bride, and does not speak English very well so the son rejects her and states that “I look nothing like her, nothing”(68). This implies that it is very difficult for this young boy to get accepted by his peers and he would do anything get integrated. As he gets older he treats his mother mercilessly and distantly.    

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Race and Culture in “The Paper Menagerie”

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Race and culture are two important elements that define who people are. In “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu, the author expresses the conflicts between Jack and his mother during his teenage years. Jack is biracial, half Chinese and half white, and was raised with a background of Chinese culture. However, when he became a teenager, he began to refuse his cultural background in order to become more Americanized like his friends.

He struggles to accept his mother’s heritage as his own and leans towards his father’s. “The Paper Menagerie” should be a part of the syllabus in Professor Breunig’s classroom next year because race and culture are important factors in shaping our personalities.Culture defines who we are and where we are from. Nevertheless, it can be hard to keep one’s culture and honor one’s family traditions in the US because we are living in a “melting pot”, which means there are many cultures in the US. When people start involving more to society, they want to be more likely American.

This can be painful to parents, grandparents, those who get left behind and it’s confusing for young people who are raised in both their family’s culture and that of their friends, which is US pop culture to figure out who they are, what they owe. The short story begins with a scene where Jack is shown to be angry with his parents. In order to try to appease him, his mom makes an origami tiger, which is a tradition in her culture and always used to make him smile. However, now her attempts to make him happy did not work. Jack’s mom is a mail bride and does not speak English very well, so Jack rejects her and states, “I look nothing like her, nothing” (Liu). When he is old enough to know about his background, he does not want to accept himself.

As he gets older, he treats his mother distantly. He does not have a room in his heart for her. By portraying Jack rejecting his culture and trying to fully be a part of another, Liu is successful in giving a lesson of how people desire acceptance from the others even if they have to reject the ones who care about them, which can make one face a loss of love and self-identity.We should all learn to accept who we are and live a life without regret, which is something Fairfield University, as a Catholic community, stands for. Liu uses his work to send a message to the readers to live without regret. “You know what the Chinese think is the saddest feeling in the world? It’s for a child to finally grow the desire to take care of his parents, only to realize that they were long gone” (Liu).

Jack’s mother desires to take care of her parents, but they passed away a long time ago. Because of this, she fears of losing her relationship with Jack because he is the only one who can carry on her family’s culture and she sees her ancestor in Jack. However, Jack rejects his mother’s attempts and ostracizes her at a young age because she is not like his friends’ mothers. This can be shocking and hurtful to the readers. He doesn’t realize how important his mother is until she passes away too. Jack lives with full of regret after reading the letter his mother wrote for him before she passed.

This story has similar themes to other pieces we read during this semester, isolation and empathy. It can relate to “Death in the Woods” by Sherwood Anderson, “The Lady with the Dog” by Anton Chekhov, or “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri. In “The Paper Menagerie,” Liu gives the readers several details that the readers can empathy to Jack’s mother. She grew up as an orphan and had to work for several families to get food, before becoming a mail-order bride from Chinese. She is isolated in her American house and cannot talk to her husband until Jack was born because of her language barrier.

It seems Jack’s mother has an unfortunate life, but are they all unlucky things she gets or she gets the worse thing in her life? Liu’s short story is the great example to show students that always remember where we are from and respect every moment in order not to regret when it’s gone.One of the purposes Liu writes “The Paper Menagerie” in order to emphasize that there is nothing that can affect the maternal love. Jack’s mother does everything for him. She loves him more than herself. She cares more about his emotions than how she feels. She endures in order to make Jack happier.

To her when Jack rejects to speak Chinese, she seems to lose everything again, “But can you understand how much joy your very existence brought to me? And can you understand how it felt when you stopped talking to me and won’t let me talk to you in Chinese? I felt I was losing everything again” (Liu). Even though Jack stops speaking Chinese hurts her a lot emotionally, she does not tell him. She starts speaking English and cooking American foods because he wants so. She loves him till her last breath, “Haizi, mama ai ni” which means Son, I love you.

She does not want him to worry about her when she passes away, “If I don’t make it don’t be too sad and hurt your health. Focus on your life. Just keep that box you have in the attic with you, and every year, at Quingming, just take it out and think about me. I’ll be with you always” (Liu). Even she thinks after passing away, she will always beside Jack and will support him, no matter how he rejects her before.“The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu is a great short story for EN12 in Professor Breunig’s classroom. Liu’s story makes us empathize with what Jack’s mother has to endure which is the theme we spend time during this semester. The story might get the readers their emotions because of how sad it is. I highly recommend this short story to have on the syllabus next semester, if not you can enjoy it in your free time.

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Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu – Summary and Analysis

Table of Contents

Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu

“ Paper Menagerie” is a short story about a bi-racial young man named Jack, who is the son of an American father and a Chinese mother immigrated to America. Jack’s mom creates (origami menagerie )  paper animals for him and breathes life into them and they became his friends. For a while, the mother and the son delighted in this magic together. But after an incident with a bully who insults Jack about his Chinese ancestry, the son Jack changes his mind. He doesn’t want to be half Chinese and half American anymore. He wants to be all American. He doesn’t want his eyes or his hair or his language or his little paper friends. He doesn’t even want his mother. Jack throws out the menagerie and rejects his mother, who becomes increasingly silent. As he grows older, Jack grows apart from his mother, until their connection becomes unpleasant and strained. But when Jack’s mother dies, he realises that she has been penning letters in his menagerie’s paper, and she has her own tale that she has been struggling to tell.

