Friday, May 18, 2007

Chinese Cinderella 15-17

Chapter 15 was a pretty big chapter. The first thing that happens is she is shipped off to boarding school. While she is flying to Tianjin her father comes back and sits with her so he can ask some questions. The first shocker for her, is he has to ask her for her name and her birthday. "A pang went through me. I meant so little to him, I was such a nobody, that he didn't even remeber my name!" (pg.124). The second shocker is when they board the plane them and only 10 others board the plane. When they arrive in Tianjin her father sends her in to the school with her Niang without so much as a goodbye. When she arrives at the school there are very few girls left at the massive school. After she arrives it seems another girl leaves. The girls were leaving due to the fact that at this time the communists were taking over the provinces one at a time and it was headed in the direction of Tianjin. Pretty soon she is the only girl left. She still went to classes regularly and then nuns were all still there, but even she says they "avoided looking at me directly whenever they happened to meet me in the corridors" (pg.132). Finally one day after New Years one of the nuns comes out to the schoolyard looking for adeline because someone has finally come for her. It was her Niang's sister coming with her family to take her to Hong Kong so Adeline could be with her family.

In chapter 16 it covers her journey to Hong Kong with her aunt's family. She really enjoys their company, especially their kids. She began to really love the time she spent with them and even fantized about being adopted by them. Finally the dreaded day arrived for Adeline, were she would have to face the rest of her family who hadnt even bothered to inform her they had moved to Hong Kong. When they arrive at her family's apartment her aunt and her family are all gushed on and nobody even speaks to Adeline. The only person that speaks to her is her Ye Ye and that is only after the rest of Adeline's family has gone to dinner. "We understood each others predicament only too well" (pg. 148).

In chapter 17, after Niang's sister's family leaves Adeline is sent to pack up her things as she is being sent to a boarding school nearby. On her last nigh she sat with her Ye Ye and remebered thinking " It's bound to get better. One day things will be different. Life won't go on like this forever" (pg. 159). When she arrived at the school she realized that it was really a school and an ophrange all in one.

These chapters were really significant to the plot, especially 15. In chapter 15 it really showed just how much she was unwanted, from her own father forgeting her name. To her whole family not even acknowledging to tell her that they were moving. And it also showed how little they cared for her putting her in a school in a province in which was soon to be raided and usually the first to go were foreigners and religious supporters.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

This was probably the most helpful summary I have read yet.

Unknown said...

Why was there so many spelling errors though..? ahaha.