Chinese Cinderella

“I had a pair of perfectly normal feet when I was born, but they maimed me on purpose and gave me lifelong arthritis so I would be attractive. Just be thankful this horrible custom was done away with thirty years ago. Otherwise your feet would be crippled and you wouldn’t be able to run or jump either.”

Despite the grandparents being the most traditionally minded members of the Yen family, Nai Nai offers the most scathing critique of traditional Chinese society in the memoir during this passage about her bound feet. Her use of the collective pronoun “they” places blame for her mutilation on society as a whole, establishing misogyny as a diffuse yet overwhelming force in her daily life.

“I loved everything about my school: all the other little girls dressed in identical starched white uniforms just like mine; the French Franciscan nuns in black-and-white habits with big metal crosses hanging from their necks; learning numbers, catechism, and the alphabet; playing hopscotch and skipping rope at recess.”

The complex list of things Adeline loves at her elementary school is an example of indirect characterization. Her love of uniform dressing, both among the students and nuns, reveals her desire for equality in all things because of her profoundly unequal home life, and her love of activities that require jumping recalls her grandmother’s reminder to be thankful for her ability to jump.

“Beautiful white orchids in an antique Ming dynasty vase rested on an imitation Louis XVI coffee table.”

Niang’s choice of decor for the house in Shanghai is emblematic of the family’s Eurocentric cultural persuasions, one of the external culture wars with which Adeline must contend. While the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) vase is a traditional Chinese object, it also represents Chinese attempts to curry favor with the West since a significant portion of Ming pottery was designed for and exported to European consumers. The Louis XVI coffee table invokes the opulence of a doomed French monarchy, and the fact that it is “imitation” speaks to the family’s desperate desire to become as French as possible.

“I’d rushed down for the number and we’d played with it all afternoon: backward and forward, breaking it down and then building it up again. 79281! That was it! 79281!”

Adeline uses her escapist math game as a tool for survival; her mathematical memory becomes a pneumonic device for remembering her family’s telephone number in a moment of need. The exclamatory fragments at the end of this excerpt reveal the extreme relief that Adeline feels knowing that she will now be able to get back home.

“I couldn’t understand why Father, Ye Ye, and Aunt Baba were making no attempts to stop the assault. Why wasn’t anybody objecting?”

This is one of the first instances during which Adeline is forced to directly reckon with the moral failings of the adults in her life, even the ones with whom she has loving relationships. Her rhetorical question challenges readers to fill in the blanks themselves, seeing the adult power dynamics and dysfunctionality with a clarity that the narrator, a child, cannot.

“Then Niang spoke again in a sugary tone, looking directly at Ye Ye with a smile, ‘These tangerines are so juicy and sweet. Here, do have one! Let me peel it for you.’”

This is prime example of Niang’s abrupt temperament and her tendency to hide her vitriolic nature behind a saccharine persona. The “sugary tone” of Niang’s voice poetically mirrors the “sweet” flavor of the tangerines and is presented as unnerving in the wake of her outburst only seconds before.

“I think Mama lives high up on a mountain in a magic castle. One day, if I am really good and study very hard, she will ride down on a cloud to rescue me and take me to live with her […] It’s called Paradise.”

The story of Adeline’s mother in paradise is one of the memoir’s key examples of Fantasy as a Tool for Survival. By putting words to paper and fully taking her own story to heart, Adeline is able to make her mother accessible and present in her daily life. While the imagery of this paradise is derivative of Buddhist iconography, Adeline’s belief that good behavior and studiousness will gain her access to this fantasy land is reflective of Confucian ideals of meritocracy.

“Hollywood movies swept into Shanghai like a tidal wave.”

Yen Mah uses a simile to liken American cultural influence to a natural disaster (though a tidal wave is not technically a tsunami, the two terms are frequently used interchangeably). This comparison illustrates the force with which Americanization arrived in Shanghai in the wake of World War II and the destructive force it exerted over traditional Chinese culture, as well as the way in which such cultural warfare became a normal aspect of life in China during this tumultuous period.

“We placed some grains of rice, a few worms and a little water in a shallow dish, along with a bouquet of flowers in a milk bottle next to PLT’s grave. We bowed three times to show our respect.”

Adeline and Third Brother leave food offerings for PLT alongside her grave as per traditional Chinese funerary practices associated with Buddhism. The choice of worms reflects PLT’s food preferences, also per tradition. Adeline’s decision to hold a funeral for PLT, just as she would for a human family member, reflects the depth of her connection to the pet duck and her profound sense of empathy for all forms of suffering.

“How can Big Sister remain so cheerful when her life is about to take such a ghastly turn? To be taken out of school and thrust into the arms of a stranger!”

As another use of rhetorical questions to heighten the impact of Adeline’s thoughts, her reaction to Big Sister’s betrothal is a key instance of indirect characterization. By juxtaposing her fear over the betrothal with her sister’s joy, Adeline establishes herself as having entirely distinct values to those of her family: prioritizing education over the more traditional life path for women of marriage.

“I sat there with my eyes tightly shut, wishing with all my heart that when I opened them again, I would be Jackie and Jackie would be me.”

Adeline’s use of chiasmus in the final clause of this sentence visually mirrors her desire to swap bodies with the German shepherd, Jackie. The instinct to leave her own body is a slight divergence from Adeline’s characteristic escapist fantasies, which usually entail leaving China and establishing a happy new life for herself.

“Teacher Wong congratulated me on my triumph in our first election—democratically and honestly held, just like in America, the greatest country in the world.”

