Imagine, your mother has passed and she is replaced by an evil stranger who plans to take control you and your family. Your family isn’t convinced that this stranger whom they've invited to live with is ruthless human being. This is a summary of young Adeline Yen Mah’s childhood. With help from a few friends and her beloved Aunt Baba she attempts to overcome her stepmother Niang and choose her own life. In the memoir, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah I believe Adeline needs Aunt Baba more than Aunt Baba needs Adeline. I believe this because Aunt Baba is an adult and has a job so she is able to live her own life. On the other hand, Adeline is only in her childhood and must live in a household where the family doesn't appreciate her. In order to survive, Adeline needs support from a loving parent or in this case an aunt. In the book Aunt baba says, “‘Let’s open my sad deposit box. That will make us both feel better’” (Yen Mah 78). This is said to Adeline and shows that Aunt Baba cares very deeply about Adeline, it’s as if she were her own child. She wants Adeline to be comforted feel like she is loved. This quote also shows Aunt Baba is prepared to comfort her niece. Apart from loving Aunt …show more content…
Adeline demonstrates this frequently throughout the story. “‘Don't beat her anymore, she is only a baby’” (Yen Mah 34). In this quote Adeline stands up to Niang’s violent actions towards little sister. At this moment Adeline is fearless about what Niang might do to her, but she ignores that in order to help someone in her family. Another example of Adeline's toughness is shown here, “In spite of Monica's unkind remarks about my lack of visitors...no one else made fun of me” (Yen Mah 166). This is a scenario where Adeline ignores insults from Monica like they are nothing. She doesn't let people like her get to her head. Adeline is a very emotionally strong
The first aspect of Adela’s characteristics is that she is very proud of her family history, but in a negative way. She
“She slapped me so hard I almost fell over.” The novel Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah is depressing. It is depressing because it tells how she was abused by her parents. Adeline had been treated like trash all of her life by her parents. “Nothing will ever come to you.
The Great Depression of the 1930’s caused widespread poverty, but the popular culture of the time did not reflect this. People wanted to escape from this harsh time so movies, dancing and sports became very popular. Radios broadcasted boxing matches and boxers became stars. The heavyweight champion James J. Braddock aka “Cinderella Man,” gained popularity. James Braddock gained fame by winning many fights and proving everyone wrong when they said he was too old and couldn’t win.
One of the eras of a majestic ancient civilization that has left a lasting impression upon the world of today is the Chinese Song Dynasty. Established by General Zhao Kuangyin this dynasty lasted from 960–1279 AD and brought a new stability to China after many decades of civil war, and ushered in a new era of modernization. It was divided into the Bei (Northern) and the Nan (Southern) Song periods. This brilliant cultural epoch gave birth to major advances in economic reform, achievements in technology, and helped to further medical knowledge.
Adeline encounters many hardships but always perseveres, similar this quote, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” (Maya Angelou). In the novel, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, Adeline and Aunt Baba have a close relationship in which they both depend on each other in similar ways. In the story, they both rely on each other for love, acceptance, and making each other feel better.
Her father came back to bring her after a long time he left her. As a girl, she wanted to be with her family, but she thought about all the things, about her father, then she determined that who knows if her father again abandons her. That was the reason she let her father go, and Jameela let all the pain go from her heart. “No, baba. I didn’t say it right. It‘s not that I can’t go with you. It’s that I won’t go with you. I’m staying here.”, said Jameela.(pg.181) This shows that she learned a good lesson that she mustn’t depend on the people who bother her, also she should try to avoid situations which may bother her later like going with baba. She was in a difficult situation which she had to choose going with baba or staying by herself. That situation helped her to be the person that leaves the pain as she didn’t go with
Chinese Cinderella is a compelling autobiography by Adeline Yen Mah, a struggling child, yearning for acceptance and love in her dysfunctional family. In this novel of “a ‘secret story of an unwanted daughter”, Adeline presents her stepmother Niang, as a violent, impatient, biased, domineering and manipulative demon. Analysing the language used by the author, we can discover how effectively she does this.
