Previous
Chapter 1: Top of the Class
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Chinese Cinderella, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Physical and Emotional Abuse
Coming of Age and Self-Worth
The Power of Stories
Toxic Family
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
When Adeline was born, her three older brothers and Big Sister were between the ages of three and six. They all blamed Adeline for killing their mother and continue to hold it against her. Father married a seventeen-year-old half-Chinese, half-French woman whom the children call Niang, which is Chinese for “mother.” Together they had two more children: Fourth Brother and Little Sister.
The fact that Adeline’s family unjustifiably blames her for her mother’s death sets up the toxic family dynamic—rather than finding a healthy way to express their grief, it becomes anger aimed at Adeline. Father’s marriage to a woman only eleven years older than his oldest child also indicates an unhealthy family dynamic—how can one expect to mother someone who is only a decade younger than she is?
Themes
The parents, children, Grandfather Ye Ye, Grandmother Nai Nai, and Aunt Baba live together in one house in Tianjin, a port city on China’s northeastern coastline. Adeline’s family lives in the French concession of the city, which is under the jurisdiction of France and governed by French soldiers, rulers, and laws, even though greater Tianjin is occupied by the Japanese. The children are taught to count and read in French by French Catholic nuns.
The oppressive presence of the Japanese in China is loosely reflective of the oppressive presence of Father and especially Niang over the household. Although China undergoes several major cultural upsets and revolutions throughout Adeline’s childhood, these events only ever form a backdrop. As a child, her perception is mostly bound to the chaos of her own family.
Themes
