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Chapter 7: Family Reunion
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
Despite the family’s obvious wealth, Father and Niang set up an “austerity program to teach us the value of money.” The stepchildren are not allowed to have pocket money; they are not given any clothes to wear other than their school uniforms. The girls’ hair is cut short, plain and old-fashioned; the boys heads are shaved like monks, for which they are ruthlessly teased at school.
Every aspect of this “austerity program” is angled around giving Niang and Father control while wresting any sort of autonomy or budding independence from the stepchildren. Especially for Niang, this need for dominance over every aspect of the stepchildren’s lives suggests a pathological desire for power.
Themes
For the first two months, Ye Ye gives the stepchildren money to take the tram to and from school, since each of their schools is several miles away. However, when Ye Ye runs out of money and insists to Father that the stepchildren need an allowance for the tram fare, Niang is enraged that they dare take the tram at all. She demands that they must walk to and from school each day, unless they come to Niang and Father, admit that they were wrong to take money from Ye Ye, and beg for the fare. Furthermore, Ye Ye and Aunt Baba are forbidden from giving the stepchildren any more money. Adeline feels sure that Ye Ye will put up a fight to this policy, but he does not.
This further demonstrates Niang’s desire for absolute power and control, as well as her unrealistic expectations of the stepchildren. To be enraged at something so minor as taking the tram, especially when it cost her no money at all, betrays an absurd obsession with controlling the minutiae of her stepchildren’s lives and making them as difficult as possible. Once again, Adeline suffers a loss of innocence as she is forced to watch Ye Ye be continually demeaned and disempowered by Niang.
Themes
The stepchildren are all initially furious and determined to resist, but within ten days, Big Sister caves and begs Niang for the tram fare. The three brothers, who have the longest distance to walk, endure for weeks but eventually all give in as well. Only Adeline persists, out of some sense of loyalty to Ye Ye and Aunt Baba, even in the midst of rainstorms and cold weather. Each week, the other stepchildren enter Niang’s room, nicknamed the Holy of Holies, and beg for their fare. Big Sister even starts to brag about her coins in front of Adeline.
Though not the cruelest, Big Sister is perhaps the most detestable of all the stepchildren. Her quick capitulation to Niang and her boasting about the coins she is given demonstrates an utter lack of shame. Like Niang, Big Sister is more interested in power (or placing herself in proximity to power) than in loyalty to Aunt Baba or Ye Ye, making her quite the opposite of Adeline, who suffers hardship for the sake of maintaining her loyalty to her aunt and grandfather. Nicknaming Father and Niang’s room the Holy of Holies seems to be a jab at the god-like power Niang has afforded herself within the household.
Themes
