Assignment #3
Despite the challenges she faces, Adeline never falls into a passive attitude of learned helplessness. When Niang begins to beat Little Sister, Adeline cries out: "Don't hurt her any more. She's only a baby!" Niang declares that she will "never forgive" Adeline. This isolates Adeline even further, especially as her siblings gradually surrender to the new hierarchy of power Niang has imposed since Grandmother Nai Nai's death. The loneliness of Adeline's situation is epitomized by what happens to the baby duckling Adeline names "Precious Little Treasure" (PLT). This incident shows how the new hierarchy of power Niang has imposed is impacting the character and choices of other members of the family. Why do you think Adeline’s father and siblings acted as they did? At the end of chapter 12, Big Sister seems to feel very satisfied with herself. Yet her actions show that, in her own way, she is becoming more and more like Niang (and the daughter of the stepmother in the animated version of the original Chinese Cinderella story we watched in class). Why do you think Big Sister would adopt the manipulative attitude of someone whom she did not like? (200 words or more)
Kitty Lui
Ever since the death of Nai Nai, Niang filled in the position of the head of the household. During the incident with PLT, her father only pulled Jackie away from PLT because he was angry at the fact that the obedience training wasn’t working. He didn’t do it because PLT meant a lot to Adeline. The impact of Niang is shown before the incident with PLT when father tells Big Brother to choose someone’s ducklings for Jackie’s obedience training. Big Brother knew that he could never choose his stepsiblings ducklings because of the consequences he will face with Niang. He chose Adeline’s duckling because he knew that no one would really yell at him for choosing hers. Since he knew that she was the black sheep of the family, no one would really care. Also, it shows how little support she has from her family after the death of PLT because only Aunt Baba and Third Brother showed any condolences.
I think that Big Sister started to adopt Niang’s manipulative attitude because she enjoys all the power and privileges she has from being alliances with Niang. She only didn’t like Niang because how poorly she treated her. However, now that Niang is starting to treat her better and give her attention, she understands that she needs to do whatever she needs to do to please Niang to stay on her good side. In the incident with the pendant that she received without telling Niang, she knew she had to throw Aunt Baba under the bus since Niang found out about what happened. She did that so she can remain on Niang’s good side and not get in trouble.
Nancy Lu
Ever since the death of Nai Nai, Niang has taken control of the household. Niang has the power to make decisions for her stepchildren and the rest of the household. When Adeline’s father asked to bring a duckling, it was only to test the obedience of Jackie. Her father did not care about the safety of the duck, but was only angered at the fact that Jackie was not obedient to the father. Adeline’s big brother only chose Adeline’s duckling because he didn’t want to defy Niang or his father. Since Adeline was the least importance in the family, which is why they chose to act as they did.
Due to this hierarchy, Niang is able to persuade big sister through positive reinforcement. When Niang ears dropped the conversation between her stepchildren, she bribed big sister in turning against her siblings by allowing big sister to have her own room on the second floor. When everything is being handed to big sister, such as the privilege to go out and the freedom to do whatever, it clearly shows how big sister is turning into like Niang. Big sister does everything that she can in order for Niang to like her and to not stay on her bad side. When Niang finds out about the jade pendant that big sister receives, big sister is manipulative and blames her Aunt Baba for it. She wanted to “clear” her conscience and even offered to give the pendant to Niang, but because big sister was honest, she allowed big sister to keep the pendant. In order for Niang to continue liking big sister, she adopts a manipulative trait that Niang has.
Omar Sarreal
Since the death of Nai Nai, Niang has came and began to impose a new hierarchy of power. As most of the family progressively surrenders to Niang, Adeline stays strong and is not phased by the treatment she receives. Niang will mistreat anyone that is not willing to succumb to her power. Incident We can see how Adeline’s siblings treat her during the incident with her duck PLT. When Adeline’s father requests Big Brother to retrieve a duckling to test Jackie’s obedience, he is quick to choose PLT as the dog’s victim. The only sibling to show sympathy towards Adeline was Third Brother. Adeline’s father did not care which duckling was chosen and didn’t show any compassion towards PLT.
