Adeline Yen Mah's Chinese Cinderella

Her stepmother struck her hard in the face, her father whipped her multiple times, and her siblings blamed her for their mother’s death. Just wonder she felt, Adeline Yen Mah, with her horrid family, separation from her only loved ones; her aunt and single grandfather, and her genius mind that only her beloved Aunt Baba treasured. As it seems, this depressing novel, Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah, the one who lived through it all, was the most unfortunate girl in all of eastern China.
Once Adeline’s mother died after Adeline’s birth, her siblings blamed her for their mother’s death and chose to never forgive her. “They blamed me for mama’s death, and never forgave me.”(Yen Mah 4). This shows that Adeline's family troubles her for something she didn't do. “If you had not been born, Mama would still be alive. She died because of you. You are bad luck.”(3). As a result to their mother’s death, Her siblings emotions for superstitions, her wellbeing of bad luck, leant toward the hatred of Adeline.
Nobody cares about Adeline's genius mind. Her stepmother, Niang, believes she brags about her prodigious grades too much, so Adeline is abused for what Niang believes is so called, “bragging”. “‘Stop bragging!’ She screamed. ‘Who do you think you are? A princess of some sort, that all your friends should pay you tribute?’” (17). This quote
proves that Niang is jealous of Adeline's special treatment, and will do nothing but mistreat her for what she's accomplished. “My face was still smarting from Niangs slaps.” (17). This shows that Niang will stop at nothing to satisfy herself by bringing pain to Adeline and her so called “selfish” behavior. Obviously, Adeline's brains mean nothing to Niang, or father, according to what Adeline's been through.
Niang and father believe Adeline is being influenced poorly by her social life and her beloved Aunt Baba and grandfather Ye Ye, so she is sent away to a boarding school.
“‘Your aunt is a bad influence… I'm afraid the two of you will have to be separated.’” (104). This shows that Adeline's parents loathe Adeline's behavior and choose to blame it on Aunt Baba and Ye Ye. “‘Tomorrow your father and Niang are flying you to Tianjin’” (120). This quote clearly proves how she is being separated from her loved ones; Aunt Baba and Ye Ye. Overall, Adeline’s so called, “bad” behavior is only to be fixed with blows and boarding
schools.
This interesting, yet depressing novel has many unfortunate events one after another. From being abused to being sent away to boarding school across eastern China, Adeline surprisingly made it through this awful journey. Her family life showed that after all of the useless discipline and constant disregard, she managed to bypass for what had happened at home, and remained good-natured for what had happened at school. Adeline Yen Mah has taken her interest in writing and turned it into this novel with no harm done, but without her hardship, her love for writing would would be altered. Along with Adeline’s experience, as for her writing life, has influenced her point of view on the works, forever.