In Adeline Yen Mah’s book “Chinese Cinderella”, the main themes that are shown throughout the book are courage and perseverance. The book portrays a young girl by the name of Adeline, who faces being deserted, rejected and forsaken by her own family but how she persevered through her suffering. The theme of courage is shown when Adeline was left abandoned and forgotten in a Boarding-School in Tianjin while a civil war was occurring. Courage was also shown when Adeline finally realized how little she had meant to her family.
This was made known when Adeline’s own father forgot her name and birthday. It was negligence, but Adeline showed her courage and grew to accept that. Adeline’s perseverance was mainly shown in the triumph over her studies and her ability to strive for success even though her family wasn’t there to support her. Adeline had great courage and believed that maybe one day things would be different. After being abandoned and forgotten in a boarding-school in Tianjin, while a civil war was occurring was just one example of her great courage and determination to get through.
Even though Adeline knew that the communists were winning the war, she didn’t surrender to her fear. Even though she ended up being the last student in the boarding-school, she didn’t stop striving in her education. Instead she held on to her courage. Adeline experienced the sorrow of not being counted or loved in a family. This was shown in the negligence that her family endlessly gave her. An example of this would be when her own father forgot her name and birthday.
It was then that she courageously accepted that she would never be loved in this family. Her sadness was evident, but her courage to overcome that was unmistakable. Adeline had a passion to succeed in life. Her desire and commitment towards her studies caused her to persevere even though her life was such a struggle. Adeline’s efforts of gaining top in class, class president and a winner of a play-writing competition were just examples of her perseverance with no family support.
She persevered and relied on herself because she believed that she could create a better life through her education The pain and the rejection that Adeline had to face is what gave her the courage to persevere and make something out of her life. Adeline knew what she wanted, and that was to create a better future for her. Her achievements and success happened because she persevered through her fear and loneliness and gained the courage to stand up and face the world alone.
