Themes in Literature/Isolation and Community/The Paper Menagerie

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Written in 2011, “The Paper Menagerie” has won two major science fiction literary awards: the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. You can find the text here.

Summary
Jack, a young boy from Connecticut, loves playing with origami animals that his Chinese mother introduces him to. These paper creations come to life when she blows into them. As Jack grows into a teenager, he strives to fit in with the surrounding American community and begins to reject his mother’s culture. His mother, in her effort to please him, tries hard to speak English and changes her habits. Unfortunately, she dies without reconciling with Jack. On the day of Qingming, the Chinese Festival for the Dead, Jack discovers a letter from his mother written on the first origami animal she made for him, Laohu the tiger. Through this letter, he learns about her life in China, her journey as an immigrant, and her heartbreak when Jack stopped connecting with her. Jack then attempts to reconnect with his mother by writing back on Laohu's body.

Viewpoint: Jack is the focus of the story
“The Paper Menagerie” explores how an individual can belong to a community, vanish from it, and eventually reconnect. In the story, Jack, born in the Year of the Tiger, is represented by Laohu, an origami tiger brought to life by his mother’s magic: “I didn't know this at the time, but Mom's kind was special. She breathed into [the origami] so that they shared her breath and thus moved with her life. That was her magic.” Laohu’s existence begins in the menagerie, symbolizing Jack’s mother’s culture, a community that Jack embraces and enjoys during his childhood. These are the secure and comfortable years.

However, belonging to a nurturing community can be fragile and easily destroyed. An origami tiger, like Laohu, is delicate and can be torn apart. When Jack’s family moves into a new town and Jack into a new school, he encounters new perspectives of what is acceptable. Laohu is introduced to Mark, an All-American boy who likes to play with Star Wars action figures. When Laohu accidentally breaks Mark’s action figure, Mark retaliates by tearing Laohu apart: “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.’”

From this moment, Laohu's life becomes difficult; he never seems the same again. Jack tries to fix him back to what he was, but nothing seems to work. He is condemned to live in a box for a long time, even though the menagerie resists Jack’s rejection: “[t]he animals had escaped and took over their old favorite spots in my room. I caught them and put them back into the shoebox, taping the lid shut. But the animals made so much noise in the box that I finally shoved it into the corner of the attic as far away from my room as possible.” Jack forces himself to forget the community the menagerie represents, instead joining Mark’s all-American community.

Many years later, the fragile Laohu comes back from the darkness when Jack’s memory of her mother making an origami shark for him breathes new life into the paper tiger: “The ball of paper shifted, unfurled itself, and I saw that it was Laohu, who I hadn't thought about in a very long time. ‘Rawrr-sa.’ Mom must have put him back together after I had given up.” Jack’s mother never gave up hope that her son might love her again. Now, Laohu carries a letter that helps Jack reconnect with his mother’s community. Since Jack cannot read Chinese, he seeks help from someone who can. As he listens to the story of his mother’s life and family, he regains a sense of community. After expressing his love to his mother through the letter written on Laohu, Jack’s final act is to accept his mother’s heritage: “Following the creases, I refolded the paper back into Laohu. I cradled him in the crook of my arm, and as he purred, we began the walk home.” Laohu is finally back where he belongs, proving that even if we ignore our roots and try to reject our legacy, our heritage and blood remain within us.

Viewpoint: Jack's mother is the focus of the story
“The Paper Menagerie” is about the nameless Chinese immigrant who is the mother of the story’s narrator, Jack. Jack’s mother came from a very poor farming family in China, born during a time of famine. Her own mother was self-sacrificing, eating mud to give her daughter the little food they had. In the story, Jack’s mother embodies the Chinese community and strives to share this culture with her American-born son. One significant example is the Zhizhi (origami) paper menagerie she creates for Jack when he is a toddler. However, as Jack grows older, he begins to favor American culture over Chinese culture, exacerbating his mother’s sense of isolation in the English-speaking Connecticut community where her white American husband brought her. This rejection by her son, as she grows older, becomes unbearable for her.

Many immigrants face the issue of isolation depicted in Liu’s story. They leave behind everything familiar and try to assimilate into a new country, often without the comfort of family and friends. Despite their efforts to incorporate their culture into their new homeland and pass it on to their children, they sometimes face disappointment when their children reject their heritage.

Jack's mother cherishes her culture because it is her last connection to her family. Her son's rejection of this heritage deepens her isolation, leaving her without anyone to share her culture. Throughout the story, she faces rejection for being different. When the family moves to Connecticut, two white neighbors visit them and make blatantly racist remarks about Jack's physical attributes without knowing that Jack can understand them: “Something about the mixing never seems right. The child looks unfinished. Slanty eyes, white face. A little monster."

