Assignment #4
In chapter 13, the stark difference between Adeline's home life and that of her school friend Wu Chun-mei is made painfully clear. On a school holiday (which Niang did not know was a holiday), Adeline goes to Wu Chun-mei's birthday party. What happens? Soon afterward, Adeline is elected class president and her friends show up at her house to congratulate her. What do you think her friends thought of Niang's reaction? To make sure that they would not be inconvenienced in this way again, Father and Niang fly Adeline to Tianjin and enroll her in St. Joseph's School as a boarder. But China is in the midst of a civil war. Adeline is one of only 100 pupils in a school built for 1000. The Nationalist government has fallen and Communist troops are closing in on Tianjin. Many local people have fled. Unexpectedly, Adeline is rescued by Niang's older sister and her family (the Schillings), who are very different from Niang. Traveling with the Schillings gives Adeline her first close-up experience of warm family life. Compare Adeline's experiences of friendship and support while she is with the Schillings to how she is treated by her own family (200 words or more)
Kitty Lui
When there’s a school holiday at Adeline’s school, she doesn’t tell her parents of it and attends Wu-Chum mei’s birthday party. Adeline must go home to eat lunch while attending the party so Niang won’t suspect of anything. When Adeline doesn’t come back, Wu Chun-mei calls her only to have Niang pick up and find out that Adeline has been lying and was attending a birthday party. This causes Niang to be enraged and not allow Adeline to eat anything for the rest of the day.
Adeline’s friends are probably surprised when they see and hear Niang’s reaction to them being at her house. They probably didn’t understand why Adeline wasn’t allowed to have friends over since it was probably normal for them to do so. They probably didn’t expect that this is how Adeline is treated at home from her family.
When Adeline was with the Schilings, she was actually treated like part of a family compared to her own. She wasn’t treated poorly, and they even made things fair when deciding who gets a bed or a cot. Her cousins treated her more like siblings than her own actual siblings. They actually wanted to spend time with her and get to know her. Victor even sees how poorly Adeline is treated when she is never invited to go out and stays in with her.
Nancy Lu
When Adeline goes to Wu Chun-mei’s birthday party, Adeline immediately leaves to go back for lunch so that Niang would not suspect anything. Unfortunately, Adeline arrives home earlier than anticipated and Niang begins to question her and would ask her what is in her pocket. Soon later, Niang searches Adeline and finds money in her pocket. Afterwards, a phone call was received from Wu Chun-mei questioning where Adeline was and when she will be coming back so that she could cut her birthday cake. Niang was rude and would ask why Adeline would be invited to a birthday party. Later on, when Adeline was picked as class president, her friends have arrived at her house without any notice. Niang asked her to come to her room and yelled at Adeline and slapped her on across the face. It was silent when Adeline walked downstairs, but Wu Chun-mei and the rest of Adeline’s friends did not say anything. Wu Chun-mei was the last to leave and gave Adeline a handkerchief. She sympathized with Adeline and yelled across Niang’s room saying that this was unfair.
Adeline was rescued by the Schillings and she was given the opportunity to spend time with them. Throughout the entire being with the Schillings, Adeline felt as if she was an equal and that everyone was given an equal chance for everything. When deciding who should sleep on the floor or bed, her aunt put names on scraps of papers to choose by random. Spending time with Victor also made them both closer, thus making a special friendship between the two. The Schillings were very kind and treated Adeline as if she was their daughter. When they arrived at Adeline’s father’s apartment, Adeline would always be excluded on trips or outtings. Victor would always question why she was always excluded and even decided to stay with her when the car was already packed.
Omar Sarreal
Wu Chun-mei had invited Adeline to come to celebrate her birthday, but Adeline knew that Niang would never allow her to visit any of her friends. Instead, Adeline suggested that Wu Chun-mei celebrate her birthday on a Tuesday, which was a school holiday, because it was the name day of their new mother superior. Niang knew nothing of the school holiday and just assumed that Adeline would go to school as usual. On the day of the party Adeline ran from Wu Chun-mei’s house to her own for lunch so that Niang would not get suspicious, but Adeline arrives a little too early. As Adeline talked to Niang, Niang began to notice adeline had something in her pocket, and demanded to see it. After finding out about the silver coin, their home receives a call. Its from Wu Chun-mei, they are waiting for Adeline to return so that they can cut the cake. Its during this phone call that Niang finds out about the school holiday and birthday party.
