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Chapter 7
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in When You Trap a Tiger, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Inherited Stories vs. Personal Agency
Magic and Belief
Food and Connection
Grief, Loss, and Community
Summary
Analysis
Halmoni tells Lily that she stole stories. According to Halmoni, there was once a lonely princess who lived in a castle in the sky, and when she whispered stories from her window, the stories became stars. When Halmoni was young, she noticed that some stories made people feel scared or sad, so she snuck out to the caves outside her village and, when the tigers were asleep, she plucked the stars made of “bad stories” from the sky and put them in jars. Halmoni then stacked rocks to trap the tigers in their cave and ran away with the star jars. Now, Halmoni tells Lily, the tigers are coming after her.
Although Halmoni’s explanation clarifies why the tiger may be after her, her story is also full of details that wouldn’t be possible without the presence of magic. For example, according to Halmoni, the lonely princess’s stories magically become stars, and young Halmoni was somehow able to pluck those very stars from the sky. Regardless of whether Halmoni’s story is feasible, however, it reflects an important trait: Halmoni doesn’t like sharing stories that make her feel negative emotions.
Active
Themes
