The Paper Menagerie Presentation

Summary

Marketing

The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu is about a boy and his relationship with his mother, who is a Chinese mail-order bride. At the start of the book, there is a scene where the mother helps the boy cheer up by showing him how she can make origami come to life. She makes him little paper animals that are, from then on, his companions in life. However, as the story goes on, the boy ages and things happen at school that cause him to be ashamed of his

mother. Eventually, the boy and his mother stop talking to each other and just grow further and further apart. But then the mother dies of

cancer and the paper animals stop moving until

he thinks of her again, many years later. One of the paper animals eventually unfolds itself to reveal a letter from his mom. The boy gets somebody

to translate, understands his mother's past,

and eventually realizes he really did love her.

Only then do the animals become his companions again.

Freytag's Pyramid

Climax: Son finds out from the translator what the Chinese character for love is and writes over and over-- he finally realizes he loves her back.

Falling Action:

1. The lady leaves him "alone with [his]

mother"

Rising Action:

1. Shows how Mom was a mail-order bride

2. Son and Mom don't fit in without Dad

when they move

3. Mark gets mad and rips Son's paper tiger

4. Son starts becoming ashamed of his

mom

5. Mom dies of cancer--dying words are to remember the paper menagerie

6. Paper menagerie is forgotten

7. Somehow the paper tiger reappears

and shows Son a note the mom wrote

for him

8. Son gets somebody to translate

and read the note.

Sales

Resolution:

Son folds the paper back into

the tiger, thinking of his

mom.

Theme:

Don't be self-centered, love is the most important thing

Denoument:

Son walks home, cradling the tiger in his arm, knowing he would cherish the tiger and his mother's love forever, and wishing he had when she was alive

Inciting Incident:

Mom shows Son how she makes origami animals come alive using her magic.

Conflicts:

Man vs man (Son vs mom, son vs mike)

man vs self (son vs son)

man vs society (mom vs american society and culture

Exposition: -Son, Mom, Dad, Paper Animals

-Modern-day U.S. - From when Son is small, to

when he is married

Archetypes and Literature Devices

Character Archetype: The mom is an example of the outcast archetype. She is separated from society because of her language and culture barrier.

Situational Archetype: The task is represented in this short story by the mom trying to get her son to love her.

Symbolic Archetype: The only possible symbolic archetype is the red and green pattern on the wrapping paper the mom makes the tiger out of. Red symbolizes love and sacrifice, and green symbolizes growth and hope

Lit Device: The author uses imagery a lot to show exactly what's happening and to help the reader connect better.

HR

Mail-order Brides by Nicole Constable

This connects to the short story because it explains how the mom and her son and even the dad is affected by the dad's choice to participate in the process of mail-order brides. It shows how hard that made it for the boy to connect to his mom, and how thick the barrier was between the mom and the rest of the American society

Finance

This article is about ...

-how the idea of mail-order brides came about

-how it happens

- why it's bad

- what most people think about it in

modern-times

- how the idea developed from the beginning until now

- how those participating in it

are affected

Are BADDDD

Works Cited

Other

1. Liu, Ken. “The Paper Menagerie.” The Paper Menagerie, by Ken Liu, MacMillan Ltd., 2016.

2. Constable, Nicole. 2003. Romance on a Global Stage: Pen Pals, Virtual

Ethnography, and "Mail Order" Marriages. Berkeley: University of California

Press.