When You Trap a Tiger

Lily’s sister Sam is old enough to have a driver’s permit, but she hates driving and only puts in minimal practice before giving up; it reminds her of their father’s death by car accident. Sam is bitter and upset about the move to Halmoni’s. When Mom tells her the truth about the extent of Halmoni’s condition, Sam becomes angrier and more morose for several reasons. She has different memories of Halmoni and her stories than Lily—including the story about the tiger who ate a halmoni. Sam wanted to take part in Halmoni’s life and love of magic, but now that she’s near enough to do so, she finds she can’t. Lily thinks Sam was always too afraid to believe magic could be real. During the novel’s climax, Sam opens up and puts her faith in Lily; she manages to drive them to the hospital under the protection of a tigress she can’t even see. By the end of the story, Sam transforms from a potential obstacle to an ally.

Mom is preoccupied for most of the novel, as she’s caring for her sick mother and trying to deal with two daughters on her own (as her husband Andy died eight years prior to the family’s move). Mom is an accountant and seeks a job in Sunbeam; she ends up finding work thanks to Ricky’s father, a man she knew in high school. Proper as she is, Mom shows a different side to her when eating kimchi with her bare hands with Lily. She serves as a mentor to her daughters despite them not always being receptive to her lessons.

Halmoni is Lily and Sam’s grandmother. When she was young, her mother abandoned her; when Halmoni immigrated to America, she looked for her mother but never found her. Halmoni settled in Sunbeam where she helps others with cures and works on local projects like sprucing up the library across the street from her house. When Mom was young, she followed Halmoni closely; when Mom moved away, they grew distant emotionally as well. Halmoni tells Lily that tigers are coming for her to retrieve stories that she stole long ago. It turns out Halmoni has brain cancer—manifesting as nausea, exhaustion, and confusion. She wants to participate in the household as per usual once Mom and the girls arrive; she cooks, shops, drives, and goes out to eat with them. But in each circumstance, Halmoni’s illness interferes, and Lily admits to herself that she’s dying. As a mentor, Halmoni evokes cures and magic, unconditional love and courage.

Ricky quickly becomes a “sticky” friend to Lily after she meets him at the library. He desperately wants to help with her tiger trap, and is eager still when making rice cakes—even encouraging Lily when she insists on the batch being no good. It turns out Ricky’s mother abandoned the family the year before, but this doesn’t keep him down. He later passes the test that will allow him to advance to the next grade with Lily. Ricky serves as a staunch static ally to Lily, sticking with her even when she adds mud to his pudding.