Soon afterward when Adeline is elected class president, Adeline’s friends went to her house to throw her a surprise party not knowing that she was never allowed to bring friends over to her home. When Niang discovers the surprise party she become furious. She calls Adeline upstairs and scolds her with the door open so all her friends can hear. When Adeline was sent downstairs to ask her friends to leave, she was covered in blood and tears. Her friends were probably shocked because they aren’t used to seeing that kind of parenting because their own parents are much different. Upon leaving Wu Chun-mei even yells at the “holy of holies” claiming that they are unfair.
During the invasion of the communist troops Adeline was resuced by Niang’s older sister and her family, the Schillings. The Schillings made Adeline feel equal to them. There was no hierarchy like there was with Niang. Everyone was treated fairly and was given an equal opportunity to either sleep on the bed or floor. The Schillings treated Adeline as their own daughter.
Aliyah Deiz
In chapter 13, Adeline goes to her friend Wu Chun-mei’s birthday party and she is aware that she is not allowed to go to anyone's home except her own so she doesn’t let her parents know. At first she’s getting away with it, and then when she went home Niang started questioning her. Just as Niang’s suspicion rose, the phone rang and it was Wu Chun-mei. Niang found out and she was furious and Adeline is punished.
I think Adeline’s friends were shocked. They came over to surprise her and they thought what they were doing was good until they saw her bleeding and crying. I think her friends felt bad for her, they did not even question her asking them to leave. But I also think that Adeline’s friends were shocked mostly because her performance at school makes others think everything is fine at home.
When Adeline is with the Schillings her experience was completely opposite from how she was treated by her own family. Her aunt was so conversational and caring, she talked to Adeline as if they were friends. This is something Niang never did, Niang would either be quiet or punishing Adeline. The children, Victor and Claudine, were pleasant. She clearly states, “He(Victor) and Claudine made me feel at ease as soon as I met them” (p289). With her siblings, she was always treated as inferior and they weren’t as pleasant as the Schillings. Overall, the Schillings treated Adeline better than her own family.
Angel Moreno
The day of Wu Chun-mei’s birthday party, clearly showed us the established order that Niang has imposed in the house. It is another example showing the power and control she has over everyone else; in addition to the fear they have towards her. Adeline attends Wu Chun-mei’s birthday party for a short amount of time and then heads back home because she does not want Niang to find out. However, Niang suspects about Adeline’s behavior and points out her pockets. Niang wants to desperately find out what is in her pockets and searches her to only find money. To make matters worse, Wu Chun-mei calls Adeline saying to come back to her house so that they can cut the cake together. Then, Adeline is chosen as class president in school. To celebrate, Adeline’s friends come over unexpected which Niang does not like. As a result, Niang takes Adeline into a room and hits her and yells at her because she was told that she could never have friends over. All of Adeline’s friends knew what had just happened to Adeline but did not mention it and left, all but Wu Chen-mei who was afraid for Adeline. She believed that this was not fair and did not deserve this type of treatment.
Life with the Schillings was much better for Adeline because she felt wanted. She was treated right and there was no sense of power over others. No one was preferred more than others. Everyone had the same chances of sleeping on a bed or on the floor. One great thing that happened was that Adeline spent much of her time with Victor, thus building a special friendship between them. Adeline noticed that the Schillings were nothing like Niang. Adeline noticed how kind and loving the Schillings were towards her. One example that shows the difference of being with Niang than being with the Schillings was that Victor did not leave Adeline alone when the car had no more empty seats.
SUMMARY
We all agreed that Adeline's friend's reactions may have been very shocking because her friends probably thought that Adeline lived in a warm and loving household. To see Niang yell at her in front of her friends may have surprised her friends. This probably allowed Wu-Chen to finally understand why Adeline was unable to do certain things or go out with her friends. Her relationship with the Schilings were also something Adeline was never able to have growing up. This was a huge drastic change because Adeline finally felt equal.