Adeline Is Not Worthless

Adeline is not worthless

By Haruka Nagashima

Have you ever felt worthless? In the book, Chinese Cinderella, Adeline's family made her unwanted by treating her unfairly, by keep on telling her that she is no-good, by abandoning her and much more. However, no matter how much her parents and siblings mistreated her, she tried her best to prove her worth. There are mainly three reasons why Adeline is not valueless: her cleverness, braveness and morality.

The first reason is that Adeline had intelligence since she was little. First, when she was in kindergarten, she continued to receive the silver medal as an award for topping her class every week. After she entered elementary school, she kept on studying hard to make her father proud. As a result, Father allowed her to go to medical school in England. Secondly, she won the first prize in the International Play-writing Competition. This also influenced her father to let her study in England. She was not only smart, but also modest. According to Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, Adeline says in front of her classmates, "She doesn't know this but I think she should be the candidate instead of me." Even though Adeline was smart enough to be the class president, she chose to be humble by nominating Wu Chun Mei, instead of herself. Thus, her smartness and modesty makes her special and unique.

The next reason is that Adeline presented several brave actions such as telling Niang not to abuse little sister and asking Father that she wanted to study in England. First of all, Adeline stood out to stop Niang from beating Little Sister. "Quaking with terror, I blurted out, 'Don't beat her anymore. She is only a baby!'"(Yen Mah, 39) shows that even though Adeline herself was awfully afraid of Niang, she told Niang that violence was wrong. Next, Wu Mei didn't yield herself up to her stepmother although her siblings begged Niang to receive tram fare. Adeline asked the tram fare from her grandfather in the first place so that she didn't want to admit that her grandfather did something wrong. "I simply couldn't force myself to go to Niang and admit that I (and therefore my Ye Ye) had erred in the past." (Yen Mah, 46) tells us that Wu Mei chose the harsh way because she wanted to protect the dignity of her grandfather and keep her own dignity as well. Lastly, Adeline collected her courage and told her wish to her father. According to Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, "'Please Father' I asked boldly, thinking it was now or never. 'May I go to university in England too, just like my brothers?'" Adeline didn't miss the opportunity to confess her father about what her dream was. Therefore, Adeline was bold enough to stop Niang beating Little Sister, to keep her righteousness instead of submitting herself and to pursue her goal to study at