The Paper Menagerie

An Analysis Essay about the short story “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu

 The story deeply emphasize the importance of valuing our own culture. The Paper Menagerie, a fictional creation that was written by Ken Liu is not a mere type of folklore nor a typical literary piece made to entertain the people, but is a masterpiece alongside any other magical realism stories. It mirrors the reality, and it gave awareness to how one should treat the harshness inherited to them, innately. 


The title alone reflect the writer's culture, and it exposed the writer's origin as well. It talks about the writer's issues with his experiences and to how others dealt off cultural circumstances. The story then becomes more relatable when the characters and the setting is introduced. Jack, who is the main character, represents every people who experienced being bullied because of their culture, and his mother, who regretted her child's indirect disownment of her part. This appears even more obviously realistic as it shows the undeniable fact revolving around our society. Not just in China, but in every places where abandonment of someone's blood and truth is prevalent. The conflict of the story keep reader's interest alive as it is somehow a thing that others been battling with, and thus, they seek for lessons or any moral that they can use in their situation. Moreover, the story also depicts a catchable storyline, from its plot, people would dive even deeper. The exposition has set what the reader should expect. The rising action firmed the story development. The climax punch out the main point of the story, which also tells the author's intention. The falling action allow every reader to finally think of a simple realization, and the resolution or in which they can think of what lessons should rightly be keep of. 


The story also narrated in the first person point of view which make it sounds authentic, and was given a theme that everyone can relate to. 


The author used his creative mind to come up with the most authentic symbolism for his written work, and that, in itself, have talked towards the mind of every reader. “Paper Menagerie” is the heritage which Jack’s mother want him to embrace with, and thus, embracing it could be a peace of mind. The story is a reminder that we don't need to be ashamed of who we are, or that, of what we are, should never be a source of any disappointment, it must be a form of comfort instead.



A short reflection about the quote “She might as well be from the moon”. 


This quote could be interpreted in various way, but if we try to relate it to the story, then it only refers to one thing, and that is the distance of any relationship. The lack of connection that should be felt by two existing people who long for each other's embrace. The lack of mutual understanding but at the same time suggesting strong desire of assumption that they two understands each other.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Night

One Night by Ann Gray An Elegy Analysis by Karl V . The poem “One Night” by Ann Gray is an example of elegy or a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament of the dead . As expected, the mood of the poem is sadness and sympathy. The poem is about a woman who has produced a great imagination about her dead husband due to her grief. The character includes the woman, the husband, Nick and Beth, all in one setting (in the bedroom where the woman imagines the scenes).  
Read more

Jolography

  Jolography An analysis by Karl V.  One obvious thing about this satirical poem of Paolo Manalo is the use of “ Jologs ” as an ideology in theming the poem's context.  The term jologs flutters around the year '90s. The t erm is coined from the desire of fancying up the term “ dugyot ” or cheap . Since then, the term is used to refer the style of mixing the cheapness to anything trendy. The term influences almost every aspect of existing industries including; art, fashion, music, acting and even the way people communicates with each other.  To bring it back, the poem “ Jolography ”, as its obvious, is the first piece of literature that was written in a jolog way. Different from any other existing literature. The title itself has foreshadowed the readers to what they would read throughout the whole poem. Likewise, the whole concept is the representation of what the title has to say.  Moreover, the composition and arrangement of the poem is really genius. The idea...
Read more