(Image/creation credit)

Ken Liu’s record-setting short story “Paper Menagerie“, the first to win all three major science fiction awards (the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award), tells the story of young Jack and the complicated relationship he has with his Chinese mother and ultimately with himself as a mixed-race child.

I picked “Paper Menagerie” sight unseen, confident that my respect and admiration for previously read Ken Liu stories and its numerous accolades would make for a good story to read and discuss. Depending on your reaction to it, I either succeeded in my assumptions or failed in spectacular fashion.

For “Paper Menagerie” is, arguably, a highly-effective, tightly-woven story about a boy’s relationship with his mother and the way in which that goes from touching to tumultuous as a boy grows up. It is a sad story, I will warn you now (if you haven’t already discovered that for yourself) but ultimately I feel that it is worthwhile firstly because it is a great example of the power of the medium of short stories and secondly because it packs a powerful punch, reminding us of the importance of allowing forgiveness and healing in our lives while the time remains to do so.

I hope you’ll click on the link above, give it a read, and come along with me for a discussion.

“One of my earliest memories starts with me sobbing.”

You’ve got to appreciate that Ken Liu sets the stage for what is to come from the very first sentence. Liu rights “Paper Menagerie” with an economy of words, brief but powerful sentences that convey so much is what really is a fairly short story.

The story opens with Jack remembering how his mother calmed his tears on this occasion by making an origami tiger for him. Not just any ordinary origami tiger, no. Instead Jack’s mother put her breath into the finished creation, causing it to come to life. I’m not sure if you had the same experience as I did, but this magical moment and the further description of other animals she created for Jack made me think back to all those memories I can still conjure up wherein I imagined, and maybe sometimes really believed, that my stuffed animals and various other toys had their own form of “life”. Especially my not-very-creatively-named teddy bear, Teddy. My constant companion through my childhood, Teddy shared many an adventure with me and we also shared many confidences. If any of my toys were alive in any fashion, it was Teddy. In all honesty I will on occasion get a twinge of guilt that he is stuck in a lonely corner down the basement and not up on the main floor as part of the family.

“Mom eventually wrapped his legs in saran wrap so that he could wallow to his heart’s content (just not in soy sauce).”

The fantasy elements of this story come in the form of these breath-animated origami animals. Liu’s creativity shines in the way in which he describes how Jack’s mother finds creative ways to deal with the fragility of these paper creations, like the statement about the water buffalo above and the way that she solved the origami shark in water problem. Fun!

“Paper Menagerie” alternates back and forth between memories having to do with the animals, memories of how things began to get complicated with Jack’s relationship with his mother, and the present time. It works very well, expertly setting the mood and playing on the reader’s emotions while slowly driving the story in the direction Liu intends.

“Dad had picked Mom out of a catalog.”

Jack’s idyllic childhood with a very loving mother and a whole host of living toys to play with begins to unravel as he becomes aware of the way in which he and his family are different from those around them. Jack is a mixed-race child of an American father and Chinese mother. When Jack is 10 his parents move and he overhears two neighborhood women, who mistakenly think he cannot understand English, say “The child looks unfinished. Slanty eyes, white face. A little monster.” Not long after that he starts to feel that these magical toys he has are inadequate in comparison to the Star Wars toys his new “friend” Mark has, and school makes things worse. Suddenly Jack is embarrassed and then angry at a mother who cannot speak English and a household that is not filled with the same consumerism and obvious “Americanism” of those around them.

Ken Liu’s portrayal of Jack can at first seem harsh and as an adult an easy reaction is to get frustrated with him, until one thinks back to childhood and how part of the process of growing up is cutting the apron strings, defying one’s parents (at least to some degree) and asserting some independence. It is unfortunate that as children we can go through these periods where our self-centered nature causes so much pain to others. Any of you who have been parents can relate to both Jack’s father and mother and the pain, frustration and anger they must feel in regards to the way he is reacting. And of course as a reader it is terribly painful to see Jack also reject his magical toys, a physical representation of his mother’s great love and devotion. When he puts them in a box, tapes it shut, and stores it in the attic I felt that acute sense of pain and loss…the whole growing up and leaving behind childish things scenario.

