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Adina Binai, Katlynn Geder, Naeema Kallon

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Adeline Yen Mah was born in Tianjin, China in 1937. Her mother passed away during childbirth, and she spent her childhood in the cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong with her 6 siblings, her father, and her stepmother. At the age of 14, she won a playwriting competition, which encouraged her father to allow her to study in England. She studied medicine and moved to California where she grew her medical career as an anesthesiologist. Her memoir, Falling leaves made its presence on the New York Times best seller list, leading her to quit her medical career to become a devoted author. Her follow up children's memoir, Chinese Cinderella, won an award from the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California and the and Lamplighter’s Award. Adeline has also founded the Falling Leaves Foundation, which promotes understanding between the East and the West and funds the study of Chinese history and culture.

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Falling Leaves is Adeline Yen Mah's memoir speaking about her difficult childhood growing up in a mentally and physically abusive Chinese family during and after World War 2. The book focuses on her endless struggle and fight for love, acceptance, and independence while facing neglect and cruelty from her stepmother (Niang) and her siblings. This story matters because it demonstrates how rejection paired with the factors of cultural values, family dynamics, and resilience can shape a person's identity years after their challenges and influence the choices they make. As Adeline refelects, she was seen as "bad luck" from birth, a lable that plauged her childhood (Mah 5). Her memior is both a personal or survival and a reflection on larger themes like perserverance, tradition, and family.

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The story is primarily told through the perspective of Adeline and her personal experiences. The story does, however, cut to times where the perspective shifts to another person, such as Adeline's Great Aunt in the beginning of the novel, to provide context and understanding. By having the story told through the perspective of Adeline herself, the reader is able to feel a more personal connection with the memoir since they are getting the firsthand account of Adeline's experience and struggles. Having the memoir in the perspective of Adeline also shapes the reader's experience of the novel by creating an illusion as if the reader was personally in attendance of the events of the story.

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Adeline's stepmother, or Niang, is undoubtably a key character in the memoir. Without her presence in Adeline's life, the memoir of Adeline's life would not have been written the way it is. Physically, Niang is described to be a token of beauty with a porcelain like oval face complimented with round, dark eyes and silky black hair, and is praised for her western genetic of being half French. Emotionally, however, Niang displays herself as an authoritarian and manipulative person who emphasizes strict obedience, respect, and unequal power dynamics within the family. Niang guides any given situation into the direction that she desires through humiliation, isolation, harsh rules, and favoritism.

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The central theme of the memior is resilience in the face of rejection. Since the beginning of the story Adeline is labled as "bad luck" after the death of her mother and becomes the family scapegoat for their tourture. Despite this hardship she's able to push through and focus on self improvement with her education. She explains, "Education was my only way to win respect" (Mah, 45) Her level of resiience is deveoped by consistant episodes of humiliation and neglect ranging fom being left out from family outings to being punished unfairly, all of which put forward by Niang. Instead of being discouraged by her family's actions, she turned her pain into fuel and managed to win awards, write pays, and attend an international medical school. The theme developed at a steady pace the more her family pushed down, the harder Adeline fought to succeed and prove that she was worthy to herself. In the end her sucess showed that even in the hardest conditions resilience can develop.

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Aunt Baba is another undeniable key character in the novel. As the story progresses, Aunt Baba is a persistent source of support for Adeline through all of her struggles and victories. Aunt Baba, with her thick black hair and round glasses, is a warm hearted individual who nurtures to Adeline and the rest of her siblings when their father and Niang fail to do so, giving her the illusion of Adeline's guardian angel. Aunt Baba looks towards the brighter end of the story, encouraging Adeline to not lose hope, make wise decisions, and continue with her education. Through all the chaos and misfortune of the family, Aunt Baba serves as a symbol of optimism and loyal familial bonds.

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Aunt Baba is one of the few people in Adeline's life that treat her well. This relationship leads to Adeline admiring Aunt Baba. She also encourages Adeline to pursue education in order to make a better life for herself. This is what motivates Adeline later in life and ends up being significant to her life after her childhood.

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The death of Adeline's mother is one of the sole factors of how she is perceived by her family. She is viewed as being bad luck. This is then emphasized by marriage being her dad and her stepmother who continues to treat her poorly. This leads to many incidences of which she is abused to her perceived bad luck in the family. As a result, Adeline grows up feeling unloved and unwanted.

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Adeline wins a playwrighting contest which gives her the opportunity to study abroad in England. This opportunity gives financial independence and the ability to make a better life for herself. While she initially goes to England to study medicine, this eventually leads to her writing the memoir as a form of healing from her past.

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Imagery is a common rhetorical device used throughout the novel. In each chapter, Adeline gives detailed descriptions on the events taking place, who was involved, and the impact it left on her and her family. For example, when Adeline was being told about the news of her grandmother's death in chapter 5, she writes "I recall the sound of cicadas humming in the background, while street-hawkers clicked wooden clappers to announce their presence, chanting their wares melodiously on the pavement below: 'Hot beef noodles. Stinky bean curd. Fresh pot stickers,"' (Yen Mah, 38). By providing detailed imagery, it helps the reader set the scene in their head and create a graphic visual summary of what is taking place. The imagery also allows for the reader to feel a deeper emotional connection to the novel as the imagery allows for the reader to feel as if they are witnessing the novel first hand.

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Symbolism in the novel is used to reflect what Adeline is seen as by her family. This can be seen with Adeline and the duck that she was gifted. When Adeline's parents came home with ducklings as presents, Adeline was given "the smallest, scrawniest and weakest little bird with a tiny head but soft, fluffy yellow feathers," (Yen Mah, 61). The small duckling symbolizes how Adeline's father and Niang view her as feeble and incapable of doing what is right for herself, and how her siblings are viewed as more proficient and superior.

