Preview

How To Struggle In Adeline Yen Mah's Chinese Cinderella

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
783 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How To Struggle In Adeline Yen Mah's Chinese Cinderella
In the autobiography ‘Chinese Cinderella’, Adeline Yen Mah shares the story of her childhood as an unwanted daughter. Throughout her story, she faces many challenges that she must overcome. These challenges test her; they are able to make her stronger, wiser, but also weaker. With the right coping strategies, the difficulties she encounters will make her stronger and wiser; however, without developing the right attributes, the hardships she opposes will make her weaker and more incapable. Adeline’s autobiography shows us that it is the challenges in life that make us stronger and wiser, but without the right coping strategies, they can also make us weaker.
Throughout the autobiography, Adeline displays loyalty and courage, factors that contribute
…show more content…
As she considers herself invaluable to her family, her self-esteem is very low. After Ye Ye’s funeral, Niang announces that Adeline is “looking uglier and uglier”. Losing Ye Ye and then being subjected to Niang’s open disdain makes Adeline feel weak and depressed. When asked by her friends what “redeeming features” she thinks she has, she answers “nothing” because she “doesn’t think any of her features are any good”, even though her friends vote her “most likely to succeed”. She believes that no one cares for her; when Father forgets her name on the plane, she assumes that she “means so little to him” that he “doesn’t even remember her name”. However, although some challenges do make Adeline weaker, with the right coping strategies, she manages to endure the hurt and suffering she experiences. A coping strategy of such is when she realizes that she is loved and accepted by Aunt Reine and Victor. Aunt Reine tells her that “nobody is going to be treated differently” and through that experience, Adeline “feels like she is their third child”. It is evident that the challenges Adeline faces make her stronger and wiser; however, they can also make her weaker, which, with the right developing attributes, can give her strength instead of causing as

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The story represent the relationship between the daughter and mother and the relationship between the traditinal practices of chinese and the modern world. The mother really what her daughter to succeed in her undetermined talent.…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing.” This quote by Pele, a soccer player regarded as one of the best of all time, describes the determination that it took for Adeline to succeed and overcome her childhood. In the memoir, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, the author writes about the support from Ye Ye, Aunt Baba, and also rising above her abusive childhood.…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Yen Jun Ling Sparknotes

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Yen Jun-ling grew up in an extreme environment. She was an unwanted child, as she was blamed for her mother’s death during childbirth. Her father resented her, her stepmother resented her, and even her own siblings resented her. Her struggle to find freedom from her oppressive house hold is evident throughout her memoir. Yen Jun-ling was at the top of her class since her first day of school.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “‘Your aunt is a bad influence… I'm afraid the two of you will have to be separated.’” (104). This shows that Adeline's parents loathe Adeline's behavior and choose to blame it on Aunt Baba and Ye Ye. “‘Tomorrow your father and Niang are flying you to Tianjin’” (120). This quote clearly proves how she is being separated from her loved ones; Aunt Baba and Ye Ye. Overall, Adeline’s so called, “bad” behavior is only to be fixed with blows and boarding…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Book Review Wild Swans

    • 3284 Words
    • 14 Pages

    The book is a testimony to the strength and determination of her grandmother, her mother, and herself and their resourcefulness in recreating themselves during suffering, humiliation and disillusionment. She interweaves personal and historical stories fluently and the stories of these women and their families act as a lens through which you gain insight into the turbulent history of twentieth century China.…

