Posted: February 16th, 2019
A Chinese Cinderella – Autobiographi
In the autobiographical book “Chinese Cinderella”, the author, Adeline Yen Mah, goes through a lot of hardships and difficulties with her family and life in general. She is not treated as part of her Fathers family and is sent away to live in a boarding school away from them. Adeline’s relationship with her family is very distant and cold, she is unloved and unwanted. No one acknowledges her or shows any heed and sympathy towards her. This relationship is shown in line 28 when she asks ‘Where is everyone? As no one comes to greet her when she arrives home, showing how they are uncaring towards her and do not regard her as family, not even welcoming her arrival or asked if she would like anything. It is almost as if she is a stranger, even to her biological father and siblings who continue to play ‘by the swimming pool’, no one caring about her coming back home. In addition, she is not informed about her family moving home when she asks her Father’s chauffeur in line 23 ‘Where are we? Her questions show her confusion and little knowledge on what has been happening at home pointing out that her family have not even bothered to write to her. Her other siblings and stepmother are ignorant to her arrival as if she is a stranger and worthless. Being sent to boarding school points out even more that they do not want anything to do with her and would rather not see her because to them she is nothing.
Adeline knows this herself as when Ma-mien Valentino calls her to tell her that her ‘chauffeur is waiting to take her home’ she thinks that someone has died because the last time she was called home it was only due to this reason and she begins to fear what might have happened. When she arrives the servants use a rude tone and do not care for her as much as they would for her stepsiblings showing the unfairness, even her father using a commanding tone when he meets his daughter after so long not even welcoming her but orders her to ‘Sit down’ instead.
Her father does not regard her as his own daughter but uses her to improve his status with her achievements so when her father speaks to her she becomes timid and afraid, not trusting him when he shows her a little kindness, pointing out the distant relationship between Adeline and her family. Adeline’s character is somewhat cautious she doesn’t trust people too quickly, especially when it comes to the kindness from her family members as she is wary that they are playing a trick on her to make her feel miserable like they did all her life. Although she is not treated well by her family, she s clearly educated and this is shown when she wins a competition and quotes a poem to show her happiness. However, she is modest and keeps her happiness and excitement hidden, showing her timid and humble personality when she comes across her father and hiding what she feels even though it proved to be difficult but because she is clever and knows her father too well she did not want to miss the one chance she would have in a life time. She respects her father’s wishes as she would do anything to leave the place where she is unwanted though her strong personality keeps her distress that she suffered for years at bay.