The Paper Menagerie  is the story of a son getting estranged from his own mother simply because of the different culture she came from. It’s not that the mother didn’t love her son or that her way of loving him was strange – on the contrary, she’s a sweetheart. Which makes the story all the more sad and tragic.

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Analysis of Paper Menagerie

This is a story about love and loss, about family and about acceptance. It touches on so many themes that are of great importance. The racism and prejudices made me extremely angry. And Jack’s mother is such a kind soul, you can’t help but love her. But unfortunately, Jack is not able to do so. It was all so very sad and tragic.

The Paper Menagerie  is about how there is always something about us we want to run away from until we grow up and learn to love it–but by then it’s too late. Jack is cruel to his mother, forcing her to abandon her language and cuisine and zhezhi until she is just a shell of herself. And yet his mother still cares about him. She makes sure he stays healthy as he begins to lose himself in being American.

Sometimes, when I came home and saw her tiny body busily moving about in the kitchen, singing a song in Chinese to herself, 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.

It is just so, so sad. The impact is astonishing. Every sentence carries weight. It’s quietly and intimately emotional and contains situations everyone can relate to in some way.

Mom finally stopped making the animals when I was in high school. By then her English was much better, but I was already at that age when I wasn’t interested in what she had to say whatever language she used.

This short story is about being torn between Western and Eastern cultures and not knowing how to find a balance that you’re comfortable with. It’s about acceptance, love, and how we often push it away. Jack was born and raised in America, and he constantly feels pressured to pick one or the other culture. It seems very common to me for children to feel the overwhelming need to have to choose. It might make sense to us now that it’s possible to live in harmony with all parts of yourself without having to deny some, but I remember vividly wanting to pick and choose parts of myself as a child. I believe I wanted blond hair and blue eyes. I wasn’t able to appreciate my different heritages without having a very strong preference for one. And I would swing from one to another with startling quickness. I got whiplash. I was a confused child. Every multiracial person knows what I’m talking about.

If Mom spoke to me in Chinese, I refused to answer her. After a while, she tried to use more English. But her accent and broken sentences embarrassed me. I tried to correct her. Eventually, she stopped speaking altogether if I were around.

Jack never tried to understand his mother. He only tried to push her away. And he succeeded.

The Paper Menagerie is the best short story I have ever read. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the random info-dumpy letter at the end that took me out of the story a bit. It was kind of melodramatic.

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The Paper Menagerie: ISC Class 11 English (Prism) solutions

Get notes, line-by-line explanation, summary, questions and answers, critical analysis, and pdf of the story “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu which is part of ISC Class 11 English (Prism). However, the notes should only be treated for references and changes should be made according to the needs of the students.

About the author

Multiple choice questions (mcqs), logic-based questions:, short answer questions, long answer questions, additional questions and answers, additional mcqs, fill in the blanks.

“The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu is a touching story about a Chinese woman and her American-born son. The story is narrated from the perspective of the son, Jack.

The woman, Jack’s mother, was born in 1957 in Sigulu Village, Hebei Province, China, a place known for its zhezhi papercraft. She experienced the Great Famines in China, during which thirty million people died. She learned the art of zhezhi papercraft from her mother, creating paper animals that could come to life.

During the Cultural Revolution in 1966, her family was targeted because her uncle had moved to Hong Kong. Her parents were killed, leaving her an orphan at the age of ten. She managed to escape to Hong Kong, where she was sold to a family to work as a domestic helper. She was mistreated and lived in fear for six years until an old woman helped her find a way out. She was introduced to the concept of American men seeking Asian wives, and she saw this as her only hope for a better life.

She ended up in a catalogue and was chosen by Jack’s father. She moved to Connecticut, where she felt lonely and misunderstood. However, the birth of her son, Jack, brought her immense joy. She taught him her language and shared her zhezhi papercraft with him, creating paper animals.

However, as Jack grew older, he began to feel embarrassed by his mother’s broken English and Chinese heritage. He distanced himself from her, causing her great pain. She stopped speaking when he was around and stopped making paper animals when he was in high school.

Years later, Jack’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Before she died, she wrote a letter to Jack in Chinese, leaving it in one of the paper animals. After her death, Jack found the letter and had it translated. The letter expressed her love for him and her pain at their estrangement. It also told the story of her life, which Jack had never known.

The story ends with Jack, holding the paper animal containing his mother’s letter, beginning to understand and appreciate his mother’s love and sacrifices. He starts to reconnect with his Chinese heritage, which he had previously rejected.

Ken Liu was born in Lanzhou, China, and moved to the United States when he was a kid. He finished his studies at Harvard College in 1998 and Harvard Law School in 2004. His first short story, “The Carthaginian Rose,” was published in 2002. He has written two books of short stories and three novels. He also wrote a Star Wars book. Ken Liu has won many awards for his writing, including a Nebula Award, a Hugo Award, and a World Fantasy Award for his short story ‘The Paper Menagerie.’ He is also known for translating Chinese science fiction into English, like the popular novel The Three-Body Problem.

Ken Liu is known for writing science fiction and fantasy stories. His stories are influenced by both the tradition of science fiction and fantasy and by Chinese history and culture. His short story ‘The Paper Menagerie’ is a fantasy story that also tells about a Chinese immigrant mother and her American son. The story talks about racism and identity, love between family members and feeling distant from them, and art and business. The story is told from the point of view of the son. It talks about themes and relationships that will make the reader think. The story tells about how the son was close to his mother when he was a kid, but then felt embarrassed and impatient because she couldn’t speak English well. The mother feels helpless but keeps trying to connect with her son. After the mother dies, the son starts to think differently about his mother.

