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.
Essay Topics
In a scary moment mid-way through the novel, Halmoni cannot recall who Lily is. Lily reflects on the extent to which memories impact our identities: “Who is Halmoni without her memories?” (201). How do memories of the past impact characters’ traits and actions throughout the book? Consider at least three characters or three moments in which a memory affects someone’s actions.
When Lily, Sam, and Mom move in with Halmoni, they form a multigenerational household. What different ideas and values might each generation represent? In what scenes are these ideas particularly clear?
Conflict between Lily and Sam exists on many levels; the distance between them can be read as typical sibling behavior, but confusion and hurt from past situations play a role as well. In contrast, how would you describe the conflict between Mom and Halmoni? How does Halmoni try to exert control over Mom? At what point in the story does each play a caretaking role? Support your answers with evidence from the text.
Lily and Sam are emotionally distant with the exception of a few tender moments. Each acquires an ally (Ricky for Lily, Jensen for Sam) after their move to Sunbeam. How do allies help steer the course of each sister’s goals or needs? How does having an ally change the sisters’ dynamic with each another? Support your answers with evidence from the text.
When Lily realizes Halmoni is dying, she briefly believes that no magic existed nor exists now. But soon after, she reaffirms her belief in magic. How does magic continue to exist both literally and figuratively throughout the climax, falling action, and resolution of the story despite the sad reality of Halmoni’s death?
How do the original tiger story’s motifs (i.e., the staircase and rope) manifest in the novel? Consider the “story within a story” framework. What do both objects symbolize in Lily’s story? The tiger stories?
Besides Lily’s apology to Ricky for the pudding incident, how is forgiveness a spoken or unspoken motif in the story? In what scenes does a character seek or offer forgiveness, even if they use other words to achieve it? What, specifically, does the novel as a whole teach about forgiveness?
How are feminine labels and girlhood framed in Lily’s story? The tiger stories?
How are antagonists used in Lily’s story and those told by Lily, Halmoni, and the tigress? Who or what are the forces working against the stories’ protagonists? Who “wins” each conflict? Select three conflicts to discuss.
Based on characters’ actions and events, what is the connection between stories and imagination? Between stories and family? Support your answers with evidence from the text.
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