User:Persues Tene

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

~Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

“When two cultures collide is the only time when true suffering exists”

~Hermann Hesse.

"Animals do not think like we do. People who forget that get themselves killed. That tiger … is not your friend. When you look into his eyes you are seeing your own emotions reflected back at you."

~David Magee

"People think magic's a way of transforming reality — but in the end, you find that all that you've really changed is yourself. Which probably explains why every magician I've ever met's a self-absorbed arsehole. Still, first rule of magic: perception is reality. You gotta look the part."

~Andy Diggle

"No magic can change something into something that it is not; the imaginative transformation at the heart of magic is recognition, not creation."

~Susan Palwick

Analysis

Culture Clash on Use of Objects:

An Analysis of “The Paper Menagerie”

Marcus Moshia Garvey Jr., the founder and first President-General of the Universal Neegro Improvement Association and African Communities League, once said “[a] people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.” Garvey’s interpretation of the quote influences the key theme in Ken Lui’s “The Paper of Menagerie” where the main protagonist Jack has found himself with an incomplete understanding of his Chinese heritage. We will see how Jack finds himself in a conflict between his two cultures, American and Chinese, and the story uses objects to represent the two cultures: the American culture is represented by an Obi-Wan action figure and the Chinese culture is represented by origami, especially an origami tiger called Laohu, which is meant to represent Jack, as he was born The Year of the Tiger.  

At the start of the story, Jack is fully Chinese. As Jack continues growing up and being affected by outside forces, he starts feeling that he doesn’t belong either to the American or the Chinese culture. He mostly feels like an outsider and eventually, he decides to reject his Chinese culture by speaking English, eating more American food, and playing with what he considers “real toys” such as plastic action figures instead of origami. As the story comes to an end, he discovers a letter from his late mother. He doesn't understand the writing but he finds someone to read the letter. After hearing his mother’s story from the letter, he feels that he lost something important such as knowledge of his past, his origins, and the history of his ancestors.

In the beginning of the story, Jack grows up embracing his Chinese culture. As he grows up he finds himself affected by external forces that are being raised in an American country. He gets the feeling that he doesn't belong to either of those two cultures, feeling as an outsider. Trying to fit in the society he decides to reject his chinese culture by speaking english, eating mostly american food and playing with “real toys” referring to toys that are made out of plastic and not paper referring to origami.

The reason and story behind why Jack decided to reject his culture was when he was younger decided to play with his neighborhood name Mark. Each of them decided to demonstrate their toys to each other, Mark decided to show his “Obi-Wand” which is an action figure, Jack decided to show him his origami made out of paper that consisted of a goat, tiger, deer, water buffalo and shark that his mom made for him. Mark after seeing the origami he said to Jack that his toys are made of garbage because they are made out of paper. Jack after hearing what Mark said about his toys decided to push him against the floor, Lahou whose origami tiger decided to do the same but to Mark's toy. In Jack’s perspective his origamis had always had lives, they were able to move and play with him, but Lahou was always his protector since it represented Jack’s birth year:

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.” (Liu 68)

This event was a really turning point in Jack's life, in that moment he realized that he was never gonna fit him or feel comfortable sharing his culture with others because they would make fun of him. After this he decided to isolate and reject the culture that he grew up in just to be like everyone else, so can relate and have similar experiences as them. Probably the origami cannot be compared with monetary value, he was too young to understand that was something deeper than that. He was an age that he just wanted to have friend and not make fun of it but he knew if he show other kids his origami, probably events like what happened with Mark would happen again which he wanted to avoid. Forgetting what the origami mean to him and his culture, forgetting a part of himself trying to fit in with everyone else.

As the story continues, Jack starts to reject his Chinese culture and accepts his American Culture. The most important key that shows his rejection of Chinese culture on expressing that in the house, he should speak more English and less Chinese, every time his mom speaks to Jack in Chinese he acts as if he doesn’t listen to his mother and interacts with his mother like when he was a little kid such as stop spending time like they used on playing with the origami that his mother made. Jack describes that each that he is in the outside world he feels like an outsider, This mostly implies that his family is not like the other families:

“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. Other 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?”. (Liu 69)

At this point in the story, it’s demonstrated that Jack is starting to show or demonstrate his rejection of Chinese culture. Jack is starting to say things like his family is not like the other’s families that are more American style, they don’t eat Chinese food mostly expressing that they should stop eating Chinese food and start eating mostly American food, also explaining that they should speak more English. It’s the comment that Jack made about his mother saying “Other families don’t have Moms who don’t belong.” This comment of Jack is important to show the start of rejecting his Chinese Culture as a method to express that he wants to put a stop to his mother Jack doesn’t embrace his Chinese culture.

