The Paper Menagerie

by

Ken Liu

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Paper Menagerie makes teaching easy.

Susan Character Analysis

Susan is Jack’s college girlfriend. After Jack’s mother dies, she comes home to help Jack and Jack’s father pack up the house. She finds the box of Jack’s childhood paper animals and declares Jack’s mother an “amazing artist.” Later, she decorates her and Jack’s shared apartment with the paper animals.

Susan Quotes in The Paper Menagerie

The The Paper Menagerie quotes below are all either spoken by Susan or refer to Susan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism and Identity Theme Icon
).
The Paper Menagerie Quotes

Susan found the shoe box in the attic. The paper menagerie, hidden in the uninsulated darkness of the attic for so long, had become brittle, and the bright wrapping paper patterns had faded.

“I’ve never seen origami like this,” Susan said. “Your mom was an amazing artist.”

The paper animals did not move. Perhaps whatever magic had animated them stopped when Mom died. Or perhaps I had only imagined that these paper constructions were once alive. The memory of children could not be trusted.

Related Characters: Jack (speaker), Susan (speaker), Jack’s Mother, Jack’s Father
Related Symbols: Paper Animals
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Paper Menagerie PDF

Susan Quotes in The Paper Menagerie

The The Paper Menagerie quotes below are all either spoken by Susan or refer to Susan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism and Identity Theme Icon
).
The Paper Menagerie Quotes

Susan found the shoe box in the attic. The paper menagerie, hidden in the uninsulated darkness of the attic for so long, had become brittle, and the bright wrapping paper patterns had faded.

“I’ve never seen origami like this,” Susan said. “Your mom was an amazing artist.”

The paper animals did not move. Perhaps whatever magic had animated them stopped when Mom died. Or perhaps I had only imagined that these paper constructions were once alive. The memory of children could not be trusted.

Related Characters: Jack (speaker), Susan (speaker), Jack’s Mother, Jack’s Father
Related Symbols: Paper Animals
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis: