Summary
Ever since Adeline was born, she was considered bad luck because her mother died 2 weeks after she gave birth to Adeline. Her siblings always tease her, yells at her, and hits her because they hated her. None of her siblings really cared for her. The only ones who cared for Adeline was the adults, which is her aunt Baba, her grandmother Nai Nai, her grandfather Ye ye, and her father. But after her father remarried, his love for his family suddenly went away. He still loved and cared for his family and kids, but he just doesn't show it often enough. Adeline got an award for being a leader in her class, and she got a medal that she can wear for a whole week. Her father noticed her award and told her to keep trying her hardest in school. Because of those inspiring words, she tried very hard to continually earn that award every single week. Adeline loved going to school. She enjoys being in school, than at her own home. There, no one looks down on her nor treats her wrong. One morning, her father left the house to supposedly buy stamps, but he never came back. Few months later, his wife took her son and left too. No one knew where they went or whether or not they're even together. During that time period, Adeline was actually feeling about little bit better about herself. The Japanese stopped going to their house to look for her father, they went out together to eat at different kinds of restaurants, they were allowed to have friends over on Sundays, and so much more. But, everything drastically changed after Nai Nai passed away because of a massive stroke. Six weeks after Nai Nai's funeral, Ye Ye took Adeline and her siblings to the railroad station to see their father and to go follow him to Shanghai. When they arrived at Shanghai and greeted Niang (The father's wife), they could sense that she was a lot stricter than before. Adeline's first day of school in Shanghai was a scary experience for her. Everyone forgot about her and she had to find someone on her own to drive her to school. Then, when she finished school, no one waited outside to pick her up. She started to walk around, trying to find her way home. She saw a telephone and used it to call her father. On their way home, he gave her a map and told her to use it, so she won't get lost anymore. A few days later, Aunt Baba and Ye Ye arrived at Shanghai. Aunt Baba bought along Niang's daughter that she left when she was only a few months old. Niang's daughter saw her own mother as a stranger and didn't listened to Niang at all. Niang turned impatient and angry, so she slapped her own 2 year old baby. Adeline couldn't hold it in any longer, and told Niang to stop hitting her, she's just a baby. Even since then, Niang doesn't care for Adeline anymore nor like her. At the end of chapter 8, everyone got their tram fare money, except for Adeline.
Quote
"She died because of you. You are bad luck." (Mah 3).
Reaction
My heart filled with sorrow when I read this part. How could anyone from her family say such hurtful words to a 4 year old girl? I do have pity on her, but at the same time, I'm confident that Adeline can make through this horrible phrase that she has to go through at such a young age. I can relate to Adeline's feeling, because I felt like an unwanted daughter before. But I wasn't as young as her, so it must've been more difficult for her to overcome everything than I. Feeling like no one cares about you or loves you really hurts. It doesn't hurt physically for me, but it definitely does hurts mentally. Whereas for Adeline, she had to suffer through her siblings teasing her, slapping her, and twisting her arm and the hurtful words of her siblings that stayed in her head for a long, long time.
