Welcome to The Paper Menagerie Workbook Answers: ISC Prism (Evergreen), your essential companion for Ken Liu’s hauntingly beautiful short story included in the ISC Class 11 & 12 English Literature syllabus. Here you’ll find detailed workbook solutions specifically aligned with the Evergreen Publications (Prism) workbook, helping you explore the story’s magical realism and emotional depth. Whether you’re analyzing the complex mother-son relationship, examining themes of cultural identity and belonging, or preparing for exams, our comprehensive answers, literary analysis, and expert explanations will guide you through each layer of this award-winning story. Let’s unfold the delicate origami of meaning in The Paper Menagerie together, one workbook exercise at a time!
Table of Contents
About The Story :
Jack’s Childhood
When the story begins, we find Jack crying. His mother makes an origami tiger to confort him. She breathes life into it. When she finds that Jack is interested in the origami animals, she makes more magical paper animals os that be son would play with them.
Jack as a teen-ager
When Jack becames a teen-ager, he stops talking to his mother because she cannot speak English. He asks his father how he and his mother met. Jack’s father saw his mother in a catalogue and went to Hong Kong to meet her. She migrated to the states where they married. As a teenager Jack faced racial discrimination. He overheard two women in his neighbourhood indulging in racial gossips. Then a neighbourhood boy named Mark visited his house. When Jack shows Mark his paper animals, Mark calls them, “trace”. Mark begins a campaign of racial bullying against Jack at school. The result is Jack stops telling to his mother who cannot speak in English.
Jack in College and his mother’s death
Jack’s mother is hospitalised for cancer when Jack is in college. He meets his mother in the hospital. His mother asks him to take out the paper animals, if she dies. These animals will remind him each year of Quingming, the Chinese festival for the dead. After sometime his mother dies.
Jack comes back home
After his mother’s death, Jack comes back home with his girlfriend Susan. They make Jack’s father to move to another city. Susan saves the box containing the paper animals Jack’s mother had made for him. Jack finds that these animals, no longer, have magic.
Jack’s Tiger and his mother’s letter
Jack’s tiger comes to life again on Quingming. The tiger reveals a letter to Jack The letter was written by his mother in Chinese. Jack cannot read the letter in Chinese, so he gets the help of a Chinese tourist. The letter tells Jack about his mother who belonged to a poor family in 1950s. Her parents taught her the art of making paper animals. When she grew up she became a victim of human traffickers who sold her as a domestic slave in Hong Kong. She signed up for the introduction service and ultimately met her husband. At first she felt extremely lonely but Jack’s birth brought her happiness. In her letter she asks Jack to reanimate the animals by thinking of her on Quingming.
Workbook MCQs :
(I) How did Mom react to Jack’s sobbing ?
(a) she did not bother
(b) she offered him breakfast
(c) she snubbed him
(d) she left the bed room
Answer :- (a) she did not bother
(II)How did Jack’s father select his mother as his wife ?
(a) through a known person
(b) through introduction service
(c) through a newspaper
(d) they met by chance
Answer :- (b) through introduction service
(III)The catalogue gave which false information about Jack’s mother ?
(a) she was eighteen
(b) she loved to dance
(c) she spoke good English
(d) all of the above
Answer :- (d) All of the above
(IV)Where did Jack’s father take his mother from Hong Kong?
(a) Connectient
(b) New York
(c) Washington
(d) Michigum
Answer :- (a) Connectient
(V) Who was Laohu ?
(a) a tiger
(b) a water buffalo
(c) a goat
(d) a duck
Answer :- (a) a water buffalo
(VI) Who was the boy who started bullying Jack at school?
(a) Michael
(b) Mark
(c) Jones
(d) Robin
Answer :- [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(VII)What was Mom’s age when she was hospitalised ?
(a) above forty
(b) under forty
(c) thirty
(d) sixty
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(VIII) What was Jack worried about when he was in the hospital ?
(a) mother’s health
(b) his girl friend
(c) his campus-placement
(d) his paper animals What did his mother ask him to do after his death ?
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(IX) Who was the boy who started bullying Jack at school?
(a) remember her at Quingming
(b) study well
(c) take care of his father
(d) go to China
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(X) What is Guingming ?
