The Paper Menagerie is a Magical Realism Short Story by Ken Liu. Initially published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 2011, it was then republished as part of the collection The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories in 2016.
The story is about Jack, a biracial teenager raised in Connecticut by his Chinese mother and his white American father. Jack's mother folds a multitude of paper animals to amuse him as a child, only for him to reject them — and her — as he comes of age. But after his mother's passing, he learns to see them in a new light.
It can be read here
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Tropes:
- Adopt-a-Servant: Jack's mother was orphaned during the Cultural Revolution and taken to a warehouse where families could "adopt" children. She was adopted by a family who used her as a caretaker for their sons and beat her for any errors.
- Asian Rudeness: Jack's father tells his neighbors that his Chinese wife doesn't speak good English, and to not mistake her lack of fluency for rudeness.
- Child of Two Worlds: The paper animals folded by Jack's mother are an unsubtle metaphor for his feelings towards their Chinese heritage. He adores them as a child, rejects them when he aligns himself with his white American father and neighbors, and returns to them in grief after his mother dies.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Jack's neighbors look down on him for his mixed Chinese/white heritage, distastefully saying that his features aren't "mixed" properly.
- Internalized Categorism: Jack begans to distance himself from his Chinese heritage as a result of racist encounters from his neighbors. He attempts to align himself with his white American father and neighbors, which really hurts his mother. He does not revisit his Chinese heritage until after his mother's passing.
- Living Toys: The paper animals folded by Jack's mother seemingly come alive and play around his room. After her death, they lay inert, and he wonders if it was her life that kept them alive.
- Mail-Order Bride: Jack's mother put herself onto a mail-order catalog to escape her abusive "foster family". Jack's father flew to Hong Kong to meet her, and was charmed enough to marry her despite her lack of English fluency.
- Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow: Jack's Chinese mother became a Mail-Order Bride for his American father to escape abuse and poverty.If I can cook, clean, and take care of my American husband, he’ll give me a good life. It was the only hope I had. And that was how I got into the catalogue with all those lies and met your father. It is not a very romantic story, but it is my story. In the suburbs of Connecticut, I was lonely. Your father was kind and gentle with me, and I was very grateful to him. But no one understood me, and I understood nothing.
- Shout-Out: Fancy new Star Wars action figures are used as a cool American counterpoint to Jack's folded paper animals, which he is eventually embarrassed about.
- Unnamed Parent: Neither of Jack's parents are named in the story.
