Falling Leaves

Adeline describes life at the Sacred Heart Convent School and Orphanage, one of the few schools that accepts both boarders and orphans. There is a subtle hierarchy between the boarders and orphans, who are distinguished with different uniforms and classes (orphans are only taught “practical skills” (99) versus academics). In accordance with these different rules and uniforms, orphans are accorded different expectations for their lives. They are expected to “leave the convent at sixteen and get jobs as waitresses, maids and shop girls” (100). Adeline suggests that this treatment is indicative of cultural attitudes toward female worth, reflecting, “girls were a cheap commodity in China” (100).

Even among boarders, there is an unspoken hierarchy based on gifts and food sent from home. Because Adeline never receives anything from her parents, it is understood that she is “unloved” (102). She finds solace in her friendship with a fellow “unloved” girl named Mary and in her regular visits to the library. Adeline haunts the library with such regularity that the kind librarian jokingly asks, when locking up, “‘Is the “scholar” out of her lair? Or is she spending the night in here?’” (104).

Lonely and without visitors, Adeline watches the ocean liners and imagines journeying to England and America, explaining—in the words of the Tang Dynasty poet, Wang Bo—“these were the mythical places I longed to visit and be transformed into an ren jie di ling (inspired scholar in an enchanting land)” (105).