Chinese Cinderella Research Paper

As a young child, Adeline faced many sad and hard times and was a very successful girl. She had a great amount of determination which helped her to become successful and achieve her life goal. The memoir, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, is a very inspirational story. It was an inspirational story of Adeline never giving up, continuously trying to make her father proud, and going through many hardships and still becoming successful.
Adeline was advancing in her learning because she never gave up. In the book, Adeline does not give up even though her family (mostly Niang) tells her that she’s worthless. For example, “No matter what you consider yourself to be you are nothing without your father. Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!” (Yen Mah 117) This proves that even Niang her step mother thought she is worthless and yet Adeline didn’t let that stop her. This is important because even though a person in her family is putting her down, she became successful because of her determination and never giving up. Another example in the book is, “Niang turned to father and announcing in a loud voice that I was looking uglier and uglier as I grew older and taller.”(187) Therefore, even with
words that could crush even the strongest of personalities, it had no effect on Adeline.
By pushing herself to the maximum limit, Adeline always tried to make her father proud.
An example of that is, “Now C.Y. himself has a few children about your age, but so far none of them has won an international prize as far as I know, so I was quite pleased to tell him that you are my daughter.” (192) This shows that she indeed did make her father proud because she won the play writing competition. Also another example that supports this theory is, “ I must study harder and keep wearing this medal so I can go on pleasing father.” (11) This proves that she wants to try to please her father because she wants to be at the top of her class to get to wear the medal at home. This is important because throughout the story all she wants to do is get her father’s approval and make him truly
proud!
Adeline went through a lot of hardships in her personal life, but instead of letting that get her down, she used it in a positive way to get herself to the top. One example of her hardship is, “ Your aunt is a bad influence, I’m afraid you two will have to be separated” (104). This proves that it was hard being separated from her best friend who was the only one who loved and cared for her. Another example is, “ The combination of Ye Ye’s sudden death and Niang’s instructions to leave school and get a job, sent me into a horrible depression” (188). This shows that even though she had a slight set back she still got herself up, and back on the right path of being a success. In life, if you truly set your mind to a goal and are determined to accomplish it, you won’t allow anything or anyone to get in your way!
Adeline was a very determined young lady who could handle sadness in her personal life. She is inspiring because she was very dedicated to school and never let anything stand in her way. Through her memoir, Adeline proved that her perseverance and indomitable spirit got her to achieve all her goals she set for herself from age 4-14.