75 pages • 2 hours read
Tae KellerWhen You Trap a Tiger
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Defying Established Roles
Lily begins the story discussing her established role within her family: She’s the one who doesn’t make trouble, speak out, intervene, or cause a scene. She knows that Mom counts on her to fulfill this role consistently, especially when Mom and Sam fight. Lily so firmly embodies this role that she refers to it as her “supersecret power” (1)—invisibility—and doesn’t step out of it even when spotting a fearsome tiger in the road. She immediately backs down after trying to get Mom’s attention, and Mom “smiles, relieved” because Lily is “never difficult” (7). Part of Lily’s journey is learning one can’t always stay in their established role. She may be the only one who can help Halmoni and shrugs off the comfort and familiarity of her quietness to take action.
Lily starts her journey by taking a trip to the library to research tigers. While there, she spontaneously chases a tiger; next, she tries to spy on Ricky in the grocery store, causing a scene when the cereal display tumbles. Later on, Lily defies both rules and reality when she visits the tigress. As Lily’s concern for Halmoni intensifies, she grows more sensitive to others’ perception of the older woman. This combined with Lily’s newfound role as Halmoni’s protector take her further away from her established role in lieu of defiance, most notably when she adds mud to Ricky’s pudding (retaliation for his insensitivity toward Halmoni). In response to Mom’s reprimand (that the muddy pudding was uncharacteristic of her), Lily thinks, “I want to tell her that maybe her idea of Sam and Lily isn’t quite as clear as she thought. This story has always been that Sam acts out and I’m invisible. But Sam doesn’t get to claim all the anger in the world” (219).
In a conversation with Ricky, Lily demonstrates confusion about her changing role, the difficulty of being both invisible and a person of consequence: “And you want to figure out who you really are but you don’t know how—and you’re scared that you won’t like the answer” (236). After talking it over, he offers insight on how to consider defiance in a positive way: “You do new, brave things, and you find out who you are in not-you situations” (237). By the end of the novel, Lily embodies a new role better suited to her family’s new dynamic: that of storyteller.
The Complexities of Three-Dimensional Personalities
As the story progresses, Lily notices that others sometimes have sides to their personalities that are not obvious. These instances demonstrate the characters’ many layers while highlighting moments in which Lily’s perception changes.
For example, Lily has her mother pegged as a proper and straightforward rule-follower; common sense, propriety, and manners are important to Mom. She calmly counters Sam’s negativity and insists that Lily formally apologize to Ricky for the pudding incident. So when Mom decides to eat kimchi with her bare hands while sitting on the kitchen counter one night, Lily is understandably shocked by her playfulness. Another example comes in the form of Joe the librarian. Lily initially thinks Joe is a stern, severe-looking librarian, but additional dimensions of his personality emerge after their first meeting. Joe proves an excellent baker and often brings cupcakes to library patrons and Jensen’s tutees, showcasing his caring nature. Later, he offers wisdom that reflects the dichotomy between the order of a library (which he appreciates and enjoys) and its stories hinging on emotion. Lily is again shocked: “Joe doesn’t seem the poetic type” (206).
Lily notices that while Ricky is often light-hearted and talkative, he can be serious and sensitive too; for example, he cares about her perception of his intelligence and genuinely wants to help with her tiger trap. Sam’s personality is a mix of juxtaposing traits as well, and Lily never knows which sister she’ll get: the kind one, the harsh one, the teasing one, the bullying one. At the end of the novel, Lily is also surprised to learn that Sam and Jensen are a couple—and accepts that she’ll learn more about Sam as they grow and change.
In contrast to the three-dimensional figures of Lily’s life, the characters in the tigress’s stories are simple. They’re depicted with few traits and follow a set path for the sake of the overall message of any given story.
The Perception and Importance of Stories
The idea of stories—and the ways in which they impart lessons—is central to Lily’s coming of age. Lily’s earliest memories stem from Halmoni’s stories. She and Sam would capture their favorite stories from the air, and their imagery—the halmoni, the two sisters, the staircase and rope—stays with her even as the years pass. A crucial step toward maturation, Lily learns that while stories impact many, their effect and meaning vary from listener to listener.
Upon returning to Halmoni’s, Lily finds her and Sam’s different perceptions of her favorite tiger story upsetting. Lily is certain that the little sister, Eggi, let in the dangerous tiger, causing the two sisters to flee his claws; but Sam is just as sure that the older sister, Unya, was the one who let the tiger in through a window. Even more jarring to Lily is the fact that she recalls the story having a happy ending (i.e., the sisters manage to climb to the sky-god’s kingdom where one will become the moon and the other, the sun); Sam insists that the story is sad as the sisters end up separated and unable to talk to each to other. This juxtaposition demonstrates how one’s own hopes and fears can color perceptions of stories.
Halmoni further complicates the intent of stories when she admits to hiding the sad and dangerous ones. Lily has no choice but to release these stories (as per the tigress’s deal) instead of supporting Halmoni’s mission as she believes it’s the only way to save her. And yet, Lily finds herself wanting to hear the stories despite their dangerous influence. The stories frustrate her; though everyone wants a happy ending, it isn’t feasible for everyone to get one. Though it is possible for listeners to appreciate and learn from both happy and sad endings. So when Lily finishes Halmoni’s story, the tale includes the release of countless others, jarred in love and protection but ultimately freed for the good of all who listen and come together.
Another way in which the perception of stories comes through is via Jensen comparing Lily’s tiger story, a Korean folktale, to Little Red Riding Hood: “Isn’t that interesting, though? There are different versions of certain fairy tales from all over the world—even in places that don’t overlap. And yet the stories are essentially the same” (68). Lily does not like Jensen’s opinion one bit, as she believes Halmoni’s story to be original, special; but when Jensen continues to say folklore seems to invite the storyteller to invite them, it coincides directly with Lily’s image of Halmoni’s stolen stories waiting to go free.
Joe offers wise words to punctuate this theme when Lily confides in him about her difficulty hearing sad stories. He tells her that stories’ meanings change as people grow and gain knowledge, that stories may not always make sense or fulfill listeners (being grounded in emotions as they are). But no matter what types of stories connect people, they can reveal new aspects of themselves.
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