CHINESE CINDERELLA Flashcards
What is the form?
Memoir
‘time went by relentlessly’
Negative word
Running out of time in school
‘end… the end of school forever’
No opportunity for higher education
Repetition emphasises the end
‘typhoon the next day’
Pathetic fallacy
Bad thing coming?
Builds tension
‘like a persistent toothache’
Simile
Chronic pain won’t go away
‘then why are you taking me home?’
Distant home life
Question shows genuine confusion
‘inside, it was quiet and cool’
Not homely and cosy
‘Little Sister’
Not her real name
Capitalisation
Gender and birth order
Emotionally distant family dynamic
‘see me in his room?’
Rhetorical question shows shock
‘Father’
Capital
Shows important position
‘Holy of Hollies’
Connotations of God (extreme importance and power)
A place where women cannot go which shows shock and relationship
‘ruse… trick me’
Semantic field
Thinks she is being tricked
‘Sit down! Sit down!’
Repetition
Direct speech
Imperative verb
Shows her farther is very secure of his power and dominance over his children
‘is it possible? Am I dreaming? Me, the winner?’
Tricolon
Repeated rhetorical questions
Shows shock
‘I was quite pleased’
Understatement even in his praise
‘I had given him face’
Metaphor/idiom
Respect and honour
‘I only had to stretch out my hand to reach the stars’
Hyperbole
Metaphor
Shows desperation for recognition and praise which she does not receive often
‘how come YOU won?’
Italics
Surprised
Patriarchal society
Did not expect it
‘he laughed approvingly’
Good answer
Humble as expected of a young chinese daughter
‘I asked boldly’
Adjective
Shows her perspective as a young female chinese student
‘as it dawned on me’
Changes her life
Dawn of a new day and so starts the rest of her new life
‘does it matter what you do after you get to heaven?’
So excited isn’t thinking about practicalities
‘I plan to study literature. I’ll be a writer.’
Sounds determined
‘scoffed’
Patronising and dismissive
‘You will go to England’
Definite
Stating facts and will not be argued with
‘foolproof profession for you’
Expects her to fail otherwise
Literally calling her a fool (implication in word construction)
‘Don’t you agree?’
Rhetorical question as he isn’t asking
Expects her to agree
Shows inequality of power in relationship
‘Third Brother’
Children to bring honour and success to family not individuality and emotions/feelings
What are the themes?
Parental control
Education
Ambition/determination
Role of women
Parent/child relationship
‘bliss was it in that dawn to be alive’
Refers again to the dawning of her new life
‘Wordsworth’s poem’
Responds to her new medical path with a poem
Structure shows her true passion/love
‘very, very much’
Repetition due to her deference
