Themes Flashcards
‘To her we are not separate people. Over here, we have become one single unit known as “all of you”.’
Relationships. It is how her brother feels about Niang.
‘I only took yours because you’re the least likely to give me trouble afterwards.’
Relationships/Family. It reflects how she is seen in her family and her position and reactions are seen un-troubling.
‘I don’t want her to grow up like Big Sister. She is going to be different.’
Her grandfather sees her as unique and treats her with respect. It is relationships.
‘It all stems from mama dying when you were born… things were much nicer when she was alive. You made her go away.’
It is abandonment because she is constantly pushed away or ridiculed because of her mothers timely death.
‘The thought of being separated from my aunt filled me with dread.’
It is relationships as it discusses her close relationship with her aunt as one of the only people who accept her.
‘I was looking uglier and uglier as I grew older and taller.’
It relates to her self esteem because instead of believing in her beauty she herself believes that she is ugly.
‘No way would I ever allow myself to be the object of anyone’s charity or pity.’
She feels empowered and believes in her own abilities and doesn’t not want people to help her out of pity, therefore relating to her self esteem.
‘-it was the loss of the nicest parts of Third Brother that saddened me the most.’
Family- she is so selfless that even through her own hardships, and her own struggles, she still cares for the other people that are of importance to her.
‘I imagined Niang introducing me to a strange man and ordering me to marry him. The thought filled me with horror and fear.’
Family and abandonment- she is scared that they will abandon her by marrying her off.
‘Nothing will ever come of you. You don’t belong in this house.’
Abandonment- she is repeatedly told that she is no use and will amount to nothing and no matter how hard she tries to redeem herself, their opinion of her never changes for they believe that she is bad luck.
‘-does he truly hate me or is he just going along with her because he loves her more and wants a peaceful life?’
Abandonment- she is alone and wonders is it is really all her fault or whether there are reasons that her father shuns her.
‘Now they knew the pathetic truth! Unwanted and unloved by my parents. How long did it take a person to die of shame?’
Self esteem- she deems herself and her situation as pathetic and she feels that her friends will be disgusted by her unloving parents.
‘I took the duckling to heart… it comforted me to know I was needed.’
Self esteem and relationships- her self esteem is boosted by knowing that she was important to someone, be it not a human. Her relationships with her duckling is deep and positive.
“I’m afraid I have forgotten your Chinese name. Was it Jun-Qing?’
It shows abandonment as her father has seen her original name as unworthy of remembrance.
‘How worthless and ugly Niang made me feel.’
It is self esteem as through Niang’s constant insults and actions have taken their toll on Adeline and make her feel useless and insignificant.