I feel Big Sister is only trying to remain on Niang’s good side. Big Sister knew how Niang treated her siblings before. Big Sister was given a beautiful jade pendant as a wedding present, and she did not tell Niang in fear of her taking it for herself. After overhearing a conversation in the bathroom Big Sister knew that Niang figured out about the pendant. So as a way to get on Niang’s good side she offers the pendant to her, but Niang let her keep it. Being on the same side as Niang, she is given special attention and privileges. As an act to get Big Sister to join her, Niang gave Big Sister her own room.
Aliyah Deiz
Adeline’s duckling was such a treasure to her, hence the name, and it I thought it was very clear to her family how important this animal was to her. The first offense was committed by the siblings when they offered PLT to be used for the Dog’s obedience demonstration test. Without even asking, they all agreed to throw Adeline under the bus, taking advantage of the fact that she would have no say in this decision. I think this clearly showed their hierarchical power, by making Adeline the oppressed and everyone just seemed to go along with it. The second offense was when Father grabs the Dog after it pounces on PLT. At first I thought, maybe he cared a little but then it became clear to me that he wasn’t saving PLT, he was saving himself. Niang mentioned to him how expensive the dog training classes were suggesting that they better worth all the money they spent. So him saving PLT was just an effort to reinforce his power and his authority.
As for Big Sister, I think she adopted the behavior of Niang for multiple reasons. Although Big Sister did not necessarily like Niang, her adopting the same behavior was very beneficial for Big Sister. When she sided with her siblings, she was grouped to be the lesser and seen as just a child. Because Niang acknowledged she felt satisfied with herself in way that put her above her siblings. She was now seen as one of the adults. I think Big Sister also adopted Niang’s manipulative attitude because she saw that it worked. There is this quench for power within their family, and I think when Big Sister saw the opportunity to have more she took it for her own best interest.
Angel Moreno
The relationship between Adeline and her stepmother just keeps getting worse and worse as chapters conclude. I strongly believe that the reason for why there is so much hatred towards Adeline by Niang is that she is not her biological mother. Chinese culture is commonly known for their people caring a lot about bloodlines and family members. Since Adeline and her siblings do not share the same blood as Niang, they are not seen as family to her, hence the mistreatment and aggressiveness by Niang. This rage and the sense of fear that Niang gives to Adeline and all her brothers and sisters, is what ultimately gives her control and establishes order in the household. As to why the father is not doing anything about the mistreatment that all his children are getting is perhaps because he is deeply in love with Niang, which is making him blind of the harsh reality that his children have to face each day. In addition, in his mind Adeline is the still the reason for why his ex-wife and Adeline’s mother is dead. He still holds that inside him and makes him angry towards Adeline. Now, as for the siblings, they are probably already accustomed to the idea of learned helplessness. It is programmed into their brains that this situation with Niang is not going to get any better any time soon, so they just have to get on Niang’s good side. They are tired of receiving harsh mistreatment and rejection.
Big Sister is adopting the manipulative attitude from Niang because she just wants to remain on Niang’s good side. I believe that Big Sister is following Niang’s orders so that she can no longer be under her control. She thinks that she will get a little freedom by listening to Niang. Overall, on the long run, Big Sister will not remain satisfied with herself and find happiness by agreeing to a fixed marriage.
SUMMARY
Niang gains control of the household after the death of Nai Nai, which leads to the isolation of Adeline even more. Adeline’s father doesn’t step in to help her because he still probably blames her for the death of his late wife. The maltreatment of Adeline is clearly seen when her duckling is picked out of everyone else’s because everyone knows that no one would say anything if anything happened to her ducklingBig Sister starts to adopt Niang’s personality because she knows if she’s on Niang’s side she would get special treatment. In the incident with the pendant, she understands that it’s necessary to back stab Aunt Baba to stay on Niang’s good side.