Adeline Yen Mah’s autobiography, Chinese Cinderella, tells the tale of a young girl in 20th century China who was severely abused and neglected throughout her childhood. Her story also resembles the Chinese Cinderella story Yeh-Shen. Throughout her novel, many themes and issues are addressed including Adeline’s perseverance, her broken family relationships and realising her own self worth and importance. Through multiple positioning techniques and Yen Mah’s vivid vignettes, readers gain personal insight into Adeline’s childhood of being the ‘unwanted daughter.’
One of many themes depicted in Chinese Cinderella is Adeline’s perseverance. At the beginning of the novel, everyone in her family believed she was unintelligent, including her Big Sister; ‘…You don't know because you are stupid!’ (pg 16). She persisted through this negativity by proving to her family that she was smart and winning the ‘top of the class’ medal for many weeks. She kept studying hard and when she was 14, won a worldwide short story competition enabling her to get permission to leave with her third brother to study in England. Likewise, Adeline displayed perseverance when her duckling, Precious Little Treasure, was …show more content…
She wrote in first person narrative voice, which positioned the reader to agree with her point of view. This style enables people to share an intimate connection with her and experience her emotions throughout the story: ‘…My heart felt heavy with the most excruciating pain’ (pg 115). She wrote with very colloquial and empathetic language so readers would feel like they were included into her story. This provided easy accessibility into the novel and built up suspense and interest in what she wrote. These positioning techniques helped to shape her story and assisted in providing detail for the reader; also revealing her rags to riches
One of many themes depicted in Chinese Cinderella is Adeline’s perseverance. At the beginning of the novel, everyone in her family believed she was unintelligent, including her Big Sister; ‘…You don't know because you are stupid!’ (pg 16). She persisted through this negativity by proving to her family that she was smart and winning the ‘top of the class’ medal for many weeks. She kept studying hard and when she was 14, won a worldwide short story competition enabling her to get permission to leave with her third brother to study in England. Likewise, Adeline displayed perseverance when her duckling, Precious Little Treasure, was …show more content…
She wrote in first person narrative voice, which positioned the reader to agree with her point of view. This style enables people to share an intimate connection with her and experience her emotions throughout the story: ‘…My heart felt heavy with the most excruciating pain’ (pg 115). She wrote with very colloquial and empathetic language so readers would feel like they were included into her story. This provided easy accessibility into the novel and built up suspense and interest in what she wrote. These positioning techniques helped to shape her story and assisted in providing detail for the reader; also revealing her rags to riches