Chinese Cinderella: The true story of an unwanted daughter P.123-161

Summary

After Adeline said goodbye to her aunt, off to Tianjin, she goes. Adeline was going to attend St. Joseph, a school that Niang went to before. St. Joseph was a whole lot different than Adeline's previous school. For example, classes were divided, according on how well your ability to speak English are. After November 1948, Nancy Chen and Mother Natalie left Tianjin, more and more girls would stop attending school each and everyday. In December, Adeline was the only student left at St. Joseph. All of a sudden, Mother Marie yelled for Adeline and told her that her aunt was going to Hong Kong and wanted to take her along. She was extremely excited to see Aunt Baba, but it wasn't Aunt Baba, it was Niang's older sister, Aunt Reine. Niang doesn't know that Adeline is coming back and Adeline's afraid of Niang's reaction when she returns. She wanted to go to Shanghai with her Aunt Baba, but Aunt Reine didn't let her. Adeline really enjoyed her stay with the Schilling family because they actually treat her with respect and fairness. It felted like she was a part of their family. When Adeline got home, everyone ran to greet Aunt Reine, her husband, and her kids. For the whole week that the Schillings stayed over, Niang went out with them everyday. But she never bother to invite Adeline to come along. Victor noticed that Niang was being unfair to Adeline so he decided to miss out on the trip to stay home and accompany Adeline. After the Schillings left, Adeline was soon sent to another boarding school in Hong Kong. She first thought that she was in danger and her parents didn't want her anymore because the name of the school was Sacred Heart School and Orphanage. But then, after Niang had a talk with these two nuns, Adeline was relieved because it was the middle of the school year and she got accepted as a boarder!

Quote

"Then she said, "What have you done that your parents should wish to punish you like this!" (Mah 129).

Reaction

I got very angry when I read this quote that a nun had told Adeline. I'm angry for Adeline because in my opinion, Adeline haven't done a thing that's wrong, rude, nor disrespectful. By sending her to Tianjin at this point of time was really messed up. They don't even care about Adeline's safety nor feelings, they probably just wanted to punish her for the fun of it. I just despise how wrong and unfair, her family treats her. I believe in karma, which is what comes around, goes around. But for Adeline's whole childhood, this is the complete opposite of karma, and that's what made me so angry when I read this part. Why does Adeline has to be treated like this, when she didn't do anything wrong? It's just immoral.