And then of course, the inevitable happens. In a story that begins with memories of sobbing, you had to see it coming, right? Okay, I admit I didn’t see this coming. Jack’s mother is diagnosed with cancer, a disease that is so far gone when she finally admits she is not doing well that her life will be cut short. It was at this point that I quickly emailed a friend of mine, whose mom died of cancer, and suggested he not read the story. I cannot imagine what it is like to lose a parent for any reason and to have a short story spring personal issues on you unawares is not something I want to inflict on anyone. Jack feels some sadness for his mother’s condition but is so caught up in himself and his schooling and potential career and when his mother gave him the option to leave the hospital to return to school, he took it, and never saw his mother alive again.

The story touches me in a personal way in that my father had cancer when I was a young adolescent and I can clearly remember having some feelings similar to what Jack was having. For me it was such an unreality. I loved my dad dearly, always have, and it wasn’t that I didn’t care about what he was going through, it just didn’t seem real to me. I think in large part because he and my mother would drive a couple hours away for his treatment while we stayed with friends or grandparents so we could keep up with school, etc. I only once remember going with my dad when he had a later radiation treatment. I never saw him have to deal with chemo. I wasn’t aware of how sick he was. And I couldn’t fathom him dying. I remember telling my mom once how bad I felt because I couldn’t cry for my dad. I’m not sure she understood what I was trying to say and I think I came off sounding like a selfish jerk. And in some ways I felt like I was that.

Years later when watching the movie My Life with Mary in a Tulsa, OK movie theater my true feelings about what my father went through and how terrible it would have been to lose him came out in a long…very long…sobbing mess that started in the theater but really took hold the second I sat down in our car. I didn’t think I would ever stop crying. All this time later I still feel a bit guilty and wish I would have been able to have that kind of connection when Dad was actually going through this. Mercifully my dad survived and is cancer free. I thank the Lord for that while at the same time realizing that not everyone has that kind of experience. I think it is awful when anyone dies before their time, but there is something very personal about cancer deaths that strikes home.

“Paper Menagerie” comes full circle when Jack’s partner makes the origami animals a part of the decoration of their home, recognizing how incredible they are and how skilled his mother was. One day Jack’s tiger animates again and reveals to Jack that there is a message inside of him, written in Chinese. Jack rushes off to find someone to translate which results in him having to be reminded of how deep a love his mother had for him from the voice of a stranger reading her words. It is a sad, touching, bittersweet moment. The kind of moment that could feel very contrived (and some argue that it is), but I felt was the culmination of a very personal story Liu was trying to tell. The obvious messages from a story like this include making the most of the relationships we have, with family, friends, those we come into contact with. There are also messages of getting our eyes off ourselves and our own wants and needs and paying attention to the needs of those around us.

These things are particularly important for me at this point in my life. As my daughter approaches her wedding day in four months’ time and Mary and I begin to adjust to a life once again on our own we are both looking at things very differently. In every area of our lives we are trying to scale back to what is important. We are trying to eat better so that we are in optimum health. We are trying to live a more sustainable life and at least do some small things for the sake of our environment. We are wanting to support more local growers and local businesses. We are getting increasingly more involved in both our church as the community, wanting to find ways to give of ourselves and make some small difference in the lives of those we daily meet. We are trying to focus on our family relationships, including with each other, even more so that we are cherishing the time we have. It can become maddening trying to do all these things but if you set some goals, keep things simple, and take moments to look around and see the wonder of life, the wonder of our world, I believe they are very doable.

Yes, “Paper Menagerie” is a very sad story. On the other hand it is an inspiring story. We may have lost some people in our lives but few of us have lost everyone. It is never too late to make amends with those we have or have had a connection to. It is not yet too late to decide to live the best lives we can live, lives that aren’t all about making money and having fame and some great success but instead are about the greatest success we can possibly have, which is to have good and meaningful relationships with others.

I don’t say it often enough but I appreciate every one of you who I have interacted with online, be it once or twice or many times over the years. Like you I get way too busy and don’t find the time to visit and interact as often as I would like to. But I will continue to make the effort (and will no doubt often fail) to make our interactions meaningful and to hopefully convey to you in some way just how important you are. Not as a part of some number, a stat of how many have visited or commented, but instead as an individual. It may be cheesy and cliche to say that there is only one you, but that does not make it any less true. Thank you for being you.
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Unless you hear differently, I am postponing Short Story Sundays for the rest of the month of May. I will be on my anniversary vacation beginning Friday and will return to go immediately into a full, glorious weekend of art at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2. A few weeks after that is Conquest and one of my favorite artists, John Picacio, will be the guest of honor there. So May is going to be a FULL month. Look forward to sharing things with you then.

Lord willing I will return to offering up short stories for discussion come June!