The Secret Universe of Bret Easton Ellis Novels

The Secret Universe of Bret Easton Ellis Novels The term â€Å"shared universe† is usually found in speculative stories, like the epic connections Stephen King has been quietly building by linking all of his novels and many of his shorter works together, or the way H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos continues to be the setting for new stories by various authors. Shared universes are exciting because they add a dimension of epicness that can’t be achieved in a single story and open up opportunities for the author to play around with their own creation by cross-referencing events and characters outside a single narrative.   It’s much rarer to find that sort of meta-textual cross-referencing in non-speculative literature, though. Complicating matters is the fact that the most successful shared universes are built slowly, often without the author’s conscious plan. There’s little doubt, for example, that Stephen King had no idea he was creating a shared universe for the first two or three decades of his career. This led to some fairly incredible retcons in later books as he tried to make everything fit. But this slow revelation is also one of the chief pleasures of a literary canon - that moment in novel three when you start to see the connections is electric. You suddenly realize the author has been putting clues and puzzle pieces in front of you all along. Bret Easton Ellis Novels One of the most unexpected and complex shared literary universes can be found in a very unlikely place: the works of author Bret Easton Ellis. He is a divisive writer. For some people, his name is associated only with his most notorious novel American Psycho and the film adaptation it inspired. Christian Bale played the title role in the film. When American Psycho was published in 1991, the critical reaction was mixed. To put it lightly, the distasteful violence combined with the litany of name-checked designer labels led some to pronounce the novel grotesque. Chances are if you’ve read only one Ellis novel, it’s American Psycho. You may be unaware of the incredibly complex and detailed shared universe Ellis has spun over the course of seven books and 30 years. Camden College The seven books that comprise the Ellisverse are: Less Than ZeroThe Rules of AttractionAmerican PsychoThe InformersGlamoramaLunar ParkImperial Bedrooms These six novels and one short story collection can be considered in some ways as one huge story, sharing many settings, characters, and a general sense that life is a banal nightmare populated by demons who prey on each other. If you read Ellis’ books in order, the realization that everything is connected creeps up on you because Ellis often refers to characters in oblique ways without using their names. The eye of the Ellisverse is fictional Camden College, based on Bennington College, which Ellis attended. Many of the characters in Ellis’ books went to Camden, a college that seems to specialize in drug abuse, sexual shenanigans, and emotional breakdowns rather than any sort of useful major. The Camden connection is often the key to figuring out who characters are referencing when using nicknames like â€Å"the guy from L.A.† or â€Å"Rest in Peace.† The Batemans The other key to the Ellisverse is the Batemans, Patrick and Sean. Patrick, of course, is the probably delusional, possibly murderous serial killer from American Psycho, and Sean is his younger brother. Patrick makes his first appearance in The Rules of Attraction, Ellis’ second novel, which is also Sean’s first reference. While Patrick is depicted in that novel as a pretty distasteful person, there’s no indication that he is (or imagines himself to be) a violent serial killer. What isn’t in any doubt is his mutual hatred for his brother Sean. Patrick then appears, or is referred to, in Glamorama and Lunar Park, becoming increasingly ghost-like and seemingly imaginary. Sean is the main character of Rules of Attraction and also appears in American Psycho, The Informers, and Glamorama. Sean isn’t as violently disturbed as his older brother (whom he hates right back) but he’s also not exactly a nice guy. He lives with a healthy dose of self-loat hing, and attempts suicide several times. Both Bateman boys attend Camden College. Connections in the First Five Books Each novel in the Ellisverse connects to every other one. In Less Than Zero, Ellis’ first novel, we’re introduced to Clay, who has come home from Camden College to Los Angeles. Also featured in the book are his girlfriend Blair, childhood friend Julian, and drug dealer acquaintance Rip. Clay is in The Rules of Attraction, Ellis’ second novel, narrating a chapter anonymously as â€Å"the guy from L.A.† Several verbal tics make him easy to identify. Rip, the drug dealer, is also referred to in The Rules of Attraction in a note placed on Clay’s door saying â€Å"Rest in Peace† called. Rip is Clay’s drug dealer. In The Rules of Attraction, Sean and Patrick Bateman both make appearances. Sean is in love with a girl named Lauren and spends time with a bisexual man named Paul who once dated Lauren and is now obsessed with Sean. According to Paul, he and Sean have a passionate affair, but Sean never once mentions having sex with Paul. Lauren is heartbroken over her ex-boyfriend Victor. American Psycho is dominated by Patrick Bateman, of course, who is either engaged in an epic spree of horrifying violence or suffering a complete mental breakdown, depending on your interpretation of the events. His brother Sean appears, as do Victor and Paul. We also meet Tim, a ​co-worker of Patrick’s, and Donald Kimball, the police detective investigating Patrick’s â€Å"crimes.