Many pieces of literature give different perspectives and change over time. Some may incorporate the same characters along with the same concept, but some contain opposite perspectives of the stories. Cinderella has two different films that tell the same story but they contain different concepts throughout the films. While the 1950’s version of Cinderella does not reveal Cinderella’s mother, the 2015 film version reveals her mother and makes the step sisters more attractive
Adeline's mental faculties are personified in this passage, as seen in the following: "Her mind revolted at the picture her fancy drew. " Adeline's "mind" can be understand as reason, while her "fancy" is, perhaps, her imagination. The horrors of Adeline's imagination give way to conjecture, which reason attempts to subdue. She fears "the idea of going to the villa," where she was previously held captive by the Marquis. As her suspicions increase in power, she imagines returning the "the abbey," where "she would be equally in the power of the Marquis, and also in that of her cruel enemy, La Motte"
“The Walt Disney Company is a powerful economic and cultural phenomenon known throughout the United States and the world as a provider of family entertainment (Maltin, 1, 308). Its media and entertainment holdings establish it as a central communicator in contemporary life. As such, it provides many of the first narratives children use to learn about the world� (Ward, 1). Disney has always been family oriented making it one of the main attractions of reading something Disney. They always have an innocent feeling to their stories, which makes it more appealing for children. But in Vietnamese fairytales a family oriented story may be somewhat gory or violent. “The stories from Vietnam tell us about their culture, their beliefs, and their determination throughout time� (Ly, 1). The 1950 version of “Cinderella�, written by Walter Disney and adapted by Campbell Grant, has some differences and similarities to the Vietnamese “Tam and Cam�, by Vo Van Thang and Jim Larsen. They differ in their violent content in their stories but similarly have a great deal of magic included and also both have prevalent characters to help them find their way.
Adeline had a very rough childhood, but at least Aunt Baba helps her to get back up when she is knocked down by the people in her family who treat her as unwanted. For instance, one of the quotes in the book said “The truth is that as soon as I had heard Aunt Baba’s footsteps, I had started feeling better immediately. Knowing there was someone who cared for and believed in me had revived my spirit” (Yen Mah 79). This passage from the novel describes how Adeline knows how much Aunt Baba cares for her. Aunt Baba is a huge part of Adeline’s life and
Have you ever read any other version of Cinderella except Disney’s? There’s many similarities and differences between the French and Zimbabwe versions of Cinderella. Both versions have one daughter getting married to a king, but the French version has a sister and step mother, whereas the Zimbabwe version had one sister and no stepmother.
The classic tale of Cinderella is well known for the fight of overcoming great obstacles despite great odds. However, there are always a few ill-hearted people who go out of their way to cease any competition that they might face, as seen with Cinderella’s step-sisters. Samuel Jackson says is his distinguished quote, “The hunger of imagination…lures us to…the phantoms of hope,” to help develop a more defined view of a fairytale. The story of Cinderella fully embodies the ideals of a true fairytale by encompassing magic, hope, and struggle between good and evil throughout the duration of the plot.
In today 's society, it is normal for young children to believe in fairytales. These fairytales are normally seen throughout books and movies but also through parents reading them as bedtime stories. These tales in our society have unrecognized hidden guidelines for ethics and behaviors that we provide for children. One such children 's story is Disney’s Cinderella, this film seems to be a simple tale of a young woman whose wishes work out as to be expected. This tale reflects the expectations of women 's actions and beliefs of a proper women.
Fairytale is one of the intricate genres in literary history. It is impossible to say exactly when the first fairytale was created. They have been in practice since the beginning of time. The famous scholar Jack Zipes agreed that evolution of fairytales could not be determined. In his book The Irresistible Fairytales, he says: “It is impossible to trace the historical origins and evolution of fairytales to a particular time and place; we do know that humans began telling tales as soon as they developed the capacity of speech. They may have even used sign language before speech originated to communicate vital information for adapting to their environment”