Chinese Cinderella 1) 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. ) 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. ) 2) Themes and Motifs a) Detached Family i) Line 53-54 i) “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. 3) 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) 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) 4) Literary Devices a) Reference to other quotes – “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” 5) 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)
