Chinese Cinderella

The memoir Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah tells us about when she was a child. She lost her mother two weeks after she was born due to a high fever that started three days after Adeline’s birth. Since Adeline’s mother died soon after her birth, she was thought to have brought bad luck for the family. Even without a real mother she could count on, she fights through her life having to deal with a terrible step mother who had no love for her, and a father who doesn’t even know her name. Her six siblings, two of whom are her stepbrother and stepsister, always reminded Adeline of how terrible she was because of the fact they believed she was the reason they were living without a mother. Her stepsiblings were given more privileges and freedom than the rest, but her real brothers and sisters had nothing to say at home, and never disagreed with their father and Niang, their stepmother.
Adeline lived a lonely and depressing childhood, with nobody to count on. Her grandmother Nai Nai, and soon after, her grandfather Ye Ye died while Adeline was quite young. The loss of her grandmother and grandfather was a very despondent time for her because they were the only ones in the family who loved her, and didn’t treat her as if she was a bad omen. When her Ye Ye lived, every week, he would give Adeline money despite the fact he had very little saved for himself, this continued until the day her stepmother, Niang, found out and forbade him from giving Adeline any more.
Adeline used the pocket money she had saved from Ye Ye so that she would be able to take the tram to and from school, but soon the money dwindled down to nothing and everyday she had to walk to school whether it was pouring rain or shinning sun. Every day, she needed to go through the embarrassment of walking to school while everybody else got dropped off at the door by their chauffeurs. Adeline made a friend called Wu Chun-Mei, she was a great friend to Adeline. In the memoir, there is a line which showed me what a true friend would do for someone else. “Though Wu Chun-Mei’s chauffeured car invariably awaited her when school finished, she often chose to walk with me until we reached her house, with her driver trailing behind at a snail’s pace. In the mornings, if she happened upon me trudging along, she would order her driver to stop and would hop out and accompany me all the way.” pg. 59. I find that very few friends in today’s society would commit such a loyal action. Many people don’t really care very much about their friends which I find sad. Many times it is hard to find a true friend. A person who would do practically anything for you, like Chun- Mei did for Adeline.
Years went by, and Adeline stayed the top of the class. She became the class president, which brought her happiness for the school year. Every little thing as simple achievement, for example, becoming the class president, brought Adeline happiness. Adeline wished for a special thing to happen to her so that she would grow to be happier. She started putting aside all her problems at home, and realized there was more to life. She spent hours reading and she studied all day waiting for the day when her father would realize she wasn’t a worthless nobody. It was the only way she could get away from the life she lived in. She began discovering the world, things she had never known before. She became very smart and skipped two years of school, but nothing changed at home, her parents still thought she was no good, useless, and treated her as if she was less than the rest of the children. One day Adeline won the playwriting competition; this for the first time, made her father see her in a different way. Her father gave her the opportunity to go to college in England just like her brothers, but on the condition, she would study medicine. She didn’t care what she studied, as long as she went to school, especially if it meant being away from home.
Chinese Cinderella ended when Adeline was fourteen. She realized how her childhood wasn’t the end of her life, if not the beginning. She realized that the only way she was able to keep studying and going to college was because she had won the playwriting contest which was the only thing that opened her father’s eyes. After all, she is grateful she had entered the competition, and it wasn’t another mistake she committed in her life, because her father actually approved.
Chinese Cinderella got its title from a story Aunt Baba told Adeline. It was a similar story as the life Adeline was living. It’s the story of a girl named Ye Xian who had lost her mother and father, and now lived with a stepmother. Her stepmother has a daughter of her own which she loves much more than Ye Xian. Ye Xian’s stepmother prohibits her to attend the talent show she had been practicing hard for. This is similar to Adeline’s life, living with a stepmother who prohibits her from doing certain things. Adeline learns that she is not the only person in this world who has lost her mother and has to live with a stepmother who doesn’t love her.
The Chinese Cinderella was written in a sequence of time. It was easier to understand due to all the years and months she put at the begging of most chapters. The memoir was put together in order of how they occurred in period of time. Adeline Yen added feelings into her memoir, which made me feel her pain as I read. Chinese Cinderella was written in a vignette form having a brief episode of her life in each chapter.
Before I started the Chinese Cinderella I wasn’t very interested in reading it, but as the book went on, I started realizing the importance of knowing different cultures and families. As I flipped the pages in the memoir the words were visible, but the meaning wasn’t. Anybody could read this memoir, but only some will really find the life lesson behind all of it. I think Adeline is trying to spread the word to the whole world. She wanted to use her life as a way to help all the young kids who have lost their mothers and have a stepmother who doesn’t love them. Also I find it could apply to the other half of the world where I belong who are fortunate enough to have a loving mother and don’t appreciate it. Having written this memoir, Adeline will teach young kids without a mother, that they aren’t alone. That there are many more people suffering the same feelings as they are, and that there is more to life than just the childhood. She also will teach the kids who have a mother and don’t acknowledge the importance of having one, and what a big a role it plays in a child’s life even though you might not think so.
In the Chinese Cinderella there was a line that I loved which was “ Don’t beat her anymore. She is only a baby!’ I blurted out with terror.” pg. 34. I find this line amazing because it shows that no matter what age you are you still should fight for what is right, and stand up for what you believe in. In this case Adeline says this to Niang when Niang’s real daughter arrived from Shanghi and didn’t recognize her mother because of the long period of time without seeing her. The little baby rejected her, so Niang got mad and started giving her baby stinging slaps on the face. It amazed me how nobody else of the family did anything, and it had to be the youngest to speak up.