† The Informers is a series of connected short stories. Sean Bateman returns, as do Tim, Julian, and Blair, and a few other minor characters from the prior three novels. In Glamorama, Patrick Bateman shows up for about three lines, with â€Å"weird stains† on the lapel of his suit in what might be a hint that he really is a psycho killer. The main character is Victor from The Rules of Attraction, and several other characters appear, including Lauren and Sean Bateman. So far, so good. Ellis clearly imagines a world in which all of these terrible people exist. Its a world where time passes and people graduate from school, embark on careers, join terrorist groups, and deal with strange vampires (seriously, read The Informers). With the next two books in the Ellisverse, things get really strange. Lunar Park and Imperial Bedrooms Before we go further, let’s jump back to American Psycho and Glamorama, and a minor character who appears in both: Allison Poole. She actually appears as a character in Jay McInerney’s novel Story of My Life, two years before American Psycho. Allison Poole is based on the real-life Rielle Hunter (who you might recall as the woman who brought down John Edwards’ political career). Patrick Bateman murders (?) Poole in American Psycho, linking Ellis’ fictional universe to McInerney’s in what might be the most audacious bit of shared universing in literary history. Poole then shows up again in Glamorama, perfectly alive, giving credence to the theory that Patrick Bateman doesn’t actually kill anyone and is just, you know, crazy. Ellis’ next book was Lunar Park, and this is where the Ellisverse either goes completely nuts or edges into genius, depending on who you ask. Taking a cue from Stephen King, the man character of Lunar Park is Bret Easton Ellis - or at least, a fictional version of himself. The book is styled as a memoir, and the early chapters describing Ellis’ rise to fame and the first five books are reasonably accurate and realistic. Then the character of Ellis meets an actress and gets married and the story takes a sharp turn into the fictional. What makes this fascinating is that characters from Ellis’ novels turn up in Lunar Park as supposedly real people - including Patrick Bateman and the detective who investigates him in American Psycho, Donald Kimball, and possibly Clay (as there is a character named Clayton who resembles Clay in many ways). Jay McInerney also turns up as a character, making this a delirious land-grab when it comes to shared universes, as Ellis now mo re or less claims most of reality as part of his fictional universe. Even more strange, the possibility that some of these people only exist in the fictional Ellis’ fevered imagination is given a lot of traction. So who’s actually there? It might not be possible to know for sure. And then Ellis gets subtler and yet crazier with Imperial Bedrooms. This book is billed as a sequel to Less Than Zero, and features the returning cast of that novel: Clay, Blair, Julian, and Rip, et al. However, Ellis strongly implies in Imperial Bedrooms that the Clay telling the story isn’t the same person as the Clay who narrated Less Than Zero. The implication is that the original Clay was a fictional version of the real Clay. It’s kind of head-spinning and again demonstrates how Ellis is basically erasing the distinction between a fictional universe and the one we all actually live in. Combined with the question of who actually exists in-universe, and the uncertainty in some of the books as to what actually occurs as opposed to what’s imagined, the Ellisverse starts to become extremely trippy and hallucinatory - on purpose. What Ellis is doing is kind of spectacular. Essentially, the events of his novels and stories are presented as real, or as real as anything in the â€Å"real† world. If Stephen King has his hands full linking all of his fictional works together into a shared universe, Ellis is trying to link everything to his fictional universe of sociopaths, drug addicts, and haunted celebrities. It just might be the most ambitious literary experiment ever undertaken. Sources Birch, Helen. Book Review / American psycho-drama: The informers - Bret Easton Ellis: Picador, pounds 9.99. Independent, October 30, 1994. Elder, Richard. Flopsy, Mopsy, Paul, Sean and Lauren: The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. Los Angeles Times, September 13, 1987. Jordison, Sam. Guardian book club: Bret Easton Elliss American Psycho. The Guardian, July 14, 2010. Kakutani, Michiko. Books of the Times; The Young and Ugly. The New York Times, June 8, 1985. Mendelsohn, Daniel. Lesser Than Zero. The New York Times, January 24, 1999. Scott, A. O. Lunar Park: Hero and Heroin. The New York Times, August 14, 2005. Wynn, Gary. Rielle Hunter on Her Relationship With John Edwards Today, Their Life With Their Daughter Quinn. Suzan Clarke, ABC News, July 22, 2016.

