Chinese Cinderella

Chinese Cinderella’s climax and falling action are highly truncated but resolve many of the memoir’s key thematic conflicts, including Fantasy as a Tool for Survival. In Chapters 19 and 20, Adeline begins to formulate a vision for the future with the encouragement of Ye Ye and her school friends. Unbeknownst to her, her wistful longing to “sail away together on one of the big boats down there to all those countries [they]’ve been reading about: Japan, England, Australia, America” foreshadows the memoir’s conclusion (176). This coping mechanism is highly necessary, as the memoir’s second major crisis—the coinciding death of Ye Ye and Niang’s withdrawal of financial support—is fast approaching.

During the period between Ye Ye’s funeral and winning the playwriting competition, Adeline experiences her worst dip in mental health, which she forthrightly labels as a “depression.” This tone and syntax of this brief section are characterized by Adeline’s frequent use of sorrowful exclamations, which suggests that her emotional pain has turned physical. Her choice of metaphors—such as “anxiety spun its web around my thoughts and spread to all corners of my heart” (189)—reinforces this notion. The funeral is also the final instance in which Adeline has an adverse reaction to Niang’s perfume, a motif that centers on physical responses to psychological conflict.

Adeline’s abrupt shift of fortune in the penultimate chapter is an instance of peripety, a literary device that, fittingly, has its roots in the European theatrical tradition. Though Adeline knows it is possible she will win the playwriting competition, it is highly unlikely, so this turn of events has the effect of a divine intervention. Adeline elaborates on this surrealness, thinking to herself, “Is this possible? Am I dreaming? Me, the winner?” (192). The invocation of a dreamscape in this line signifies a subversion of her dreams up until this point; whereas she has always struggled to make her fantasies feel like reality, now her reality feels like a fantasy. This reversal is a triumphant method of resolving a key thematic element of the entire memoir. Adeline’s fantastic tools have done their job.

The final chapter is an anomaly given that it is the only one written entirely in the epistolary form. Shifting from Adeline’s voice to Aunt Baba’s for her memoir’s parting words serves as a tribute to the author’s most beloved family member. After many chapters filled with conflict, loneliness, and fear, Aunt Baba’s warm, loving tone makes for a positive ending. Additionally, the inclusion of the Ye Xian legend within the letter functions as a makeshift epilogue, likening Adeline’s heroic journey to a fairytale. Aunt Baba’s decision to relay the story to Adeline is another example of cultural transmission by elders, much like Ye Ye’s lesson in Chinese. The memoir thus ends on a note of cultural pride and preservation. Despite the many threats being levied against traditional Chinese culture at home, Adeline will carry a piece of it with her to England in the form of the letter, thereby keeping it safe.