(a) a game
(b) a poem
(c) a ritual to remember the dead
(d) none of these
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Logic Based Questions :
(I) Jack’s mother made the paper animals because the child Jack would stop crying when his mother made the paper animals.
(II) Mom breathed into her paper animals because her breath had the magic that turned the paper animals into something real.
(III) Sometimes the animals got into trouble because these paper animals would run around the living room and jump into water or something else like soya sauce.
(IV) Mom made a new shark for Jack, this time out of tinfoil because the earlier one made of paper got destroyed as Jack had put it into the water sink.
(V) Jack stopped talking to his mother because he faced racial discrimination as his mother was a Chinese and could not speak English.
(VI) Jack packed the paper menageries in shoebox because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(VII) Even in the hospital where his mother was dying Jack was thinking of his job because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(VIII) Jack’s father aged rapidly after his mother died because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(IX) Susan remarked that Jack’s mother was an amazing artist because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
(X) Jack felt ashamed of himself when he heard about his mother’s life because [ For Full Workbook Answers , Get The Full E-Book Access – View ]
Short Answer Questions :
1. Comment upon Jack’s mother’s art of making paper managerie ?
Answer :- Jack’s mother was born in Sigulu Village in China in a very poor family. The village was known for its Zhezhi papercraft. Her own mother taught her how to make paper animals and give them life. Gradually, she became an expert in this art. She made several paper animals for Jack. The animals made by her were fantastic.
2. What made Jack almost stop talking to his mother ?
Answer :- Jack was a biracial boy born of a Chinese woman and an American man. His mother could not fit into the new culture and did not know English. For being a biracial child, people in America discriminated against him and teased him for being different. When his mother failed to learn English language and adopt the new culture, Jack stopped talking to her.
3. What problems did Jack face in America? Why did the natives bully him?
Answer :- Jack was a biracial child. He and his mother were ill-treated and considered inferior for belonging to a different culture. Jack’s friends insulted him at school also. One of his friends named Mark spoke derogatory words about Jack’s mother. He expressed his dislike and contempt against Jack’s toys made of paper. The natives bullied him just because his mother belonged to a different culture and he too, was not like other Americans.
4. Who was Susan? What was her attitude towards Jack’s mother and her art of paper managerie ?
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5. How was Jack affected by the letter written to him by his mother after her death?
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6. Comment upon the social discrimination Jack had to confront in America.
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Long Answer Questions :
1. With close reference to the text describe the relationship between Jack and his parents.
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2. What role is played by paper managerie in the story ? Discuss with close reference to the text.
Answer :- ‘The Paper Menagerie’ by Ken Liu brings out the role played by the Chinese art of making paper animals in the life of a young boy named Jack and his relationship with his family particularly his mother. The writer depicts the emotional bond between the child Jack and his mother. Jack’s mother makes paper animals like the paper tiger named Laohu. She makes several other animals that appear lively and real. When Jack grows up and suffers racial discrimination his attitude towards his mother changes and he starts disliking her. His annoyance with his mother comes out through his paying no attention to the paper menagerie. He packs up the paper animals and does not want to look at them or play with these playthings. The paper menagerie has a significant role once again when Jack learns about his mother’s letter after her death. He regrets his earlier rude behaviour with his mother. Jack’s interest in the paper menagerie is revived once again. In this way the paper menagerie plays a significant role in bringing out different aspects of the story.
3. Comment upon the ending of the story.
Answer :- The ending of the story ‘The Paper Menagerie’ is highly emotional and serious. It brings a change in Jack’s attitude of bitterness towards his mother. He learns many things about his dead mother from the letter she had left for him. He comes across the letter by chance. The paper tiger built by his mother brings the letter to Jack’s lap. The letter is in Chinese language but Jack is unable to read the letter. He takes the help of a woman to know what was there in it. The letter reveals the tragic things that his mother had faced in her life. It reveals the circumstances that forced her to live a life of sorrows and misery. Jack also learns about his mother’s deep love for him. It brings a change in his attitude towards his dead mother. The letter rekindles his love for his mother and interest in the paper menagerie. He feels emotionally attached to his mother once again.
4. The main idea projected in the story is about social prejudices and their impact on human relationships. Discuss.
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