How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?It is normally accepted that life is just like a journey. To Adeline, her life was not a bed of roses –the road of her journey was not smooth and was full of curves and sharp bends, sometimes there were also some loops and bumps. Adeline was born in Tianjin, but later she moved to Shanghai, backed to Tianjin again, and then continued to Hong Kong, and finally studied in England. At the end, she settled down in America, where she worked and was married to Bob. When she travelled from one place to another, she gained new experience and new knowledge as well as faced some problems and difficulties, with which she dealt with manifold efforts. Every destination or place is just similar to a pit stop or a transit point in her life, where some events took place and changed her life accordingly. This can be exemplified by the death of her mother in Tianjin after bringing her to this world. Consequently, she was blamed for the sudden death and was rejected by her family members. Moreover, if Aunt Reine didn’t visit her in Tianjin, she would not be able to leave St. Joseph’s and be enrolled by The Sacred Heart Convent School, Hong Kong. If she didn’t win the playwriting competition in Hong Kong with her play, “Gone with the Locusts”, she would definitely not have the golden chance to pursue her studies in England. Every event could be considered as road sign or shortcut in her journey of life. Finally, she returned to Shanghai as Aunt Baba was dying soon. Her auntie decided to die in Shanghai, as this is the place where her journey started. With the death of Aunt Baba, Adeline realised that life is not only a journey, but also a full circle – Luo Ye Gui Gen. (Falling leaves return to their roots). Probably, the place where all things started would be the final destination for her long journey.
What is the main issue in the text?
Arguably, discrimination of the author by her family members is the major theme of this novel. Adeline was the third last child of the family, and her mother died after giving birth to her. Because of this, she felt rejected as well as unwanted, and was accused of causing her mother’s death. Her stepmother, Jeanne Prosperi Yen, sent her to several boarding schools in order to get rid of her, although she always passed the exams with flying colours and topped the class. She was accused of bringing friends to her house for a party, she was accused of stealing a silver dollar, her duckling was chosen as the guinea pig in the “dog experiment” carried out by her father….Besides discriminated by her wicked stepmother, Adeline was bullied and, towards the end of the story, betrayed by her siblings. For instance, when she was ten years old, she was once the victim of his brother’s violence – the kick of his brother caused her nose to hemorrhage. Moreover, when Father and Niang were at the end of their lives, Adeline was backstabbed by Lydia, her eldest sister, leading her to be disinherited by Jeanne. To make things worse, her most trusted brother, James also betrayed her. At the end, the author received nothing from their parents. However, she successfully overcame all odds in her life and eventually had a happy family, which consists of her lovely husband, Bob, and two adorable children, Roger and Ann. Furthermore, according to her father’s original will, she was given 10 per cent of his asset, showing that Adeline was still loved by Father – She did not feel unwanted anymore.
What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?
Despite being abused and ignored by her family members, Adeline indeed possessed some good values and led a life of virtues, convincing me to have a great admiration for her. First, she was patient and tolerant with her tough life. She did not dwell on her life, although Niang treated her so badly. In fact, she tried in another way to release her anger: She forced herself to study hard. As a hardworking girl, Adeline put a lot of effort in her studies, besides to forget the unhappy events, but also to prove her abilities to her parents. In my opinion, she was not stubborn or rebellious, but refused to give in. This can be well exemplified by her refusal to beg Niang for her tram fare from 1943 to 1948. In addition to that, she dared to speak up – she could not tolerate with Niang’s violence against Susan and tried to stop Niang from continuously beating and slapping the little baby, without considering the consequences which will befall her. She was strong, too, as she could stand with her first self-absorbed husband, Bryon. Even though their marriage ended up a failure, she still managed to cling tenaciously to her life and raised up her child.
How does the text develop your understanding of the world?
After reading the novel, I was shocked that the whole story is not a fiction, but a true story. Coincidently, some events in the story are linked together, just like as planned before, bringing some troubles and conflicts to the author. I feel that the world is unpredictable. Sometimes, God really wants to “play” with us, or gives us some challenges in our life. We cannot foresee or anticipate the problems, but we have to solve them. Like Adeline, we should not dwell on our fate, but work hard to change our fate. On the other hand, the story reflects and exposes human behaviors in their real, naked facade, besides showing that reality is cruel and variably not parallel with your dreams or your way of thinking, Due to greed, her siblings could fool, backstab and betray her for inheriting more shares of estate from their parents. Due to hatred and yearning for more power in the family, Niang tried every method to get rid of Adeline, including accusing her of stealing money and putting her in various boarding schools, so that she could be away from home. In addition, Niang also tried to weaken the bond between her and her siblings by treating them differently. Because of selfish, her two “flesh and bones”, Franklin and Susan could live in the antechamber, while Adeline and her brothers and sisters needed to share a room. Sometimes, human beings are really cruel and inhuman. Undeniably, reality and life is unfair, but in fact, inequality is sometimes created by human beings themselves.
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