Workbook solutions/answers

(i) How did Mom react to Jack’s sobbing?

Answer: (d) she left the bedroom 

( Note : It can be inferred that she tried to soothe him by creating a paper tiger (origami) to distract him. So, the closest option is not provided in the MCQs)

(ii) How did Jack’s father select his mother as his wife?

Answer: (b) through introduction service

(iii) The catalogue gave which false information about Jack’s mother?

Answer: (d) all of the above

(iv) Where did Jack’s father take his mother from Hong Kong?

Answer: (a) Connectient

(v) Who was Laohu?

Answer: (a) a tiger

(vi) Who was the boy who started bullying Jack at school?

Answer: (b) Mark

(vii) What was Mom’s age when she was hospitalised?

Answer: (b) under forty

(viii) What was Jack worried about when he was in the hospital?

Answer: (c) his campus-placement

(ix) What did his mother ask him to do after his death?

Answer: (a) remember her at Qingming

(x) What is Quingming?

Answer: (c) a ritual to remember the dead

1. Jack’s mother made the paper animals because ______.

Answer: she wanted to share her special ability and create a bond with Jack. She breathed life into these paper animals, making them move and behave like real animals.

2. Mom breathed into her paper animals because ______.

Answer: her breath was special. She shared her breath with the paper animals, which made them move with her life. This was her unique magic.

3. Sometimes the animals got into trouble because ______.

Answer: they behaved like real animals. For instance, the water buffalo wanted to wallow in a dish of soy sauce, which made it soggy and unable to stand.

4. Mom made a new shark for Jack, this time out of tinfoil because ______.

Answer: the first paper shark she made became soggy and fell apart when Jack put it in water.

5. Jack stopped talking to his mother because ______.

Answer: he was angry and didn’t like his Chinese heritage, which he saw reflected in his own physical features.

6. Jack packed the paper menageries in a shoebox because ______.

Answer: he was upset with his mother for not speaking English and for not being like other American moms. He wanted to distance himself from his Chinese heritage and fit in with his peers.

7. Even in the hospital where his mother was dying Jack was thinking of his job because ______.

Answer: he was in the middle of the on-campus recruiting season, focused on resumes, transcripts, and strategically constructed interview schedules. He was more concerned about his future career than his mother’s deteriorating health.

8. Jack’s father aged rapidly after his mother died because ______.

Answer: he was deeply affected by her loss. The house they lived in became too big for him and he had to sell it.

9. Susan remarked that Jack’s mother was an amazing artist because ______.

Answer: she found the paper menagerie in the attic and was impressed by the origami animals that Jack’s mother had made.

10. Jack felt ashamed of himself when he heard about his mother’s life because ______.

Answer: he realized how much his existence and their shared language meant to her, and how much pain he caused her by rejecting her and their shared heritage.

1. Comment upon Jack’s mother’s art of making paper managerie?

Answer: Jack’s mother was skilled in the art of origami, which she referred to as “zhezhi”. She could create intricate paper animals, such as tigers, that were so lifelike they could move and even make sounds. This was a unique talent that she used to connect with her son and share her cultural heritage with him. However, as Jack grew older, he began to see these creations as childish and embarrassing, leading him to reject them and, by extension, his mother’s love and heritage.

2. What made Jack almost stop talking to his mother?

Answer: Jack’s relationship with his mother began to deteriorate as he grew older and became more conscious of the cultural differences between them. He was embarrassed by her broken English and Chinese accent, and he began to correct her and eventually stopped speaking to her altogether when she was around. His mother’s attempts to connect with him, such as miming things or trying to hug him like American mothers do, only annoyed him further. This, combined with his desire to fit in with his American peers, led him to almost stop talking to his mother.

3. What problems did Jack face in America? Why did the natives bully him?

Answer: Jack faced significant cultural and racial challenges in America. He was bullied at school, particularly by a boy named Mark, who made fun of his Chinese heritage. This bullying was so severe that Jack began to reject his Chinese identity, even asking his father if he had a “chink face”. He also insisted that his family eat American food and speak English at home, further distancing himself from his Chinese heritage. The bullying and his desire to fit in with his American peers led him to reject his mother and her Chinese heritage.

4. Who was Susan? What was her attitude towards Jack’s mother and her art of paper managerie?

Answer: Susan was Jack’s girlfriend. She found Jack’s mother’s paper menagerie in the attic and was amazed by the artistry, referring to Jack’s mother as an “amazing artist”. This suggests that Susan had a positive and appreciative attitude towards Jack’s mother and her art of paper menagerie.

5. How was Jack affected by the letter written to him by his mother after her death?

Answer: Jack was deeply affected by the letter written by his mother after her death. The letter revealed his mother’s life story, her struggles, and her love for him. It made him realize the sacrifices his mother made and the cultural heritage she tried to pass on to him. This realization brought him a sense of regret and a longing for his mother. He even sought help to understand the Chinese characters in the letter, showing his renewed interest in his Chinese heritage.

6. Comment upon the social discrimination Jack had to confront in America.

Answer: Jack had to confront social discrimination in America due to his Chinese heritage. He was embarrassed by his mother’s broken English and her Chinese customs, which made him feel different from his peers. He was also subjected to racial slurs at school, which led him to reject his Chinese heritage and demand that his family assimilate into American culture. This discrimination caused a rift between him and his mother, as he began to resent her for making him feel different.

1. With close reference to the text describe the relationship between Jack and his parents.

Answer: The relationship between Jack and his parents, particularly his mother, is complex and evolves throughout the story. In his early childhood, Jack shares a close bond with his mother, who creates magical origami animals that come to life, a testament to their shared imaginative world. However, as Jack grows older and becomes more influenced by his peers and American culture, he begins to feel embarrassed by his mother’s lack of English proficiency and her cultural practices. This leads to a strained relationship, with Jack rejecting his mother’s attempts to connect with him through her paper menagerie. His relationship with his father is less explored but seems to be more distant, with his father often absent or trying to mediate the tension between Jack and his mother.

2. What role is played by paper managerie in the story? Discuss with close reference to the text.

Answer: The paper menagerie plays a significant role in the story, serving as a symbol of Jack’s mother’s love, her cultural heritage, and the magic of childhood. 

The paper animals, particularly Laohu the tiger, are a source of joy and wonder for young Jack. They represent the unique bond between Jack and his mother, as well as her special talent and the cultural tradition she brings from her homeland. However, as Jack grows older and becomes more assimilated into American culture, the paper menagerie becomes a source of embarrassment and a reminder of his mother’s foreignness. In the end, the paper menagerie, especially the letter from his mother hidden inside Laohu, helps Jack to reconnect with his mother’s memory and understand her experiences and sacrifices.

3. Comment upon the ending of the story.

Answer: The ending of the story is poignant and filled with regret. Jack, now an adult, discovers a letter from his mother hidden inside the paper tiger, Laohu. The letter reveals the hardships his mother faced in her life, her love for him, and her longing for him to understand and appreciate his Chinese heritage. This revelation leads Jack to a deeper understanding of his mother and fills him with regret for his past actions. The story ends on a note of sadness and reflection, as Jack grapples with his loss and the newfound understanding of his mother’s life.

4. The main idea projected in the story is about social prejudices and their impact on human relationships. Discuss.

Answer: The story explores the theme of social prejudices and their impact on relationships through Jack’s experiences. Jack’s mother is a Chinese immigrant who faces prejudice and isolation due to her lack of English proficiency and her adherence to her cultural practices. Jack, influenced by the prejudices of his peers and society, begins to feel embarrassed by his mother’s differences and distances himself from her. This leads to a strained relationship and a loss of connection with his cultural heritage. The story highlights how social prejudices can create divisions and misunderstandings within families and cause individuals to reject their own identities. It also underscores the importance of empathy and understanding in overcoming these prejudices.

1. Who is the narrator of the story?

Answer : The story is narrated by Jack, the son of a Chinese woman and an American man.

2. What is zhezhi?

Answer : Zhezhi is a traditional Chinese papercraft.

What is the significance of the title “The Paper Menagerie”?

3. What was Qingming?

Answer : Qingming was the Chinese Festival for the Dead

4. How does the story explore the theme of cultural identity?

Answer : The story explores the theme of cultural identity through the experiences of the protagonist’s mother and her struggles to fit into American society. She tries to maintain her Chinese heritage by speaking Chinese and making traditional zhezhi papercraft. However, her son, Jack, rejects his Chinese heritage, causing a rift between them. The story also explores cultural identity through Jack’s journey of self-discovery and acceptance of his Chinese heritage after his mother’s death.

5. How does the protagonist’s attitude towards his mother change throughout the story?

Answer : In his early years, Jack shares a close bond with his mother, enjoying her stories and the magical paper animals she creates. However, as he grows older and becomes more aware of societal norms, he starts to feel embarrassed by his mother’s broken English and Chinese heritage. He distances himself from her, causing her great pain. After her death, when he discovers a letter she wrote to him, his attitude changes. He begins to understand and appreciate his mother’s love and sacrifices, and starts to reconnect with his Chinese heritage.

6. What role does the cultural revolution play in the mother’s life?

Answer : The Cultural Revolution plays a significant role in the mother’s life. During the Cultural Revolution, her family was targeted because her uncle had moved to Hong Kong. Her parents were killed, leaving her an orphan at the age of ten. This traumatic experience shaped her life, leading her to escape to Hong Kong, and eventually to America.

7. How does the mother’s past influence her relationship with her son?

Answer : The mother’s past greatly influences her relationship with her son. Her experiences during the Cultural Revolution and her journey to America shape her desire to preserve her Chinese heritage and pass it on to Jack. However, Jack’s rejection of his Chinese heritage causes a rift between them. After her death, Jack learns about her past through her letter, which helps him understand her better and appreciate her sacrifices.

8. How does the author use the paper animals to symbolize the mother’s love for her son?

Answer : The author uses the paper animals as a symbol of the mother’s love for her son. The mother creates these magical paper animals that come to life, reflecting her love, care, and the cultural heritage she wants to share with Jack. Even when Jack rejects his Chinese heritage and distances himself from her, she continues to leave paper animals for him, symbolizing her unchanging love for him. After her death, Jack finds her letter in one of the paper animals, further emphasizing that these animals are a symbol of her enduring love and her desire to communicate with him.

9. What is the significance of the mother’s letter to her son?

Answer : The significance of the mother’s letter to her son is multifold. It serves as a final expression of her love, a plea for understanding, and a testament to her life’s journey. The letter reveals her feelings of loss when her son rejects his Chinese heritage and stops speaking to her in Chinese. She expresses the joy he brought to her life and the pain she felt when he distanced himself from her. The letter is a reminder of their shared history and the deep emotional bond between them.

10. How does the story depict the immigrant experience in America?

Answer : The story depicts the immigrant experience in America through the mother’s journey from China to America. She is initially seen as an outsider, struggling with language barriers and cultural differences. The mother’s experience is marked by isolation and the struggle to maintain her cultural heritage while adapting to a new environment. The story also explores the second-generation immigrant experience through the son, who feels caught between two cultures and ultimately rejects his Chinese heritage in an attempt to fit into American society.

11. How does the protagonist’s attitude towards his Chinese heritage change over time?

Answer : The protagonist’s attitude towards his Chinese heritage changes significantly over time. As a child, he embraces his heritage, enjoying his mother’s paper menagerie and the stories she tells. However, as he grows older and faces the pressures of fitting into American society, he begins to reject his Chinese heritage. He stops speaking Chinese and distances himself from his mother. It is only after his mother’s death that he begins to reconnect with his heritage, prompted by the discovery of his mother’s letter and the paper tiger, Laohu.

12. What is the significance of the incident between Mark, Jack, and the paper tiger?

Answer : The incident between Mark, Jack, and the paper tiger is significant as it marks a turning point in Jack’s perception of his mother’s craft and his Chinese heritage. When Mark dismisses the paper tiger as “trash”, Jack begins to see his mother’s creations, which he once cherished, in a different light. This incident triggers Jack’s rejection of his Chinese heritage and his distancing from his mother.

13. How does Mark’s reaction to the paper tiger affect Jack’s perception of his mother’s craft?

Answer : Mark’s reaction to the paper tiger affects Jack’s perception of his mother’s craft by making him see the paper animals as mere trash rather than the magical creations he once thought them to be. This incident leads Jack to reject his mother’s craft and, by extension, his Chinese heritage.

14. What is the cultural background of the protagonist’s mother?

Answer : The cultural background of the protagonist’s mother is Chinese. She was born and raised in a village in China where she learned the art of zhezhi, or paper folding, which she later used to create a paper menagerie for her son. She was orphaned during the Cultural Revolution and smuggled into Hong Kong, where she was adopted by a family and later met the protagonist’s father through a catalogue for American men seeking Asian wives.

15. How does the story depict the mother’s struggle with language and communication?

Answer : The story depicts the mother’s struggle with language and communication through her efforts to speak English. Initially, she communicates with her son in Chinese, but as he grows older and more assimilated into American culture, he insists that she speak English. This leads to a breakdown in their communication as her broken English embarrasses him and he stops speaking to her in Chinese. Eventually, she resorts to miming and stops speaking altogether when her son is around.

16. How does the story explore the theme of acceptance and rejection of one’s cultural heritage?

Answer : The story explores the theme of acceptance and rejection of one’s cultural heritage through the protagonist’s relationship with his mother and her Chinese heritage. As a child, he enjoys the paper menagerie his mother creates for him and communicates with her in Chinese. However, as he grows older and becomes more Americanized, he rejects his Chinese heritage, insisting that his mother speak English and stop making the paper animals. He also begins to feel embarrassed by his mother’s broken English and her Chinese cooking.

17. How does the incident with Mark influence Jack’s relationship with his mother and his cultural heritage?

Answer : The incident with Mark, a schoolmate who mocks the protagonist’s Chinese heritage, triggers a change in the protagonist’s relationship with his mother and his cultural heritage. After the incident, the protagonist starts rejecting his Chinese heritage more actively. He insists that his mother speak English, stops communicating with her in Chinese, and rejects her paper animals. He also asks his father if he has a “chink face,” reflecting his internalized racism and rejection of his Chinese heritage.

18. What is the mother’s experience during the Cultural Revolution in China?

Answer : The mother’s experience during the Cultural Revolution in China was traumatic. Her parents were accused of being spies because her uncle had moved to Hong Kong, and they were abused by their community. Unable to bear the abuse, her mother committed suicide by throwing herself down a well, and her father was dragged away by boys with hunting muskets and never returned. Left as a ten-year-old orphan, she was smuggled into Hong Kong where she was adopted by a family.

19. How does the mother end up in America?

Answer : The mother ends up in America through a mail-order bride service. She was living a difficult life in Hong Kong, working for a family that mistreated her. An old woman who sold fish to her in the morning market told her about American men who wanted Asian wives. She saw this as her only hope and got into the catalogue, which is how she met the protagonist’s father.

20. How does the story depict the impact of societal pressures on individual identity?

Answer : The story depicts societal pressures impacting individual identity through the protagonist’s struggle with his Chinese heritage. He is embarrassed by his mother’s broken English and her Chinese customs, and he tries to distance himself from his Chinese identity. This is likely influenced by societal pressures to conform to American norms.

21. What is the significance of the mother’s zhezhi papercraft in the story?

Answer : The mother’s zhezhi papercraft is significant as it represents her cultural heritage and her connection with her son. She breathes life into these paper animals, which is a part of her magic. However, as the protagonist grows older and becomes more distant from his Chinese heritage, he rejects these paper animals, symbolizing his rejection of his mother and her culture.

22. How does the story depict the mother’s experience of being a mail-order bride?

Answer : story depicts the mother’s experience of being a mail-order bride as a desperate escape from a harsh life in Hong Kong. She was mistreated by the family she worked for and saw the mail-order bride service as her only hope for a better life. However, her life in America was also filled with loneliness and misunderstanding due to cultural and language barriers.

