Falling Leaves

Adeline attends a Catholic boarding school in Oxford. While in Oxford, Adeline goes to visit the sister-in-law of a Methodist missionary who kept her company on the boat to England. Throughout her visit, the missionary’s sister-in-law speaks patronizingly to Adeline in pidgin English, saying things like, “‘Likee more tea and cake?’” (124). Adeline is thus introduced to the imperialist racism common throughout England.

Such racism and condescension is also prevalent in Adeline’s medical program, as the differences between Europeans and Asians are frequently highlighted with the underlying assumption of “the superiority of the West” (125). Chinese medical students are uncommon, let alone female Chinese medical students, and they have a charged reputation as “DARs (damned average raisers)” (126). In the Chinese Student Union, Adeline finds comfort with fellow Chinese students who share her cultural values and experiences of prejudice.

Adeline becomes deeply infatuated with one of her teachers, a German named Karl Decker. She admires Karl’s striking appearance, dignified bearing, and intense devotion to his research. They fall into a secret relationship (which they cannot reveal because of Karl’s position as Adeline’s superior), and Adeline learns that Karl suffers from schizophrenia. His fanatical devotion to research comes from a need to suppress “the demons” (130) in his mind.