It is unclear if these neighbors’ contempt planted seeds of doubt and anger in Jack towards his mother's heritage, causing him to act out against his mother. What is clear is that Jack’s rejection of his mother’s culture begins when his American classmates bully him with racist slurs ("chink"), causing him to avoid anything that identifies him as Chinese. He refuses to eat Chinese meals or respond to his mother in her native tongue. Jack and his father pressure her to embrace American culture, further alienating her: “I pushed the chopsticks and the bowl before me away; stir fry green peppers with five spice beef. ‘We should eat American food.’” Despite her efforts to fit in, her son’s disdain and indifference lead her to feel rejected by the person she loves most. Symbolically, this rejection leads to her death; though the story does not indicate what her illness is, we are to understand that she dies of a broken heart.

At the end of the story, Jack realizes his mother’s death has left him feeling isolated, having lost a person who loved him dearly. Her death also represents the loss of a part of his cultural identity and heritage. Rejecting his mother’s culture also means rejecting part of his own identity, leaving him with no chance to experience this culture firsthand. This realization becomes clear when Jack needs a native Chinese speaker to read the letter his mother left for him inside Laohu, the paper tiger that symbolizes his self. Jack then decides to reconnect with his mother by refolding Laohu. By following Laohu’s creases, he finally embraces his mother’s teachings. The story concludes with Jack saying, “[w]e began to walk home,” the "we" signifying acceptance, reconnection, and rebirth.

Jack's mother's story is my story
I am the fourth of eleven brothers and sisters. We lived in extreme poverty as my mother struggled to care for us. When the opportunity came to come to America, my mother was happy because I would now be able to help myself and them. It was one of my biggest dreams going up. I believed I would have the opportunity to work hard and help myself and my family. I arrived at JFK in the summer of ‘88. I came to America to attend school. My plans for school did not workout. I wanted to fulfill a dream of going to college--which would make me the first of my eleven brothers and sisters to go to college. When I arrived, I lived with my aunt. She told me she did not have money and I would have to seek employment. She allowed me to work at her beauty parlor business as I tried to save up money to attend school.

Upon arrival, I felt that the people were cold and unfriendly towards me. This was a big change for me. In Trinidad, I lived in a village where most people were related. I remember being given a key to my aunt’s apartment. I was shocked by the number of locks that were on the door. It was scary for me to see this. In my community there was a sense of relative safety. My accent made it difficult to communicate. I had to repeat myself often. I was also met with bias and stereotypes often. I once recall a woman ask me if “you all wear grass skirts.” My husband’s southern family would ask me if I wanted a “Beef patty,” or call me “coconut.” I felt like I was a joke because I was different.

I married an American person and our cultural barriers made it difficult for us to relate to one another. At first it appeared to me that he was interested in the Trinidadian culture. However, within the household, he didn’t seem interested in my cultural foods. When I prepared these meals for him, he would taste it and push it aside. I did try to cook American foods as well; I once remember buying “cold cuts” for a sandwich. When he asked me to prepare him a sandwich, I began cooking the cold cuts in a pan on the stove, because I did not know better. This was not expected. He was upset by this and made me feel bad. His mother is from the South and was able to cook him more American meals.

This rejection of my culture also made it difficult for my children to assimilate to my culture. When the children did not want my food, my husband would quickly substitute it with American food and asked me not to force them to eat it. My kids would begin to prefer American food over my traditional Trinidadian dishes. Ultimately, I felt useless within my household by not being able to contribute in the ways that I knew how. This caused me to feel isolated. Ultimately, my marriage was dissolved. It seemed to me that my ideas were never good in the eyes of my children. But we were able to bond during a time that I was very sick. They began to realize they were taking me for granted. They then began inquiring about my past, and about my home country and culture and attempting to cook me some traditional dishes from Trinidad. I believe my illness was a wake-up call to them and they began to appreciate me and everything I have to offer a lot more.

For creative spirits: Build your own paper Laohu
In this first part, you will learn how to make the first section of the tiger. You will begin on a small piece of paper, but after the training, you can do it on a larger paper. Be patient and do this in stages.

In the second part, you will start with a more substantial piece of paper, and you can use colored paper to give a more realistic impression. Also, you will need something to help make the lines more perfect.

In the last part, the tutor will provide some tips to do a better job. Also, tell you that you may need glue to ensure some features stay in place and finally get the origami tiger.

For young readers: What could it mean to grow up in two cultures?
Watch this NBC report, "Defining Latino: Young People Talk Identity, Belonging," featuring Latinx youth discussing how living in the United States has defined their identity. As NBC emphasizes, Latinx youth is "one of the largest and fastest-growing youth populations in the country."

Critical thinking questions

 * Could immigrant teenagers of any ethnicity identify with Jack's story? What is similar? What is different?
 * Should Jack believe and respect his mother's traditions, beliefs, and language no matter what? Or should Jack's mother's not insist on asking her son to be like she is? What is lost and gained by choosing one option over the other? What would you do differently if you were Jack? Jack’s mother?  
 * In your opinion, do bi-racial teenagers have an advantage in society? Why? Why not?

Share your view of the story
Click here to tell us how you feel about Jack's story and whether you relate to it. You could share a recommendation on how to manage being part of two cultures.