Form 3 IGCSE English “Chinese Cinderella” by Adeline Yen Mah

Characters
a) Adeline
i) She hides her embarrassment – “I had forgotten”
ii) She is respectful of her father / in awe of her father - "He looked radiant. For once, he was proud of me"
(line 58). "I had given him face." (line 58-59).
iii) She agrees with her father almost without question to go to England
iv) She is surprised at being invited to enter the “Holy of Holies” – Her father’s room which in the book she
refers to as the “Holy of Holies" - in the novel her father never invites Adeline and her siblings from the
previous wife, but welcomes children of the current wife.
v) At the start of the extract she was expecting that someone had died- for someone who hasn’t read the
book I think this can be interpreted as a pessimistic thought

b) Adeline’s father
i) Shows the characteristics of a typical/stereotypical Chinese father.
(1) Very strict with his children
(2) Tends to love only some of his children, usually male children
(3) Believes that all of his child’s achievements are because of his doing. –(e.g. Adeline winning the writing
competition was his doing.)

Themes and Motifs

a) Detached Family
i) Line 53-54
ii) “How come you won” – Seems like father doubts his daughter’s achievements.
iii) “Don’t look so scared” – “scared” shows Adeline’s fear in turn suggesting there is a distance between
family members
iv) ““See me in his room?” I was overwhelmed by the thought that I had been summoned by Father to enter
the Holy of Holies”
v) She does not even know that the “elegant villa” is her home. “Our car stopped at an elegant villa…
“Where are we?”

b) Chinese Culture or Religion

i) “does it matter what you do after you go to heaven” – Religion (Catholic)
ii) “summoned”- Chinese religion/ culture

Motifs
i) Dreams vs. Nightmare
(1) “nightmare”
(2) “heaven”- associated with a ‘deep eternal slumber’ or ‘dream-like’
(3) “Am I dreaming”
(4) “I only had to stretch out my hand to reach the stars.” (line 61-62)
(5) “I had forgotten”- I believe that forgetting is like how we sometimes forget our dreams when we wake
up.

Tone
a) Fear
i) “Foreboding” and “nightmare” (Line 15-16)
ii) “my heart gave a giant lurch” (Line 71)
iii) “Don’t look so scared” (Line 40)
iv) “uneasy when I wondered why he was being so nice, thinking, Is this a giant ruse on his part to trick me?
Dare I let my guard down?” (Line 37-39)

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b) Excitement/ gratefulness
i) “Agree? Of course I agreed.” (Line 86)
ii) “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive” (Line 88)
iii) “Thank you very, very much” (Line 89-90)
iv) “My whole being vibrated with all the joy in the world. I only had to stretch out my hand to reach the
stars.” (Line 60-61)

Literary Devices
a) Allusion – Reference to other poem – “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive” (line 88)
b) Rhetorical questions – “Study?...” and “Does it matter what you do after you get to heaven?” (line 72-73)
and “Is it possible? Am I dreaming? Me, the winner?” (line 51)
c) Metaphor – “I only had to stretch out my hand to reach the stars.” (line 61-62)
d) Repetition – “very, very…” and “heaven.. heaven”
e) Alliteration – “replied rudely” and “warm wind”

Context
a) Setting: In her house, mainly in the “Holy of Holies”
b) She is having a conversation with her father about her winning the writing contest and eventually leading
up to the point where she agrees with her father to study medicine in England
c) Text Type: Book (Autobiography)

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How does the writer portray the relationship between father and daughter?
(Sample answer)

The piece of writing, ‘from Chinese Cinderella’ is an autobiography from the daughter's point of
perspective. This allows us to see what she thought of her father. We know he is commanding as in the
direct speech he uses commanding verbs ‘take’, ‘go’ and ‘sit’.

We can tell that the Adeline is scared of her father as when she finds out her father has ‘summoned’ her, her
first thought is that she is in trouble.

When the chauffeur says ‘your parents moved’ this implies she isn’t part of the family, possibly
emphasizing the poor relationship with her farther.

When she tells her father she wants to be a writer, he almost dictates the future in short sentences starting
each one with ‘you shall’ or ‘you will’. After this she agrees and thanks him. This suggest that she is
possibly scared to stand up against him and that she hasn’t really got to know him. That’s way she doesn’t
want to be rude and assert her opinion as she doesn’t know what he will do if she does.

The use of rhetorical questions suggests she is trapped and there is no way for her to win as her farther will
always have the better of her, almost as if she is searching for an answer.