Third, as the story ends, he starts to notice the truth that he needs to reconnect with his Chinese culture. He is not able to read the letter that his mother left before she died, and is unable to understand the customs of his mother. Once he found someone to read the letter to him, he noticed that his mother was completely isolated from any culture, she was completely alone without any family that she could connect with her culture and she was very happy when Jack was little and was playing with Laohu because she was able to continue the things that her family was appreciate all the things that mean Laohu. Jack describes every emotion that he feels each time he hears the words of his late mother and acknowledges he never got to learn his past, his origins and more importantly the history of his ancestors.

Laohu stopped playing. He got up, jumped with feline grace into my lap, and proceeded to unfold himself. In my lap was a square of creased wrapping paper, the plain side up. It was filled with dense Chinese characters. I had never learned to read Chinese, but I knew the characters for son, and they were at the top, where you’d expect them in a letter addressed to you, written in Mom’s awkward, childish handwriting. I went to the computer to check the Internet. Today was Quingming. I took the letter with me downtown, where I knew the Chinese tour bused stopped. I stopped every tourist, asking, “Nin hui du zhongwen ma?” Can you read Chinese? I hadn’t spoken Chinese in so long that I wasn’t sure if they understood. A young woman agreed to help. We sat down on a bench together, and she read the letter to me loud. The language that I had tried to forget for years came back, and I felt the words sinking into me, through my skin, through my bones, until they squeezed tight around my heart. (Liu 73)

Jack realizes that he in the past didn’t have to reject his Chinese culture and the more important thing is that he doesn’t know how to read the letter that was inside Laohu; the only Chinese character he knows is the word for “son.” The moment the young woman read the letter to Jack, he started to have mixed feelings that he should not reject his Chinese Culture the past and he wanted to find a way to reconnect with that culture but at that time it was kind of impossible because there not know to teach him and the only the person that was able to teach him about his roots is already dead and the letter is not a very helpful way to reconnected with his Chinese culture. Jack during this moment after hearing everything on the letter he is hopeless on a way to connect with his mother but it’s kind of impossible still, but he will accept everything that his mom left behind such as his origami figures.

“The Paper Menagerie” starts with a little kid embracing his Chinese culture. There is no easy way to accept a culture in which everyone in your surroundings is from another culture because there will be times the certain traits of that culture are not related to yourself. Eventually, there is a conflict between two or many cultures that you are part of, and you will become burned trying to choose if you should accept one of your cultures and reject the other’s culture. This will become one of the most challenging parts of living your life. There are times when there is no easy approach to accepting a new culture and rejecting the other culture mostly because we keep ourselves locked inside ourselves as Jack did with all the origami figures that he put inside in a box and maintained hidden or kept inside ourselves in a way to symbolize his rejection or abandonment of his Chinese Culture. One day eventually a person will notice that something is missing from themselves. They will try to reconnect with that culture that stays hidden which will become a hole that will be impossible to reach and every time that they think you can reach the missing parts of your culture they will find another obstacle and they will notice that each time that you reach it will become deeper will be not an easy way to understand you as a person and how to reconnect with people of that culture.

Critical Questions

• Do you think in living with two different cultures children will find themself conflicted on trying to connect with the outside world?
• In your opinion, do you think that the future generations will find their lives conflicted on living with two cultures? Why? Why not?
• In your opinion, do you think that American Culture will be the same in the next five years? Why? Why not?
• Do you think that multicultural families would find difficulty to connect with an ethnocentrism family?
• In your opinion,  do kids with multicultural ideas have disadvantages when connected with the ethnocentrism community? Why? Why?
• Do you think that children with multiple cultures will find it easy to tolerate the diversity among people?
  

Extension Activity

If you are living a life with two or more cultures, create a diagram with two circles. The center of the circles should superimpose. In the middle, write the similarities of the two cultures and in the parts that don’t align write the differences.

INSTRUCTIONS:

In the position that is A and B you will be write difference meaning which make you culture different.

In the center of the the two circles you be write the similar things that your both cultures had on common.

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