23. What is the significance of the paper tiger, Laohu, in the story?

Answer : The paper tiger, Laohu, holds significant symbolic value in the story. It is a creation of the mother, made from origami, and it represents her love, her heritage, and her connection to her son. The tiger is a constant presence in the story, reflecting the mother’s enduring love for her son, even when he rejects her and her culture. It is through Laohu that the son eventually reconnects with his mother after her death, understanding her love and sacrifices, and regretting his earlier rejection of her.

24. How does the story explore the theme of mother-son relationships?

Answer : The story explores the theme of mother-son relationships through the evolving relationship between the protagonist and his mother. Initially, the son shares a close bond with his mother, enjoying her paper creations and their shared language. However, as he grows older and becomes more aware of societal norms and prejudices, he starts to reject his mother’s Chinese heritage, causing a rift in their relationship. The mother’s love for her son is constant, even when he rejects her. After her death, the son comes to realize the depth of his mother’s love and the sacrifices she made for him, leading to a sense of regret and a late appreciation of his mother.

25. How does the story explore the theme of identity and self-acceptance?

Answer : The story explores the theme of identity and self-acceptance through the protagonist’s struggle with his Chinese-American identity. As a child, he embraces his Chinese heritage, but as he grows older, he begins to reject it due to societal pressures and his desire to fit in. This rejection extends to his mother, who embodies this heritage. It is only after his mother’s death that he begins to understand and accept his Chinese heritage, symbolized by his reconnection with the paper tiger, Laohu, and his mother’s letter.

26. What is the birthplace of the protagonist’s mother?

Answer : Sigulu Village.

27. What craft does the protagonist’s mother practice?

Answer : Zhezhi.

28. How did the protagonist’s mother reach America?

Answer : As a mail-order bride.

28. In which province was the protagonist’s mother caught stealing food?

Answer : Guangdong.

29. Where was the protagonist’s mother smuggled to?

Answer : Hong Kong.

30. Which family selected the protagonist’s mother to take care of their boys?

Answer : The Chin family.

31. Where did the protagonist’s mother sleep in the Chin family house?

Answer : In a cupboard.

32. From whom did the protagonist’s mother learn about American men wanting Asian wives?

Answer : An old woman.

33. What does the protagonist’s mother consider the saddest feeling in the world?

Answer : A child’s late desire to care for their parents.

34. How did the protagonist’s mother feel when her son stopped talking to her?

Answer : Like she was losing everything.

35. How did the protagonist’s mother leave a part of herself behind for her son?

Answer : By making paper animals.

36. In which language did the protagonist’s mother write to her son?

Answer : Chinese.

37. What does the protagonist’s mother feel when she says ‘ai’?

Answer : Her heart.

38. What does the protagonist’s mother feel when she says ‘love’?

Answer : Her lips.

39. How does the protagonist’s mother describe her life?

Answer : Not very romantic.

40. What is the first memory of the protagonist’s mother?

Answer : Her mother eating dirt.

1. How did the mother end up in America?

A. She was born in America B. She moved for a job opportunity C. She was a mail-order bride D. She won a lottery for a green card

Answer: C. She was a mail-order bride

2. What is the protagonist’s relationship with his mother?

A. They are very close and share a strong bond B. They have a strained relationship due to cultural and language differences C. They have a professional relationship D. They have no relationship

Answer: B. They have a strained relationship due to cultural and language differences

3. What is the significance of the mother’s zhezhi papercraft?

A. It is a hobby she picked up in America B. It represents her cultural heritage and her connection with her son C. It is a business she runs from home D. It has no significance

Answer: B. It represents her cultural heritage and her connection with her son

4. How does the protagonist feel about his Chinese heritage?

A. He is proud of it B. He is indifferent to it C. He tries to distance himself from it D. He is confused about it

Answer: C. He tries to distance himself from it

5. How does the protagonist’s relationship with his mother change over time?

A. It remains the same throughout his life B. It improves as he grows older C. It deteriorates as he grows older D. It fluctuates throughout his life

Answer: C. It deteriorates as he grows older

6. How does the mother feel about her son rejecting her and her culture?

A. She is indifferent to it B. She is angry and resentful C. She is deeply hurt but continues to love him D. She disowns him

Answer: C. She is deeply hurt but continues to love him

7. What is the significance of the paper tiger, Laohu, in the story?

A. It is a toy the protagonist bought from a store B. It represents the protagonist’s love for animals C. It represents the mother’s love, her heritage, and her connection to her son D. It has no significance

Answer: C. It represents the mother’s love, her heritage, and her connection to her son

8. How does the protagonist feel about his mother’s broken English?

A. He finds it endearing B. He is embarrassed by it C. He is indifferent to it D. He is proud of her for trying to learn a new language

Answer: B. He is embarrassed by it

9. How does the protagonist react when his mother tries to hug him the way American mothers do on TV?

A. He is comforted by it B. He is annoyed by it C. He is indifferent to it D. He appreciates her effort to fit in

Answer: B. He is annoyed by it

10. How does the protagonist feel about his mother’s attempts to speak English?

A. He is proud of her for trying to learn a new language B. He is embarrassed by her broken English and tries to correct her C. He is indifferent to it D. He finds it amusing

Answer: B. He is embarrassed by her broken English and tries to correct her

11. How does the protagonist feel about his mother’s zhezhi papercraft?

A. He loves them and cherishes them B. He is embarrassed by them and sees them as trash C. He is indifferent to them D. He finds them amusing

