Chinese Cinderella Essay Introduction

Adeline Yen Mah is a Chinese girl growing in knowledge with a wealthy family. Then, a new threat arrises... Niang! She is the evil stepmother that tries to burden Adeline with as much issues as she can. Adeline tries to conquer these problems with the help of her other loving family members. In the novel, Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah, the author shows that being unwanted can be overcome by consulting family. She proves this by showing the help that Adeline received from her Ye Ye (grandfather) and her Aunt Baba.

One of the ways Adeline courage is although everyone around her is telling her she won’t succeed and that she is worthless, she never lets that affect her academically. On page 113, Adeline’s class comes to surprise her with a celebration of her winning the presidency. When Niang hears this she flies into a rage and starts screeching that Adeline doesn’t appreciate what they have provided her and she acts spoiled adding in “‘No matter what you consider yourself to be, you are nothing without your father! Nothing!

Jing-Mei characterizes her mother as an ideal parental figure by showing how much hope she has in her daughter. Her mother’s only wishes are to give her daughter more opportunities than she had growing up in China. And by doing this she shows that no matter how many conflicts there is between a mother and daughter, a mother will never give up hope on her daughter. She will cherish her for who she is in the end.

The story starts off with a girl named June May leaving Hong Kong and entering China. She says she is “becoming Chinese” (Tan 179). While on her way, she tells the reader how her trip is about seeing her lost sisters, and she recalls how she found out about them. When she arrives at her destination, she and her father run into her family from China. Her father talks to her relatives, and then they head towards their hotel. When they arrive, June May thinks that her travel agent made a mistake with the hotel, but it turns out that she is wrong. The group stays at the hotel, and June May convinces her father to tell how her mother met him. Then June May, on a plane on route to see her sisters, she wonders how she is going to tell her sisters about their mother. When she gets off the plane and arrives at the airport, she sees her sisters who bear a striking resemblance to her mother. At first, she believes that she sees her mother standing right in front of her, but upon closer inspection, she discovers two different people. The story ends with the sisters taking a photo together. One interesting fact about Suyuan Woo’s story is how vague the setting is. While the story does not specify when it happens, research shows that the story takes place in World War II during the Sino-Japanese War. This fact correlates to the time that Amy Tan’s mother left her three daughters in 1947, and the Sino-Japanese War

The story is around an American-conceived Chinese lady, Jing-mei, who goes to China to meet her twin stepsisters that her mom was compelled to relinquish numerous prior years. Since her mom had passed away just a couple of months prior, the meeting is full of vulnerability and bitterness. Jing-mei battles with self-character issues and what it truly intends to be Chinese. En route, she takes in reality about the reasons her mom deserted her sisters and the significance behind their names. At last, she at last associates with her sisters and makes the passionate association with her Chinese legacy.

For instance, after Jing-Mei’s disastrous performance, unexpected by her mother, she waits for the shouting to begin, but instead there are “no accusations, no blame,” which disappoints Jing-Mei because she wishes to “shout back and cry and blame her for all [her] misery” (Tan 105). The unfortunate talent-show fiasco provokes Jing-Mei’s mother to have an unexpressive look, acting as though she has lost everything, when in fact she has misplaced too much hope in her daughter’s success. Jing-Mei finds her mother’s arduous ambition the reason for her dilemma of discovering “her own sense of personal identity" and “it is out of defiance against her mother” that further weakens their conflicting relationship (Brent). Moreover, as Jing-Mei refuses to continue with piano lessons, shouting that “[she’ll] never be the kind of daughter [she] wants [her] to be,” her mother tells her that there are “only two kinds of daughters…those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind” and that only the obedient daughter “can live in this house” (Tan 106). Jing-Mei decides not to conform to her mother’s wishes and for the first time, she articulates her resistance and emphasizes the emergence of her true identity. Jing-Mei ultimately experiences a “release of anger toward her mother,” in which she becomes “relieved of the burden of her

Adeline comes home from her first week of kindergarten, all smiles because she had been chosen to lead the class and has received a medal and a certificate for her achievement. Her aunt Baba is full of pride and files the certificate and medal in her safe deposit box. She described the certificate as “some precious jewel impossible to replace” (page 2). Adelines academic achievements are how she eventually gains acceptance within an uncaring family. She had a lot of pride over the metal it shows the sadness she is facing everyday, with her siblings hating her achievements and her dad only caring when she receives them. “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” (page 15). Adeline starts to mature when she starts to realize that her achievements should only matter if it makes her happy, not just her father. Adeline's parents threaten to move her to a far away school. Adeline is elected class president. Everyone is excited, her classmates and more importantly her. Her classmates decide to celebrate at her house and this is when her parents lash out and get

The autobiographical novel Chinese Cinderella, is about protagonist Adeline Yen Mah’s 1940 childhood in China. Our main antagonist in the story is Adeline’s stepmother, Niang, who is portrayed throughout the story as the ‘evil-stepmother’ figure. But is there the possibility that Adeline has unfairly depicted Niang? The time period in Naing’s life which this book takes place in, would have been an extremely difficult and stressful for her. She was forced into a marriage with man twice her age and expected to become maternal towards his five children from his previous marriage. Under Niang’s circumstances she also had to take measures to protect, manage and discipline 7 children, which we only see as cruel and violent because of the modern viewpoints.

