What part of yourself did you kill to fit in? 🐯 Ken Liu’s “The Paper Menagerie”

# Sci‑fi short story night

## 🐯📄 Would you trade your mother tongue for belonging? - Ken Liu’s “The Paper Menagerie”

Discussion only - its a short story (you can finish it in one sitting).

### Short summary

This story looks gentle at first: a kid, a mother, and a little origami tiger that feels like childhood magic.
And then it starts doing what great sci‑fi does: it turns a personal relationship into a knife.
It’s about assimilation, shame, the way “fitting in” can quietly turn into cruelty, and how love gets translated - badly - when you’re embarrassed by where you came from.
If you’ve ever cringed at your past self… or cut off a piece of yourself to be accepted… this one lands.

### What we’ll talk about :

• Warm-up: What line or moment hit you like “oh… I’ve done that”?
• When does “becoming normal” turn into betrayal - and who decides where that line is?
• Is the story basically saying love is a language - and if you refuse the language, you refuse the love?
• The brutal modern question: are we all being “trained” into sameness now - by school, status, feeds, and group vibes?
• If you feel yourself getting emotional reading it… do you resist that, or do you trust it?

### Structure of the event :

• Quick hello + one-minute round: “What stayed with you?”
• I’ll read 1–2 short passages out loud to anchor the room (optional, but it helps).
• Guided open discussion - moments first, theory second.
• Wrap: “What did this story accuse you of?” (optional, but fun)

### Reading

Ken Liu - “The Paper Menagerie”

Link to Full text reprint:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5838a24729687f08e0321a15/t/5bf2bdfa562fa782871c6252/1542635003373/The-Paper-Menagerie+by+Ken+Liu.pdf

### When and where

🗓️ Sunday, March 22, 2026
🕒 1:30PM - 3:30PM
📍 Central Library - Meeting Rooms - L4 North (492) Meeting Room

### Cap 12 + waitlist