The Paper Menagerie Short Answer: ISC Class 11 Prism Workbook Solutions. Step by step workbook answer of questions and explanations of ISC Prism Class 11 . Chapter Wise Workbook Solutions of Evergreen Publications. Visit official website CISCE for detail information about ISC Board Class-11 English.
The Paper Menagerie Short Answer: ISC Class 11 Prism Workbook Solutions
| Board | ISC |
| Publications | Evergreen Publications |
| Subject | English |
| Class | 11 |
| Book Name | Prism (A collection of short Stories ) |
| Chapter | The Paper Menagerie |
| Topics | Short Answer Questions |
Short Answer Questions
The Paper Menagerie ISC Class 11 Prism Workbook Solutions
Que-1: Jack narrates the story of his parents’ meeting. How does he feel about his mother? Why?
Ans: Jack heard from his father in high school, he feels contempt for his mother. He is contemptuous because his mother had put herself up in a catalogue to be bought. As a high school student who thought he knew everything, he wondered what kind of woman would do such a thing, and the feeling of contempt felt good to him, like wine.
Que-2: Was Jack’s childhood happy? Comment.
Ans: Jack’s childhood was happy. His earliest memory is of his mother comforting him by making an origami tiger, Laohu, and breathing life into it. This tiger, along with other paper animals his mother made, formed his paper menagerie and was his source of entertainment. This shows it was a happy childhood.
Que-3: What is magical realism? How is it used in Ken Liu’s story?
Ans: Magical realism is a genre where fantasy blends with realism, and there is an absence of acknowledgement of the fantastic elements. These elements are narrated with the rest of the story, so that they may appear to be true.
In Ken Liu’s story, magical realism is used through the paper animals that Jack’s mother creates. The central fantasy is her ability to breathe life into her origami. An example is when the paper water buffalo jumps into a dish of soy sauce at dinner because it wanted to wallow like a real one.
Que-4: Compare and contrast Obi-Wan Kenobi and Laohu.
Ans: Laohu and the Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure are contrasted as examples of art versus consumer items. Laohu is a unique piece of art, an origami tiger made by Jack’s mother from leftover wrapping paper. He is brought to life by his mother’s breath, a special skill passed down from her own mother. Laohu is inexpensive but unique, intricate, and irreplaceable.
In contrast, the Obi-Wan Kenobi figure is a consumer item. It is expensive and mass-produced. Mark, the owner of the action figure, fails to appreciate Laohu and calls it “trash.” When the figure breaks, Jack is able to replace it by buying a new one for Mark. This juxtaposition shows the difference between personal, handmade art filled with love and impersonal, mass-produced consumer goods.
Que-5: Jack’s mother makes a moving distinction between ‘ai’ and love. Give a character sketch of his mother based on this.
Ans: Jack’s mother distinguishes between the English word ‘love’ and the Chinese word ‘ai’ by explaining that when she says ‘love’, she feels it in her lips, but when she says ‘ai’, she feels it in her heart. This shows that for her, the English word is a mental concept, while the Chinese word represents a genuine, deep emotion connected to her identity.
This distinction reveals her character as a resilient and loving woman whose identity is tied to her Chinese heritage. She endured great hardships, including the Great Famines, the Cultural Revolution, and being sold and abused in Hong Kong, before becoming a mail-order bride as her only hope. In America, she finds joy in her son, Jack, seeing him as a connection to her lost family and culture. Her love, or ‘ai’, is expressed through her magical origami. Even when Jack rejects her, her love for him continues, as shown by the heartfelt letter she writes to him, ensuring her story and her ‘ai’ would reach him after her death.
Que-6: Compare contrast Jack parents’ response to their respective cultures.
Ans: Jack’s mother is deeply connected to her Chinese culture. It is the source of her identity, her skills, and her deepest feelings. She expresses her love through the traditional art of origami, speaks to Jack in her mother tongue, and feels that the Chinese word for love, ‘ai’, comes from her heart. Her culture is a living part of her that she wants to share with her son.
Jack’s father, an American, expects his wife to assimilate into the dominant American culture. When Jack rejects his Chinese heritage, his father takes his son’s side, telling his wife she must speak English because Jack needs to fit in. He gets her a cookbook to learn American cooking and tells her, “You are in America.” While he cares for his wife, he does not adequately support her cultural identity and fails to understand the pain caused by their son’s rejection of her.
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