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Adeline often uses pathos as a way to connect with the reader. Throughout the book, Adeline writes about her mistreatment and abuse that she suffered. The pathos appeals to the reader's emotions and empathy and helps build that emotional connection that keeps the reader going on. One example of pathos can be seen in chapter 6 of novel, where Niang humiliated Adeline in front of her classmates who threw her a celebration. "I must have been quite the sight when I stepped back into the living-room to face my campaign supporters. Stripped of my defenses, obviously unloves and unwanted by my own parents, I could not look them in the eye, and they could not look at me," (Yen Mah, 69). By providing the reader the details of her humiliation, Adeline is able to build the reader's emotional trust and gain their empathy and compassion.

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After her father's death, Adeline learns that Niang has altered the will giving all money to her and disinherits the family. This has a large effect on Adeline, as this serves as a catalyst for the family to fall apart. It also serves as another sign of rejection from Niang and her manipulative behaviors.

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Allusions are used in the novel to emphasize the cultural and social values of Adeline and her family at the time. Adeline frequently alludes to the Confucian values of her family, such as Filial Piety. "Your father,' she said, 'has seven children to support. Thank goodness Lydia is safely married off. However, there are still six left. It is not too early to be thinking of your future. What plans do you have?" (Yen Mah, 115). The allusions to filial piety and other traditional values conveys the values to which Adeline was being held at by her parents. The allusions also allows for the reader to feel a deeper understanding of Adeline and her family's thought process as it refers to the culture and traditions that they grew up with and learned. Additionally, the allusions emphasize the neglect from Niang, as Adeline writes about how Niang and her father ignored the values of Filial Piety to overlook Ye Ye in order for her to get the outcome they had hoped for. "This was unheard of in a society where father-in-law hardly deigned to speak to their sons' wives, let alone ask them for money. Besides breaking the Confucian bond of filial piety, Father was undermining Ye Ye's self-respect," (Yen Mah, 75).

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The memoir closes with Aunt Baba's death and Adeline reflecting. In Aunt Baba's final moments, she mentioned wanting to give Adeline the strength to come to terms with her trauma. Adeline reflects on how the kindness and guidance Aunt Baba provided to her. The memoir then closes with Adeline feeling peace, representing her moving on from her past.

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The most important time period for the book is that it takes place during Post world War 2 China. Due to this, the book takes place during a drastic era of change for china politically. The fall of Japanese occupation and the rise of communist rule created instability across the nation. This event forced Adeline's family to move from Taijin to Hong kong to escape the political disruption with her recalling how her family fled "as the communist advanced toward Taijin" (Mah, 72) this event marked the moment where Adeline's once wealthy family became finacially dependent on Niang's money giving her the freedom to manipuate and treat them however she pleased.

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Hong Kong is an important place in the story as it represents both oppurtunity and confindment. In moving to the city Adeline was able to be given a better education and express her academic capabiites, while her home life became more strict and riddled with emotional abuse turing into a "place for fear and silence" (Mah,89). This setting poses relevence as it provides the context that the emotional abuse that Adeline faced was a normality that she soon had to come to terms with in her move further leading to the growth and perfection of her resilience.

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Another setting that has importance as a whole is England. England was many things to Adeline but the most important was her first real taste at feedom. The act of her being sent abroad for school gave Adeline the ability to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor away from Niang's control. With her describing in the book, "For the first time, in my life i was free to make my own decisions" (Mah, 156). This holds relevence as it shows that instead of Adeline sitting in sorrow about practically being discarded across the globe by her family, she further grew her resilience, which eventually led her to finding her own indepence and self-worth away from her family.

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A pivotal moment in Falling Leaves is when Adeline Learns that she won a play writing competition while studying in England. This moment provides actual evidence of her intelligence and perserverance completely seperate from her family's influence. For the first time in her life, she feels a wave of validation for her acomplishment that's not from her family's approval but from her own achievment. This moment marks the point where Adeline starts to realize that she does have self-worth that isn't tied to her toxic home life dynamic. This moment represents Adeline escaping emotionaly from her family, creating her own identity away from their cruelty.

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Tile 12A- Cultural or historical context

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Tile 12A- Cultural or historical context

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In chinese culture, filial piety (deep respect and obedience towards parents) was seen as one of the most important duties of a child. This cultural expectation made her rejection by her family have an even deeper effect because Adeline potientially receacting would cause an even bigger riff in their reationship as disobedience is considered shameful. She recalls, "Obedienece is the cornerstone of Chinese family life" (Mah, 38) Through out her childhood her family uses this aspect of their culture to silence any chance at resitance and provide justification to Niang's manipulation, leaving Adeline in an endless cycle of fear that heavily influences the decisions she makes.

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Another cultural aspect of the book that holds influence is the normalized favoritism of boys over girls in mid-20th century China. Adeline's family was a near perfect example of this cutural norm as their family has a bias towards the male children over the females especially when it came to achievements. This cultural aspect is relevent because it explains why Adeline's success was always ignored, and why Niang and her father consistantly found her not worthy of their love. Her battle against these gender expectations came up often in Adeline's life and played a significant role in how she was persevied through ot her life.

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Joie De Vivre - Noun, "Exuberant, enjoyment of life"

This phrase is used in reference to her older brother who was described as being the life of the party.

"His joie de vivre endeared him to many people."

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Coup de grace - Noun,

"An action or event that serves as the culmination of a bad or deteriorating situation."

This phrase is used when Adeline fears of Niang sending her to an orphanage, which she calls the action a "coup de grace."

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Diatribe - Noun,

A forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something.

This is used in the context of Niang talking about; or going into a diatribe about Aunt Baba.