Answer: B. He is embarrassed by them and sees them as trash

12. What is the protagonist’s relationship with his father like?

A. They have a close and loving relationship B. They have a strained relationship due to cultural differences C. They have a professional relationship D. They have no relationship

Answer: A. They have a close and loving relationship

13. How does the protagonist feel about his Chinese heritage?

14. How does the protagonist’s mother end up in America?

15. How does the protagonist’s mother feel about her son rejecting her and her culture?

16. How does the protagonist feel about his mother’s broken English?

17. How does the protagonist react when his mother tries to hug him the way American mothers do on TV?

18. How does the protagonist feel about his mother’s attempts to speak English?

19. What is the protagonist’s reaction when his friend Mark insults his mother’s zhezhi papercraft?

A. He defends his mother and her craft B. He is embarrassed and agrees with Mark C. He is indifferent to Mark’s opinion D. He finds it amusing

Answer: B. He is embarrassed and agrees with Mark

1. Jack’s mother was born in the year _______ in Sigulu Village, Hebei Province.

Answer : 1957

2. The mother learned to make zhezhi papercraft from her _______.

Answer : mother

3. The mother ended up in America because she became a _______.

Answer : mail-order bride

4. The mother used to write a letter on _______ to her dead parents back in China.

Answer : Qingming

5. She used to fold the letter into a _______ and release it.

Answer : paper crane

6. The protagonist’s mother was caught stealing food in _______ Province.

Answer : Guangdong

7. The mother was smuggled across the border to _______.

Answer : Hong Kong

8. The protagonist’s mother was selected by the _______ family to take care of their two boys.

Answer : Chin

9. Jack’s mother was locked into a _______ in the kitchen to sleep.

Answer : cupboard

10. Jack’s mother was taught by an old woman about American men who wanted _______ wives.

Answer : Asian

11. She felt she was losing everything all over again when her son stopped _______ to her.

Answer : talking

12. She left a little of herself behind in the _______ animals she made for her son.

Answer : paper

13. The protagonist’s mother wrote to her son in _______ because she had to write with all her heart.

Answer : Chinese

14. Jack’s mother was from very poor _______ families with few relatives.

Answer : peasant

15. The protagonist’s mother’s first memory was waking up to see her mother eating _______ so that she could fill her belly and leave the last bit of flour for her.

Answer : dirt

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Computer Science > Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

Title: bridging vision and language spaces with assignment prediction.

Abstract: This paper introduces VLAP, a novel approach that bridges pretrained vision models and large language models (LLMs) to make frozen LLMs understand the visual world. VLAP transforms the embedding space of pretrained vision models into the LLMs' word embedding space using a single linear layer for efficient and general-purpose visual and language understanding. Specifically, we harness well-established word embeddings to bridge two modality embedding spaces. The visual and text representations are simultaneously assigned to a set of word embeddings within pretrained LLMs by formulating the assigning procedure as an optimal transport problem. We predict the assignment of one modality from the representation of another modality data, enforcing consistent assignments for paired multimodal data. This allows vision and language representations to contain the same information, grounding the frozen LLMs' word embedding space in visual data. Moreover, a robust semantic taxonomy of LLMs can be preserved with visual data since the LLMs interpret and reason linguistic information from correlations between word embeddings. Experimental results show that VLAP achieves substantial improvements over the previous linear transformation-based approaches across a range of vision-language tasks, including image captioning, visual question answering, and cross-modal retrieval. We also demonstrate the learned visual representations hold a semantic taxonomy of LLMs, making visual semantic arithmetic possible.

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Roberto Cavalli, Designer Who Celebrated Excess, Dies at 83

From the mid-1990s onward he was one of the biggest names in fashion, with stores around the world and celebrity admirers like Lenny Kravitz and Cindy Crawford.

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By Steven Kurutz

Roberto Cavalli, the Italian fashion designer who celebrated glamour and excess, sending models down the runway and actresses onto red carpets wearing leopard-print dresses, bejeweled distressed jeans, satin corsets and other unapologetically flashy clothes, has died. He was 83.

His company announced the death on Instagram but provided no details.

Mr. Cavalli’s signature style — “molto sexy, molto animal print and molto, molto Italiano,” as the British newspaper The Independent once described it — remained essentially unchanged throughout his long career. But he skillfully reinvented his clothes for different eras, enjoying several renaissances and building a global lifestyle brand in the process.

In the 1970s, Mr. Cavalli designed jackets, jeans and minidresses made from patchwork denim, selling his upscale hippie frocks in a boutique in St. Tropez, on the French Riviera, to actresses like Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren.

For the next two decades, he remained largely unknown outside Europe. Then, in the 1990s, he reinvented luxury denim, first with the sandblasted look and then, in a stroke of invention, by putting Lycra in jeans to make them fit snugger and sexier. When the model Naomi Campbell wore a pair during a runway show in 1993, stretch jeans became a huge trend.

Before that breakthrough, Mr. Cavalli’s business was floundering, and he had considered closing his factory. But from the mid-’90s onward, he was one of the biggest names in fashion, with stores around the world, celebrity admirers like Lenny Kravitz and Cindy Crawford and licenses for everything from jewelry, perfume and sunglasses to children’s clothes, housewares and a Roberto Cavalli-branded vodka, which came packaged in a snakeskin-covered bottle .

Like (Gianni) Versace or Calvin (Klein), Cavalli achieved single-name status: He stood for an immediately recognizable aesthetic.

