Chinese Cinderella
Chinese Cinderella is Adeline Yen Mah’s remarkable autobiography of her childhood. She was a rejected daughter growing up in World War II China. She longed for her father’s acceptance after her mother died in childbirth and her father remarried a young and cruel Eurasian woman. She finally receives his attention and brings honor to her family by winning a creative writing competition. In Adeline’s story the idea’s of rejection, abandonment and overcoming adversity is cleverly conveyed through the narrative elements of setting, atmosphere, characterization and conflict.
There was a cloud of fear that hung over China during Adeline’s childhood. Japan was a strong country that had conquered most of China, many people feared the Japanese soldiers. The fear that the Japanese soldiers created among the Chinese people, is supported by the scene where Adeline describes the time her brother’s friend was punished for not bowing to a Japanese soldier. “Once one of Big brothers best friends was kicked and slapped by a Japanese soldier because he forgot to bow as he ran past”. Fear is also described on page 18, “Everyone hated the Japanese, even the grown ups were scared of them.”
As well as the fear of war Adeline also feared her parents and siblings and was often rejected and abandoned. When the stepchildren move to shanghai they experience rejection (especially Adeline.) This is conveyed in the setting at their new home. The important members of the family are physically separated from Adelaide and her siblings on the second floor. This is explicitly conveyed by the narrator when she writes “To her, we are not separate people. Over here, we have become one single unit known as all of you.”
Her parents abandoned Adeline when they fled to Hong Kong. The idea of Adeline’s abandonment is supported by the setting in the Catholic school. When Adeline is sent back to Tianjin at the height of the civil war in China she is sent to St Joseph’s Boarding School. Adeline is
There was a cloud of fear that hung over China during Adeline’s childhood. Japan was a strong country that had conquered most of China, many people feared the Japanese soldiers. The fear that the Japanese soldiers created among the Chinese people, is supported by the scene where Adeline describes the time her brother’s friend was punished for not bowing to a Japanese soldier. “Once one of Big brothers best friends was kicked and slapped by a Japanese soldier because he forgot to bow as he ran past”. Fear is also described on page 18, “Everyone hated the Japanese, even the grown ups were scared of them.”
As well as the fear of war Adeline also feared her parents and siblings and was often rejected and abandoned. When the stepchildren move to shanghai they experience rejection (especially Adeline.) This is conveyed in the setting at their new home. The important members of the family are physically separated from Adelaide and her siblings on the second floor. This is explicitly conveyed by the narrator when she writes “To her, we are not separate people. Over here, we have become one single unit known as all of you.”
Her parents abandoned Adeline when they fled to Hong Kong. The idea of Adeline’s abandonment is supported by the setting in the Catholic school. When Adeline is sent back to Tianjin at the height of the civil war in China she is sent to St Joseph’s Boarding School. Adeline is