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Jack’s Father
Mark is Jack’s childhood neighbor. One day, Mark brings an Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure to Jack’s house. When Jack shows Mark his own toys, the paper animals, Mark calls them “trash.” When Jack’s magic paper tiger knocks over and breaks Mark’s action figure, Mark hits Jack, insults Jack’s mother, and tears up his tiger. Later, he subjects Jack to racist bullying at school. As a result of Mark’s racist bullying, Jack rejects his mother and his Chinese heritage.
Mark Quotes in The Paper Menagerie
The The Paper Menagerie quotes below are all either spoken by Mark or refer to Mark. 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:
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The Paper Menagerie Quotes
Mark, one of the neighborhood boys, came over with his Star Wars action figures. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber lit up and he could swing his arms and say, in a tinny voice, “Use the Force!” I didn’t think the figure looked much like the real Obi-Wan at all.
Together, we watched him repeat this performance five times on the coffee table. “Can he do anything else?” I asked.
Mark was annoyed by my question. “Look at all the details,” he said.
I looked at the details. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say.
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This passage occurs just after Jack has overheard his two female neighbors exchanging racist gossip about his family. That Jack is willing to watch Mark’s Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure do the same thing “five times” before asking whether it can do something else suggests that he is trying to make friends with Mark and doesn’t want to offend him. At the same time, however, Jack is not impressed with the action figure. As a franchise tie-in toy, the action figure represents American consumer culture: a cheap, mass-produced item, which does not even resemble the character it is supposed to represent. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis.
Mark grabbed Laohu and his snarl was choked off as Mark crumpled him in his hand and tore him in half. He balled up the two pieces of paper and threw them at me. “Here’s your stupid cheap Chinese garbage.”
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In this passage, Jack and Mark are having a fight over their respective toys. Jack’s paper tiger, Laohu, has knocked over and broken Mark’s Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure. In response, Mark has insulted Jack’s mother. Here, Mark’s attack on Laohu is also an attack on Jack’s Chinese heritage, as he calls Laohu “Chinese garbage.” That Laohu can easily be torn in two suggests that Jack’s relationship to his Chinese heritage is fragile and can be destroyed by American racism. In addition, that Mark tears Laohu into two pieces foreshadows how which Jack, responding to American racism, will separate his Chinese Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus c
“English,” I said. “Speak English.”
She tried. “What happen?”
I pushed the chopsticks and the bowl before me away: stir-fried green peppers with five-spice beef. “We should eat American food.”
Dad tried to reason. “A lot of families cook Chinese sometimes.”
“We are not other families.” I looked at him. Other families don’t have moms who don’t belong.
He looked away. And then he put a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “I’ll get you a cookbook.”
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Jack’s neighbor Mark has subjected him to two weeks of racist bullying at school. In response to this racist bullying, Jack demands that his mother speak English and rejects the Chinese food she has made, internalizing the racism he has suffered and projecting it onto his mother. At the same time, however, his demand that his mother speak English may be related to the earlier incident in which he overheard two female neighbors exchanging racist gossip about his family that they assumed neither he nor his mother could understand. Since Jack and his mother were subjected to racism on the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex cons
Dad bought me a full set of Star Wars action figures. I gave the Obi-Wan Kenobi to Mark.
I packed the paper menagerie in a large shoe box and put it under the bed.
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This passage occurs after Jack has rejected his mother’s Chinese cooking and demanded new toys to replace the paper animals she has made him. That Jack receives the same toys Mark has suggests that he is now actively trying to assimilate into American consumer culture. That he gives Mark his own Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure to replace the one Laohu broke suggests that he is still trying to make friends with Mark, despite the racist bullying Mark has subjected him to. In trying to make friends with Mark, Jack reveals that he does not blame Mark for the racist bullying. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaq
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Mark Character Timeline in The Paper Menagerie
The timeline below shows where the character Mark appears in The Paper Menagerie. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Paper Menagerie
A boy named Mark visits Jack’s house. He brings an Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure. Jack isn’t impressed by the...
(full context)
For two weeks at school, Mark bullies Jack. When Jack comes home, his mother asks him a question in Chinese, but...
(full context)
