The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

Choose one of the themes and compare the way that Liu uses the theme in two or more of the stories.  

Analyze the Chinese language within the collection. Explain how important writing is in Ken Liu’s stories and how it reflects the Chinese culture. 

How has Liu tried to put a fresh spin on tropes from classic science fiction, such as artificial intelligence or generational starships? 

Perform a character analysis of someone in the book. How does Liu create complex characters within a limited number of pages, and to what level does he succeed? 

Look at the idea of memory as used in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. How does it impart meaning within the different stories which utilize it? 

Investigate the ways Ken Liu frames his stories, often juxtaposing past and present or reality with imagination. How does this device make the stories more or less effective? 

Which characters in this collection of stories do you find most intriguing and relatable? Which ones do you not like? Compare and contrast the qualities of someone like Anna, for example, who will not reconcile with her father, and Jack, who has estranged himself from his mother because she isn’t American enough to understand him.

What role does mythology and magic play in these stories, and how are they incorporated into the narrative?