Chinese Cinderella
Adeline’s character:
In Chinese Cinderella, there are many instances whereby we can observe positive characteristic of Adeline.
Firstly, Adeline is accepting of her situation and is very forgiving. On the first day of school, there was no one taking her to school and after school, “nobody was coming to pick her up”. However, she does not blame her father for failing to pick her up from school. Not only she is accepting to her situation, she is also very independent. She did not ask for help but instead she tried to “find her own way” home. She kept walking but she “dared not cross the road”. Although she was scare as it was the first time she is on the street by herself, she told herself that “surely, if she tried hard enough, she would remember her way home” but she was uncertain if she can really remember the directions back to her house yet she is brave to attempt it by herself. Adeline is also very adaptable as her father “handed her a map of Shanghai” and she read the map and go to the places she wishes to go on her own. She was still a young child at that time, children of the same age as her must have been relying on their parents for everything.
Secondly, Adeline is also courageous, daring and has a strong sense of justice. She speaks up bravely when she sense that Niang’s actions are wrong even when the adults are fearful of Niang’s authority as a mother when she “scream futilely” and “gave a stinging slap across her baby’s face. The “grown-ups avoided looking at each other while they children shrank into their seats” but she “blurted out, ‘Don’t beat her any more. She is only a baby!”
Thirdly, Adeline is respectful and honest towards everyone including Niang despite those nasty things she has done to her. She “greeted her tremulously” but she was also afraid of her as she was half French and had most power in the family. She had her “tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and could hardly swallow” and whenever she lied to Niang, she hated herself for
In Chinese Cinderella, there are many instances whereby we can observe positive characteristic of Adeline.
Firstly, Adeline is accepting of her situation and is very forgiving. On the first day of school, there was no one taking her to school and after school, “nobody was coming to pick her up”. However, she does not blame her father for failing to pick her up from school. Not only she is accepting to her situation, she is also very independent. She did not ask for help but instead she tried to “find her own way” home. She kept walking but she “dared not cross the road”. Although she was scare as it was the first time she is on the street by herself, she told herself that “surely, if she tried hard enough, she would remember her way home” but she was uncertain if she can really remember the directions back to her house yet she is brave to attempt it by herself. Adeline is also very adaptable as her father “handed her a map of Shanghai” and she read the map and go to the places she wishes to go on her own. She was still a young child at that time, children of the same age as her must have been relying on their parents for everything.
Secondly, Adeline is also courageous, daring and has a strong sense of justice. She speaks up bravely when she sense that Niang’s actions are wrong even when the adults are fearful of Niang’s authority as a mother when she “scream futilely” and “gave a stinging slap across her baby’s face. The “grown-ups avoided looking at each other while they children shrank into their seats” but she “blurted out, ‘Don’t beat her any more. She is only a baby!”
Thirdly, Adeline is respectful and honest towards everyone including Niang despite those nasty things she has done to her. She “greeted her tremulously” but she was also afraid of her as she was half French and had most power in the family. She had her “tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and could hardly swallow” and whenever she lied to Niang, she hated herself for