Chinese Cinderella is a very sad story where a little, unwanted girl is being abused every day. The novel Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah is depressing. The main character, Adeline, is always being treated the wrong way, this story could not be more sad.

Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah is a heart-rendering autobiographical novel. Throughout the text, Adeline describes her cruel family and the trauma she was confronted with at school, trying to satisfy her heartless father with educational achievements. Together we relive the childhood life of Adeline through her words and hear, what it feels like to be a rejected and unloved daughter. Furthermore, Adeline owns a special quality that helps her to handle the cruelty of her upbringing and rise above many obstacles. Adeline has been always resilient. She is very strong and tackles everything that comes her way. By being friendless and having a pet duck as a friend, she distracts herself from her coldblooded reality.

As she recalls back on this time by telling her daughter what she calls her Kweilin story, Suyuan describes her feeling during this horrible time as “And inside I was no longer hungry for the cabbage or the turnips of the hanging rock garden. I could only see the dripping bowels of an ancient hill that might collapse on top of me. Can you imagine how it is, to want to be neither inside nor outside, to want to be nowhere and disappear?” (22) At this point in her life Suyuan was separated from her husband who is in the military and eventually is forced to abandon her two young daughters. This aspect of Suyuan’s life parallels the life of Amy Tan’s mother. Daisy tan was also married to a military man during the Chinese Civil War and like Suyuan was forced to abandon her two daughters in Shanghai. This was an experience that would affect her mother for the rest of her life and a story she would continue to tell and never forget. The life of Amy Tan is also a parallel to the life of Jing-Mei Woo of “June”. As a young girl June was forced to play the piano and practice constantly to become the best like Amy Tan was as a child. Along with playing the piano Suyuan also had high expectations for June as far as her future. She wanted her daughter to be the best in her class and go off to medical school to become a well educated doctor, the same expectation’s Amy Tan’s mother had for her. Both daughters decided to follow their dreams and

Jing-Mei Woo and her mother are the major characters in Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds.” The two have a complicated mother-daughter relationship at the beginning of the story, but later, as an adult, Jing-Mei realizes the intentions of her mother. “Two Kinds” is told from Jing-Mei’s point of view as a mature adult who is reflecting on her childhood. Jing-Mei’s thoughts and feelings are revealed, but she and her mother, the antagonist, have conflictingly opposite desires. Jing-Mei’s mother desires for her daughter to live the American dream and become an obedient “prodigy” child by forcing many prestigious tasks upon her, although Jing-Mei desires to please her mother, she wants live a normal life and chooses to rebel against her mother’s wishes.

Jing-mei realized that she was an ordinary individual and that she would not let her mother’s expectations change that. She no longer believed that she “could be anything [she] wanted to be, [rather she] could only be [herself]” (Tan 44). In using a limited, first-person point of view, Tan is able to show Jing-mei’s emotional progress of following her mother’s dreams to finally realizing her own dream.

The book Chinese Cinderella, written by Adeline Yen Mah has four main themes. They are: family & relationships, abandonment & loneliness, self-esteem and history. The author Adeline Yen Mah, also wrote the book Falling Leaves but Chinese Cinderella was written for younger audiences. Chinese Cinderella is actually an autobiography, not a fairy tale. Adeline (the protagonist) has to work for her dreams, not by wishing from a fairy godmother. This book was set in the 1900’s (1941-1952). At that time WW2 was happening making Adeline’s life harder. The moral of this book would be that no matter your circumstances, you can work hard and achieve your dreams. This book is really captivating and it tells the reader not to underestimate anyone. That’s why I think this is an amazing book for everyone to read.

Jing-mei’s inability to connect with her mother arises from her upbringing. Mrs. Woo pushed Jing-mei to extremes with her parenting and failed to realize the lasting trauma it had on her daughter. Jing-mei as a fragile child wants nothing more than for her “mother and father [to] adore [her]” (233). The developing girl is looking for acceptance through her parents, but Mrs. Woo does not understand the positive reinforcement required in those early stages of development. Instead