Chinese Cinderella

Key ideas
1. family
  1. mother died two weeks after birth
  2. 4 sibling
  3. Father aged 30 remarried Nean 17 year old half-french, half-chinese
  4. 2 step siblings
2. childhood
  1. Supersition
    1. Curse - if a mother dies in child birth but child survives, the child is bad luck on the family
      1. discriminated by family
  2. step mother divided family
    1. Upper class- stepmum, father and their two children
    2. second class- Adeline and four other siblings
  3. Nean favored those who went along with her wishes, disliked others
  4. Nean loathed Adeline as she was strong and independant
  5. Nean also despised "aunty baba" older sister of the father as unmarried and dependant on adleine's father
  6. half-sister Susan (only daughter of Nean) disowned as beautiful and intelligent and Nean was jealous
3. school
  1. sent to a convent boarding school
    1. as she didn't follow nean's wishes
  2. at age 10 elected class president
    1. her friends wanted to celebrate
      1. she knew she could not take them to her house
        she ran home upset
        her maid told her, that her friends were downstairs waiting for her
        she knew nean would punish her, so went down stairs
        Nean asked to speak with her, told to leave door opem
        told her to send her friends home, slapped her and Adeline got a nose bleed
  3. at 14 dad told her to get a job as Nean believed education was wasted on her
    1. humiliation
4. college
  1. Adeline won an International play - writing competition, father was proud so allowed Adeline to come to England and study medicine at university
  2. After she had graduated she went back to Hong Kong to make her father proud, however she hated it there again.
5. America
  1. applied for a job in hospital in Philidelphia
  2. moved to America
  3. met her husband Bob
    1. none of her family at wedding
      1. Nean wanted to disown her
        her father chose to keep her
Paragraph one
1. "Time"
  1. indirect personification
    1. time is not human, so it turns it into having human feelings
2. "relentlessly"
  1. - human feelings
  2. emotive word attached to time
    1. lending it a human asscoiation = personification
3. line two
  1. threshold, turning point. ske know something is ging to happen
Paragraph two
1. "outside it was hot and there was a warm wind blowing"
  1. pathetic fallacy
    1. the use of weather conditions to reflect human feeling or mood
2. mix of short and long sentences
3. "like a persistent toothache"
  1. similie
4. "throwing dice"
  1. fate
5. "The radio warned of a possible typhoon"
  1. prophesysing
paragraph seven
1. "foreboding"
  1. negative anticipation, a sense that something ill is going to occur
    1. elaborating the following "I" because of comma brings attention
2. "Nightmare"
  1. compressed (style)
3. "wondering who had died this time"
  1. associating being summoned to a bad occurance
4. "everyone was healthy"
  1. relief, tension eased
paragraph eighteen
1. "Ruse"
  1. scheme, plot, trick, the word has mildly negative connotations - she doesn't trust him
2. 1st two lines - character
  1. "Timidly"
    1. scared of entering
3. "i breathed a small sigh of relief"
  1. she is is scared of him
4. "dare i let my guard down"
  1. confusion, father seen as enemy, tension building
paragraph four
1. "Mother Valentino"
  1. house mistress, keeper. shows she is important/ intimidating
Paragraph six
1. "Hurry up downstairs!"
  1. IMPERATIVE
  2. "!" EFFECTIVE
2. sharp tone
  1. a sense of urgency, authority, impatience
    1. testy impatient
paragraph nine
1. "How should i know"
  1. "I" in itlaics
    1. not as respectful as to an adult
paragraph eight
1. comfortable with him in a peremptory manor
paragraph twelve
1. "replied rudely"
  1. testy response
2. (not very close with parents as out of touch, doesn't even know where they live.)
paragraph seventeen
1. "Holy of Holies"
  1. fathers office, Jerusalam, inner sancutm, shows how people don't go there unless there is something special
Paragraph nineteen
1. short sentences, minimalist, not chatty
paragraph twenty one
1. "conossian school"
  1. nuns, strict, joyless
paragraph twenty two
1. "is it possible?
  1. rhetorical question
2. kudos- stamp of approval
  1. short but brings attention to her thoughts
paragraph twenty three
1. proud, congratulations
paragraph twenty four
1. "He looked radiant. For once, he was proud of me"
  1. Note the implicit meaning behind the short phrase when referring to her father, pride, which hints that he was sparing in his praise of her
  2. exuding, giving out, projecting affections, warmth, love, joy
2. different moment of elation, optimism, confidence - all produced by the warm congratulations of her father, a life changing experience
3. worthy status, her writing reveals the importance of social status and respectability in the society of the time. Her father greatly appreciates the approval of a respected business collegue
paragraph twenty seven
1. her father doesn't like her to boast, he likes modesty
paragraph twenty eight
1. shows that men had more priority for education
paragraph twenty nine
1. she has to convince him
paragraph thirty
1. extreme joy

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Chinese Cinderella

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	Created by cathgolby over 10 years ago