Chinese Cinderella

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses child abuse.

Adeline is the author and protagonist of Chinese Cinderella, and her story follows a heroic arc from underdog to triumph. Though the memoir is a nonfiction account of the author’s life, it contains traces of Joseph Campbell’s monomythic “hero’s journey”: Adeline receives pseudo-supernatural help from the spirit of her mother, is forced beyond the comfort of her own home at boarding school in Tianjin and Hong Kong, and finally achieves “freedom to live” by escaping to England (Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press, 1949). Since the memoir follows her throughout the formative years of her childhood, her voice and perspective shift from that of a toddler to that of a teenager in a relatively short span of chapters. Through it all, however, Adeline remains optimistic, hardworking, and imaginative.

Rapid character development makes for a fast-paced narrative overall, with shifts in Adeline’s character following simple patterns of cause and effect. A key development in Adeline’s character is the onset of insecurity in her teenage years toward the end of the memoir.