    • 3284 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The debate over whether adversity reveals hidden talents, which in peaceful situations will remain undiscovered, is a controversial topic. For instance, the poem, “The Proof of Worth” by Edgar Albert Guest explains how hardships display the true nature of a person. Similarly, Patrick Kohan highlights in his article, “The Importance of Adversity in Growth and Development,” how obstacles should not be removed to help a child succeed. Furthermore, Laura Hillenbrand’s novel, Unbroken, showcases the worst challenges elicit of one’s character. Ultimately, one should use adversity to discover hidden talents that once never existed, as well as change the perspective of a convoluted idea.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This story shows the struggling relationship between mother and daughter. Although the mother wants the daughter to be a great prodigy, the daughter wants to be her own person with her own personality.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this story also the writer's mother wanted her daughter to be obedient by following her path. As she was optimistic, she always wants her daughter to be successful in the future thus forced her daughter to have the prodigy that she never wanted to be. She has a high expectation towards her daughter but every time she fails to stand to the expectation. The narrator also feels as if she could not handle her responsibility and let her mother's expectation down. From the Chinese Shirley Temple to the piano lesson the narrator mother's always responses saying not the best because you are not trying. Everymen the writer had the disappointment on herself for not performing well. From the other points of view, the mother has a genuine love towards her daughter. In conclusion, the story has revealed the mother-daughter relationship and also the generational gap between…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Only one kind of daughter can live in this hous. Obedient daughter” she shouted in chinese. “Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter, I wish you weren’t my mother” (Chunk 6 paragraph 11, 12). As a Chinese immigrant Jing Mei’s mother gets the idea from television shows and magazines and she does not question the validity of these sources. She meanswhile pushes her daughter to be the best but on the other hand Jing Mei cannot see the value of showing dedication to her mother’s goal, practicing a skill, or collaborating with her mother’s plan because they are both separated by a factor; Culture. After her mother’s death she gains insight into her mother’s underlying motives. In addition Rudy Puana learned to be true in spite of his difficulties in life.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan tells of the main character Jing-mei Woo’s childhood and the effects of her mother’s high expectations for her life. In…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Joy Luck Club Identity

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Every person comes to a point in their life when they begin to search for themselves and their identity. Usually it is a long process and takes a long time with many wrong turns along the way. Family, teachers, and friends all help to develop a person into an individual and adult. Parents play the largest role in evolving a person. Amy Tan, author of the Joy Luck Club, uses this theme in her book. Four mothers have migrated to America from China because of their own struggles. They all want their daughters to grow up successful and without any of the hardships they went through. One mother, Suyuan, imparts her knowledge on her daughter through stories. The American culture influences her daughter, Jing Mei, to such…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    When I was little my niang tried to bind my feet. Only some woman bounded their feet, even though my niang and my friends had bound feet it felt painful, it was an excruciating pain. I ran away every day from my niang because I didn’t want her to bind my feet, eventually I got away from it. When I thought about this I thought that Li my 6th son was special, he was as strong as me when I was little and he had determination to do the things he wanted in life. Even though my family now and back then were both in appalling poverty my life was still full of happiness and love. I tried my best but I always thought that my niang wasn’t proud of having a girl in her family, she would have been happier with a son to help her and to support the family. My niang would always tell me that she loved me and that it was good to always be myself, no matter what other people would think. Even though these things during my childhood were a horrible experience for me, I still carried on with a happy childhood. My life now has a similar story; I feel like I was always starving my husband and children, we basically lived on dried yams. Only sometimes did we have small fatty pieces of pork from the butcher. This was a treat for my family. This was the life for many peasants in china such as us, I worked all day, just like my niang did when I was a child. Even though I did overwork myself, it was better for the children to have a better childhood than I did. My children did in fact have a similar life to me when I was young but Li was special and had determination to learn ballet and to be known around the world.…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mao's Last Dancer

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “Despite our hardships, there were also joys in our childhood”. Explore the ways in which Li’s childhood was both one of great deprivations and one of great riches.…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The hardships that I endured in the past will help me succeed in the future.”-Philip Emeagwali. In the memoir Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, Adeline is in a constant war with the challenges and the people in her early life. These challenges shaped who Adeline was and who she was yet to become, the hard times helped her pursue her success in the future.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Growing up in a challenging world” is a perfect theme for the week as it is process high relevance to Hong Kong as Hong Kong itself is already a city saturated in challenges which measures youths’ ability on different areas, majorly educational, cognitive and social. It has been agreed for some years that “Hong Kong children were born in a competition about survival”, youngsters have to strive for excellence trough out their entire youth in order to survive after they graduate, which means to get a good job with good salary. The most popular type of challenge Hong Kong youngsters have to face is the educational ones. Every youth in Hong Kong have to take is the public exams in order to permit them climbing along the ladder to occupy a seat for higher education. These exams were always described as fateful towards a youngster’s life as different labels; representing different level of ability youths have achieved on educational ground will be stigmatized on every youth through certs and exam report cards, which will last throughout one’s life. The competition is keen as everyone taking this challenge is at risk to ruin their whole life. As every youth in Hong Kong are destined to face this keen, “fatal” challenge in their life, the theme “Growing up in a challenging world” will draw every Hong Kong youth’s attention as it coheres with the environment they were born in.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays