Chinese Cinderella

Ideas
Adeline Yen Mah is outlining her experiences of growing up in Hong Kong. She describes a
moment when her father became proud of her and she made a life-changing decision to move
to the UK.

Context
1950s Hong Kong life was relatively new and difficult. In 1945, the British resumed their
rulership of Hong Kong. There were a large number of refugees from the mainland and the
population grew significantly.

Author’s purpose
Adeline Yen Mah grew up in Hong Kong. She was brought up in a
wealthy family and she describes the house within this extract. It is
interesting how she is reflecting on a childhood event but she is
doing this as an adult. It could be that a memory is different from
the reality.

Language
Emotive Language

Emotive Language is any language and vocabulary that creates an

emotion. It is an umbrella term that encompasses many different
devices:

‘My heart gave a giant lurch as it dawned on me that he was

agreeing to let me go. How marvelous it was simply to be alive!
Study? I thought. Going to England is like entering heaven. Does it
matter what you do after you get to heaven?’

Within this quote, there is usage of descriptive adjectives. However,

most significantly is the use of different sentence types to create
the emotion.

There are exclamatory sentences. These are sentences that end in

an exclamation mark. These reflect the excitement of the child at
the time.
There are rhetorical questions. These are questions that do not
require an answer. She asks herself several questions. These reflect
her excitement.

Dialogue

There is much dialogue within the extract:

‘‘Adeline!’ Ma-mien Valentino was calling.

‘You can’t go now,’ Mary protested. ‘For once I’m winning. One, two,
three, four. Good! You’ve landed on my property. Thirty-five dollars,
please. Oh, good afternoon, Mother Valentino!’ ‘

It almost appears as though this is a story. This conversation and

time was obviously extremely important to the writer, as she
remembers each word that was mentioned.

Structure
It is interesting how we do not meet the family until part way
through the extract. The focus suddenly becomes on her father. The
conversation is clearly remembered. It impacted upon her greatly.
She wants to see him but it is unusual for her to enter into his room.
She then goes through a range of emotions when meeting her
father. It is him who controls her actions, as represented by the
ending:

‘Agree? Of course I agreed. Apparently, he had it all planned out. As

long as he let me go to university in England, I would study anything
he wished. How did that line go in Wordsworth’s poem? Bliss was it
in that dawn to be alive.’

‘Father, I shall go to medical school in England and become a

doctor. Thank you very, very much.’

It appears as though this conversation affected the rest of her life.