Podcast Summary: LeVar Burton Reads – Immersive Remix: “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu

Host: LeVar Burton
Date: April 12, 2022
Story by: Ken Liu

Episode Overview

In this heartfelt episode, LeVar Burton brings to life Ken Liu’s acclaimed short story, "The Paper Menagerie," in an immersive audio experience. The episode centers on themes of identity, family, cultural heritage, generational understanding, and the magic—both literal and metaphorical—that links a Chinese-American son with his immigrant mother. Through Burton’s narration and post-story reflection, listeners are guided on an emotional journey that explores the pain of assimilation, the complexity of memory, and the urge for connection—both realized and missed.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction to “The Paper Menagerie”

• LeVar introduces the story as a deeply personal and magical narrative by Ken Liu, who is lauded for his versatility as an author, translator, lawyer, and coder.
• He emphasizes the story’s unique blend of realism and magic, noting that Liu does not shy away from the complexities of childhood and adulthood.

“There are elements of childlike wonder and imagination made real in ‘The Paper Menagerie,’ and I want you to think about how an ordinary object can take on a life. In this case, it’s an ordinary sheet of paper that is skillfully manipulated and takes on another form.” – LeVar Burton [00:49]

2. Story Summary and Themes

• Opening Memory: Jack, a Chinese-American child, is soothed by his mother through magic origami—crafted, animated animals made of wrapping paper, including a tiger named Lao Hu [01:10–04:00].
• Mother’s Magic: Mom breathes life into the creations (“She breathed into them so that they shared her breath and thus moved with her life. This was her magic.”) [02:10].
• Cultural Assimilation: As Jack grows up in Connecticut, pressure from peers and alienation increases. Encounters with neighborhood children expose prejudices and Jack’s internalized shame about his heritage [08:00–15:00].
  • Jack becomes embarrassed by his mother’s accent and culture, eventually rejecting her language and her magical creations, in the pursuit of assimilation.

“Other families don’t have moms who don’t belong.” – Jack [14:35]

• Painful Estrangement: Jack’s rejection intensifies, culminating in his cruelty toward his mother and the abandonment of the paper menagerie, symbolizing his rejection of his roots [16:30–18:00].

• Loss and Regret: As an adult, Jack’s mother succumbs to cancer. Before her death, she asks Jack to keep and occasionally open the box of paper animals, especially during Qingming, the festival for the dead [29:00–31:30].

  • Jack’s emotional detachment and inability to reconcile with his mother is palpable, even at her deathbed.

• Rediscovery and Revelation:

  • After her death, Jack finds the box and—on Qingming—unfolds the origami tiger, discovering a letter written in Chinese from his mother.
  • He seeks help translating the letter and is confronted with his mother’s untold story of hardship, survival, and the hope she had invested in her son—her living connection to her lost family and culture [35:00–51:00].
  • The letter is achingly intimate, recounting her journey from famine-stricken China, through servitude and abuse, to marriage in America via a catalog bride service. Her magic is revealed as a village tradition—practical and protective, yet filled with longing and love.

“The animals will stop moving when I stop breathing. But if I write to you with all my heart, I’ll leave a little of myself behind on this paper, in these words... When the spirits of the departed are allowed to visit their families, you’ll make the parts of myself I leave behind come alive too.” – Mom’s letter [38:15]

3. LeVar’s Reflections on the Story

• The Power of Magic Realism:
  • LeVar relates the story’s blend of magic and grief to his own belief in the unseen and magical elements of life.

“I genuinely believe in the magic that life can sometimes offer, that there is validity to that which we cannot see... that world is just as real as the tangible world.” – LeVar Burton [53:30]

• On Identity and Self-Acceptance
  • Burton shares his personal struggle with self-acceptance as a Black child in America, paralleling Jack’s rejection of his own reflection:

“I heavily identified with that boy who looked in the mirror and wanted so desperately not to see his mother’s face reflected. That was very real for me.” – LeVar Burton [54:25]

• On Relationships and Regret
  • LeVar highlights the fragility of love and relationships, comparing them to the paper animals whose life can be squeezed out but sometimes revived.

“Sometimes unintentionally, sometimes intentionally, we squeeze the life out of them... and sometimes those relationships can be reanimated, they can be brought back to life and sometimes we miss that opportunity.” [54:58]

• Quotes Joni Mitchell’s song: “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone...” to illustrate the story’s lesson on valuing loved ones.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On the Paper Magic:
  “Mom’s kind was special. She breathed into them so that they shared her breath and thus moved with her life. This was her magic.” [02:12 – Narration]

• Assimilation and Shame:
  “If I say love, I feel here. She pointed to her lips. If I say I, I feel here. She put her hand over her heart.” – Jack’s Mom, struggling to express emotion despite language barriers [15:00]

• Devastating Regret:
  “You know what the Chinese think is the saddest feeling in the world? It’s for a child to finally grow the desire to take care of his parents, only to realize that they were long gone.” – Mom’s letter [47:25]

• Final Act of Remembrance:
  “Following the creases, I refolded the paper back into Lao Hu. I cradled him in the crook of my arm, and as he purred, we began the walk home.” [51:45]

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------------------|----------------| | LeVar’s Introduction to Ken Liu and the story | 00:49–02:10 | | The Origami Magic and Jack’s Childhood | 01:10–07:30 | | Neighborhood Prejudice, Peer Pressure | 08:00–15:00 | | Jack’s Rejection of Mom and Culture | 14:30–19:00 | | Mom’s Illness and Death | 29:00–33:00 | | The Rediscovery of the Paper Menagerie | 35:00–36:30 | | Reading and Translation of Mom’s Letter | 37:40–51:30 | | LeVar’s Reflection and Personal Insights | 52:00–56:00 |

Tone and Language

Faithfully preserving Ken Liu’s emotional nuance, the narration is gentle, somber, and deeply introspective—mirroring Jack’s journey through curiosity, shame, pain, regret, and ultimately, bittersweet connection with his mother and heritage.

LeVar Burton’s tone in the reflection segments is reverent, vulnerable, and empathetic—openly relating his own struggles to those in the story, creating a comforting space for listeners to process the narrative’s emotional depth.

Summary Takeaway

LeVar Burton’s immersive reading of “The Paper Menagerie” is a powerful exploration of love, magic, identity, and generational healing. Ken Liu’s story, given voice by Burton, navigates the universal pain of loss and the precious, often-missed opportunities to embrace heritage and love while they are present in our lives.

This episode is a moving reminder that what we once rejected or considered ordinary—like a paper tiger, a mother’s broken English, or our own reflection—may hold the deepest strands of magic, memory, and meaning.

“Are you as devastated as I am? Because that story kills me.” – LeVar Burton [53:15]

For further reflections or to explore more from LeVar and Ken Liu, visit levarburtonpodcast.com and find the story in Ken Liu’s collection “The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories.”