Chinese Cinderella (Edexcel IGCSE English Language A)

• The writer clearly feels fearful and apprehensive at the thought of going home to her family:

  • She describes emotively that she is “Full of foreboding” and “ran downstairs as in a nightmare”

  • “During the short drive home, my heart was full of dread”

  • This implies that she has a complex relationship with her family 

• Yen Mah does not recognise her family’s villa, suggesting that they moved there while she was at boarding school but did not inform her:

  • This underlines her lack of status and importance and her family’s callous disregard for her 

• Yen Mah’s father clearly is the dominant figure in the family, as he “summoned” the writer to his room, and his chauffeur is given orders:

  • Yen Mah is clearly wary of her father and his mood, suggesting that she has been ill-treated in the past

  • She “breathed a small sigh of relief at first but became uneasy again”, and wonders “Dare I let my guard down?”

  • It is his decision whether Yen Mah is allowed to go to England or not; a decision that was clearly not in question for Third Brother, suggesting that priority is given to the male members of the family

• Prestige and honour are clearly important to her father; Yen Mah’s success gives her family greater status 

• The writer’s father’s pride and kind words seem a direct result of the honour her prize confers on the family, feeding his own ego:

  • He is proud of her because she had “given him face” in front of a “revered colleague” and a “prominent fellow businessman”

  • But Yen Mah can exploit his pride and arrogance by “boldly” asking to go to university in England; this gives her a new power or influence 

• Yen Mah is saved by the power of a story: 

  • She was a dedicated student, seeking out the competition and entering it

  • This opens the door for her to escape her family

  • She likens going to England to metaphorically “entering heaven”

  • However, her father still has the power to dictate what she must do there, deciding that she should go to medical school rather than study literature

  • The irony here is that we are reading a piece of literature written by Yen Mah herself

Technique

Analysis

Title

• The title alludes to the fairytale of Cinderella, suggesting that the writer is a real-life version of the oppressed step-sister

First-person perspective

• The first person perspective allows the reader to learn of Yen Mah’s inner thoughts and feelings, evoking feelings of pathos:

  • This also emphasises the distance between her and her father, as he clearly knows so little about her

Rhetorical questions

• The writer uses rhetorical questions to explore the unusual situation she finds herself in:

  • “Why?...”, “Is this a giant ruse on his part to trick me?” and “Is it possible?” imply Yen Mah’s inherent acceptance of her position (someone without good fortune)

  • Her surprise at her father’s kindness and her success in winning the competition also reveals her low self-esteem

Pathetic fallacy

• The radio “warned of a possible typhoon the next day”, foreshadowing her turmoil:

  • Yen Mah feels dread and anxiety at being summoned home

Symbolism 

• The game of Monopoly is a form of symbolism: 

  • At the beginning of the passage, she is “losing steadily” at this game of chance 

  • The game symbolically represents Yen Mah’s life, in which her luck could change for better or worse as she “threw the dice”

Simile

• The writer compares the thought of leaving school to the throbbing of a “persistent toothache”:

  • This suggests the worry about returning home is ever-present and painful

Allusion

• There are religious allusions used in the passage:

  • For example, her father’s sanctum is called the “Holy of Holies”, a reference to the most sacred place in the Temple of Jerusalem, accessible only to a Jewish high priest

  • This likens her father to a powerful religious figure, someone she is obliged to obey

• Yen Mah also compares going to England “like entering heaven” and references a line from a Romantic poem by Wordsworth, which suggests that when the sun rises, we feel “bliss”: 

  • This conveys the overwhelming joy Yen Mah feels, juxtaposed with her earlier anxiety and dread

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