“Roberto loved excess, but he never lost his point of view,” Nina Garcia, the editor in chief of Elle magazine, said in an email in 2020. “Even when minimalism was the norm, he believed in maximalism. He dressed us thinking that life — and fashion — should be lived at full speed.”

Mr. Cavalli’s attention-grabbing, flesh-baring clothes were not for introverts. Nor was his brand intellectual. Rather, Mr. Cavalli played to fashion’s fun, flamboyant, hedonistic side. A Cavalli outfit commanded attention.

Peter Dundas, who served as the brand’s chief designer and later as creative director before leaving in 2016 to start his own label, said in an interview that Cavalli was for “the pop star that exists within everybody.”

Mr. Cavalli dressed actual pop stars, too. Among them were Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Shakira and the Spice Girls, for whom he designed outfits for their 2007 reunion tour. Two years earlier, Playboy had hired him to revamp the bunny costume.

Lenny Kravitz was another client, a man confident enough to wear a pair of tight leather trousers. “I’m a big fan of the way Miles Davis dressed, in skins and prints and leather, with an urban class and a street vibe, but elegant,” Mr. Kravitz told Vanity Fair in a 2009 profile of Mr. Cavalli. “Roberto has that.”

Permanently bronzed and forever puffing on a cigar, Mr. Cavalli pursued a lifestyle that was as rock ’n’ roll as his clothes. He piloted his own iridescent purple helicopter, sailed the Mediterranean in a matching purple yacht and lived with his family in an ancient, rambling farmhouse outside Florence, Italy, where he maintained a menagerie of parrots, dogs, Persian cats and a pet monkey. He met Eva Duringer, who would become his second wife and his business partner, when he was a judge at the 1977 Miss Universe pageant and she was Miss Austria.

But while Mr. Cavalli was a clever marketer who created an aura of luxury around his brand and his persona, he was also a master craftsman who invented new ways to print, dye and manipulate fabrics. And he mixed materials, color, patterns and prints with an enviable flair.

As he told Women’s Wear Daily in 2013, “I want to get across that behind the fabulous yacht, the champagne, the parties, there’s a man called Roberto Cavalli, who worked very, very hard to create this wonderful life.”

Roberto Cavalli was born on Nov. 15, 1940, in a suburb of Florence, to Giorgio and Marcella (Rossi) Cavalli. His father was a surveyor for a mining company, his mother a seamstress who managed the home.

His early life was marked by tragedy: In 1944, in retaliation for an attack by Italian resistance soldiers, the German Army rounded up a group of local men, including Giorgio Cavalli, and shot and killed them.

Roberto developed a stutter from the shock of his father’s death and became a rebellious teenager. He didn’t find his purpose until he attended the Istituto d’Arte, an art school in Florence, beginning in 1957. (His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, had been a well-regarded painter.)

Through his training, Mr. Cavalli learned how to print designs on T-shirts and sweaters, and throughout the 1960s he sold to clients like Hermès. In 1970, he invented and patented a technique to print on lightweight leather and suede; that same year, he decided to show his first collection (including leather evening gowns and bathing suits) at the annual Salon du Prêt-à-Porter in Paris.

“People like it, but nobody buys,” Mr. Cavalli told Vanity Fair. “Because it was too new, too unusual.”

He had more success with denim. He bought a cargo container of old jeans from an American prison, washed them, and cut and sewed them back together with leather pieces to create a patchwork. His ornamented, handcrafted, bohemian-chic clothes were perfectly in tune with the rich hippie aesthetic of the early 1970s, when rock musicians wore Nudie suits and East West Leather jackets and their fans embroidered their bluejeans.

Mr. Cavalli’s baroque clothes fell out of favor during the 1980s, when designers like Calvin Klein and Rei Kawakubo sparked a trend toward minimalism. He spent the decade in fashion no-man’s land, and he seemed to hold a grudge toward simplicity itself.

“I like fashion that is different — minimalism is boring,” he told an audience in a talk at the University of Oxford in 2013. “I am a mountain in the minimalism.”

As the 2000s dawned and fashion went global, Mr. Cavalli was back on top. He opened his first United States store in 1999, and by 2010 his fashion house was operating 60 boutiques across the globe. Stylists competed to get their hands on his designs for their celebrity clients, while Carrie Bradshaw, the fictional heroine of “Sex and the City,” dressed in giraffe-spot Cavalli dresses and peony-pattern jeans. His wild clothes and “la dolce vita” image seemed to represent the energy and excitement of the new millennium, with its tabloid socialites, Real Housewives, multiplying awards shows and easy global travel.

As Ms. Garcia said, “He defined the era of unrepentant maximalism.”

Information on his survivors was not immediately available.

Mr. Cavalli had his critics. As was the case with Mr. Versace before him (though he in fact predated that designer’s rise), his clothes were called vulgar, tarty, unsubtle. “This is a man for whom zebra print is a neutral,” The New York Times wrote .

By 2019, after years of high-flying expansion, Mr. Cavalli was experiencing another down period, as was the industry at large. His fashion house closed its U.S. stores and sought bankruptcy protection that year. Zebra prints were out of step with the dressed-down athleisure era.

But Mr. Cavalli was not one to change his stripes. For five decades, he consistently fulfilled that most necessary role in fashion, making clothes that gave wearers the confidence to be the star of their own lives.

During his talk at Oxford, Mr. Cavalli summed up his personal ethos this way: “Fashion that is not crazy is not fashion.”

Steven Kurutz covers cultural trends, social media and the world of design for The Times. More about Steven Kurutz