Who Is Adeline Yen Mah's Chinese Cinderella?

Around the world, a recent study shows that from 80% to almost 98% of all children are subjected to neglect and punishment in their homes. Amongst this majority of people is Adeline Yen Mah, a girl who suffered horrible treatment as a child even through her teen years. Now, of these people who are treated unfairly, only about 1 in 10,000 became or will become successful, and Adeline is a part of this minority because of her drive, because of her determination, to receive what she wanted. The memoir called Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah is inspirational because Adeline is good role model of how to escape the troubles of life, the relationship between Adeline, Aunt Baba, and Ye Ye represents the positives of life, and Adeline’s

As a result, she often escaped the issue at hand and distracted herself from all the wrong in her life. Generally, her main avoidance was school if something was disturbing her. For example, “I was always happy when our rickshaw approached the imposing red brick building of St. Joseph’s. I loved everything about my school: all the other little girls dressed in identical starched white uniforms just like mine; the French Franciscan nuns in black-and-white habits with big metal crosses dangling from their necks; learning numbers, catechism and the alphabet; playing hopscotch and skipping rope at recess” (Yen Mah 13). Adeline possesses a deep passion for learning and she has always been this way throughout the memoir, hence resulting in her usually evading her problems for some time during school hours. Often, if she was not at school or while she was present at school, she would also read for several reasons. As stated, “I sauntered into the library and picked out a few books. What a beautiful room! Away from all the noise, giggles and excitement. My haven. My sanctuary. The placed where I belonged! My real world!” (Yeh Mah 166). When Adeline is in the library reading, she is, in a way, staying away from all the problematic noise and commotion and escaping the ongoing issue. Third and lastly, for a few years of

With that said, there is still an influential message being portrayed from this awful family bond. Father, who has been her parent since birth, does not have a great connection with Adeline, but this only leads her to strive for the goal of Father accepting her. In the memoir, it reads, “I was winning the medal every week and wearing it constantly. I knew this displeased my siblings, especially Big Sister and Second Brother, but it was the only way to make Father take notice and be proud of me” (Yen Mah 15). Even when Adeline was a young age, Father noticed Adeline only if she won the medal. This is important because one of Adeline’s biggest aims is to be taken notice of and be appreciated by Father, and she would do anything for this. Unfortunately, Niang is a fierce, strong blockade to Adeline achieving her goals. Adeline even had negative thoughts about what Niang would do to her, as expressed in this quote: “At first, we were all mad! The whole tram-fare issue was obviously somehow tied up with the establishment of a new hierarchy within our family. Now that Nai Nai was dead, was Niang going to take over?” (Yen Mah 39). Niang having power over the family was to Adeline as how having World War III would be for the present world; terrifying and needing to be evaded at all costs. Intervening these two concepts will result in a profound message; no