Chinese Cinderella

The novel Chinese Cinderella is an autobiography written by Adeline Yen Mah about the harsh life she had whilst growing up. Adelineʼs childhood shapes her character, the reader can see these developments throughout the novel. One characteristic easily seen is her love for reading and writing. Adeline is also a very intelligent school student who accomplishes many achievements in the novel. Her intelligence also leads to her success. Adelineʼs modesty of her intelligence and impressive writing skills make her very humble. Can these characteristics help Adeline through the struggle of her harsh childhood?

Adeline has a strong love for reading and writing. She finds pleasure and thrills from both of these activities. Adeline spends her spare time either writing or in the library reading books. Writing and reading distracts Adelineʼs mind from her discriminating family and lets her be whomever she wants to be. It also gives her an activity to do. In the novel Adeline quotes “From then on, I wrote whenever I had a spare moment. To me, writing was pure pleasure. It thrilled me to be able to escape the horrors of my daily life in such a simple way. I could be anybody I wished to be.” She also quotes “I sauntered into the library and picked out a few books. My haven. My sanctuary. The place where I belonged! My real world!”. With these quotes the reader can see that Adeline feels very compassionate toward reading and writing and with this characteristic her intelligence is aided and helps her to become successful.

A characteristic of Adeline that can be seen in the novel Chinese Cinderella is her intelligence. Adeline receives high marks and is acknowledged for her intelligent mind used on her schoolwork. At boarding school in Hong Kong, Adeline is taken up three years from her original grade from her intelligence and is thought of as brilliant and a brain from her schoolmates. Adeline studies hard to try and gain honour for her family and approval from her parents.