This regurgitation of a popular American patriotic refrain, “the greatest country” (used especially in the aftermath of World War II), indicates the degree to which Adeline’s schooling is informed by foreign political ideology. At the same time, the introduction of democratic processes is a hopeful development for Adeline and her classmates, who see it as a positive change.

“I felt naked and ghastly and vulnerable. None of them looked at me, and I dared not look at them. At school, I had been so careful to pretend that I came from a loving family. Now they knew the pathetic truth!”

The use of the word “ghastly” implies ghostliness, going beyond Adeline’s word choice, “naked,” and landing on a sense of profound emptiness. The girls’ inability to look at Adeline is ironically juxtaposed with the fact that the truth of Adeline’s abusive home is now achingly visible to them. This passage is the clearest example of the Dichotomies Between Home Life and School Life for Adeline.

“What have you done that your parents should wish to punish you like this!”

This question, which goes unanswered by Adeline, offers two disturbing revelations. The first is that this stranger views Adeline’s arrival in Tianjin as a severe form of punishment because of the existential threats posed by the People’s Liberation Army’s impending arrival. The second implication of the question is that the woman assumes such punishment must be Adeline’s fault; even when abuse stares them in the face, the adults in Adeline’s society consistently give her parents the benefit of the doubt.

“Outside I could hear the sound of a phonograph scratching out the sweet refrain of ‘Silent Night,’ sung by an unknown soprano. I put my head against my folded arms on the refectory table and fell asleep.”

Yen Mah’s reference to the Christmas carol “Silent Night” evokes the feelings of hope amidst darkness associated with Christian celebrations of Jesus’s birth. When Adeline falls asleep, it immediately calls to mind the song’s melancholic, resolving lyric, “Sleep in heavenly peace!”

“At night I would fantasize about being adopted by them, belonging to them and going off with them forever […] Then I would remember my true status and my heart would be touched by ice.”

Adeline’s use of the phrase “true status” has a double meaning: It can either be read as a practical assessment of her familial situation or a negative self-assessment parroting the abusive treatment of her parents. The metaphorical ice, then, also has ambiguous meaning since it could refer to any combination of disappointment, fear, and shame. This ambiguity heightens the imagery’s emotional depth.

“How can you say you hate the study of Chinese when you are Chinese yourself? Go look in the mirror if you have any doubts!”

Ye Ye speaks to The Impact of External Culture Wars on Internal Conflict in relation to Adeline’s European schooling. Ultimately, his rhetorical questions challenge Adeline’s notions that she can escape her exterior circumstances through purely internal means.

“I looked at my grandfather, defeated and resigned with a blanket around his drooping shoulders in the blistering heat, his face contorted with sadness and anguish. A tired old man with no one to turn to, imprisoned by his love for his only son, my father.”

The use of the word “imprisoned” here is figurative, pointing to familial love as an oppressive force within the Yen family. The internal imprisonment is reflected in Ye Ye’s person, as his whole body is exhausted by the family circumstances. The lack of filial piety for Ye Ye, in contrast with his unyielding loyalty to his son and grandchildren, makes for a highly tragic portrait of Adeline’s grandfather.

“I sauntered into the library and picked out a few books. What a beautiful room! Away from the noise, giggles, and excitement. My haven. My sanctuary. The place where I belonged! My real world!”

Yen Mah’s use of anaphoric rhetorical fragments (beginning each sentence with “my”) lends itself to a sense of her stream of consciousness, revealing her feelings for the library intimately and authentically. Her final exclamation speaks to the Dichotomies Between Home Life and School Life; the library makes space for the version of herself that she sees as “real.”

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the three of us could sail away together on one of the big boats down there to all those countries we’ve been reading about: Japan, England, Australia, America? We must get away, stand on our own two feet and create our own destiny.”

This escapist daydream, shared with her school friends, is one of Adeline’s final instances of using Fantasy as a Tool for Survival before she makes the dream a reality by going to England for further schooling. The commanding, glowing idealism of her tone marks a stark shift from the angsty, insecure tone of her internal monologue.

“I’ve tried to tell you over and over that you are precious and special. Being top of your class merely confirms this. But you can vanquish the demons only when you yourself are convinced of your own worth.”

While Adeline has always viewed her aptitude for academics to be the quality that makes her special, Ye Ye insists that it is only a symptom of her greatness. This conviction suggests a merging of the Dichotomies Between Home Life and School Life, in which Adeline is the same “precious” person in both worlds. Previously, such a convergence posed danger to Adeline, as in the case where her school friends visited the house in Shanghai, but Ye Ye encourages her to finally recognize her greatness in all settings.

“Without the prospect of furthering my education, my dreams were withering and I was in agony. Day after day, anxiety spun its web around my thoughts and spread to all corners of my heart.”

Adeline anthropomorphizes her anxiety into a spider, imbuing it with its own life. Thus, her growing internal conflict takes concrete form, establishing itself as a toxic relationship akin to those she has with her parents and siblings.

“After you graduate, you will specialize in obstetrics. Women will always be having babies. Women patients prefer women doctors. You will learn to deliver their babies. That’s a foolproof profession for you. Don’t you think?”

Father’s resistance to Adeline’s desire to study literature in England marks the last hurdle that she must cross before achieving freedom from her abusive childhood. Yen Mah implicitly highlights the misogyny of his conviction that she must study obstetrics, finishing the novel with a picture of his small-mindedness, especially in contrast with the wide world that will soon be open to Adeline.