Definition and Examples of the Straw Man Fallacy

Definition and Examples of the Straw Man Fallacy The straw man is a  fallacy in which an opponents argument is overstated or misrepresented in order to be more easily attacked or refuted. The technique often takes quotes out of context or, more often, incorrectly paraphrases or summarizes an opponents position. Then after defeating the position, the attacker claims to have beaten the real thing. Although the term straw man is a recent coinage, the concept is ancient. In the Topics, Aristotle acknowledges that in argument it would be inappropriate to interpret as someones position an opinion that he did not express or is not committed to, in virtue of what he said (Douglas Walton, Methods of Argumentation). The name of the fallacy represents the idea that although a straw man may look like a human, it wont put up any resistance in a fight. The straw man fallacy also goes by the name Aunt Sally, particularly in Great Britain. Straw Man in Commercials Commercials make use of straw man fallacies. In the famous Wheres the beef? Wendys campaign, the commercials exaggerate the tiny amount of meat that other chains use in their burgers to show how much bigger and better its burgers are. Straw Man in Politics Straw man has always been the stock-in-trade of advertisers and political smear campaigns, illustrate authors Nancy Cavender and Howard Kahane in their book Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric. A group called Common Sense Issues made a million automated phone calls to voters in the 2008 South Carolina primaries claiming that John McCain has voted to use unborn babies in medical research. This was a gross distortion of his position to support research on stem cells gathered from embryos (12th ed. Wadsworth, 2014). During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump claimed that Hillary Clinton was for open borders. He took a comment out of context from a speech she gave to a Brazilian bank about trade and energy to twist it into a statement that preyed on some peoples fears of immigrants. He claimed she wanted people to be able to enter the border without going through any kind of process at all, which isnt true. His sound-byte distortion likely had an effect on voters, as immigration was a big issue in the campaign, and his repetition of the claim was easier to remember than her stances about nuances in the complex issue. Sometimes people morph the straw man into a warning about a slippery slope where allowing one side to win would put humanity on a course of destruction. Any time someone begins an attack with So youre saying we should all just... or Everyone knows..., you can bet a straw man is coming, wrote author David McRaney. Straw men can also be born out of ignorance. If someone says, Scientists tell us we all come from monkeys, and thats why I homeschool, this person is using a straw man, because science doesnt say we all come from monkeys. (You Are Not So Smart.  Penguin, 2011) Countering the Straw Man To refute a straw man attack during a debate, point out the fallacy and how it is incorrect. If you ignore it and the attacker keeps harping on it, the real issue could get buried in the straw. If you try and defend what the opponent said is your position, it gets increasingly difficult to show how the opponent distorted your views.

The outcomes of Turning Kuwait into a tourism country Research Paper

The outcomes of Turning Kuwait into a tourism country - Research Paper Example In short the, impact of developing Kuwait’s tourism industry has been explained in detail in this report. Kuwait is sovereign state place in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula, constituting in western Asia. The country is bordered by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The name â€Å"Kuwait† means the fortress built near water. It comprises of total of 6889 sq miles and houses a population of about 3.5 million people (PACA). Like all developed countries of the world Kuwait also tries to enhance its image to the outside world to enhance an image of the place to be visited as a recreation, not only business. As it an established fact that the prime source of income for the Kuwaiti government is the oil sector, there are various other sectors the governments is looking into with n angle of revenue generation. Tourism is one such department in which the Kuwaiti government has taken interest lately. The report discusses the prime targets that are set for the tourism industry, its benefits and downsides that come along with any sort of urban or cultural development. This report in detai l also discusses the area which will enhance tourism, including places already present and those which can be developed along with proper marketing to induce the world travelers to home in their travel destinations in this part of the world. The Tourism is simply explained as the traveling which is done for pleasure or fun. Many people all around the world travel to different destinations across the world to see places and monuments of their choice and personal liking. Personal likes may include structures of sculptural beauty, attractive spots of nature and so on. Hence we can find a number of tourists at all time in all countries of the world, even space is being converted into a tourist destination which is not even in this world, for those who can afford it. The travels of the foreign tourist bring a lot of money to the countries where they travel. Hence, tourism

UPS and Global Marketplace Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

UPS and Global Marketplace - Term Paper Example The globalization has changed the world of logistics. In this paper I will be focusing on one of the largest logistics firm named UPS and will try to highlight on some of the key issues like their competencies, strategic transformations, customer-focused service and eco friendly activities. UPS in brief UPS is a process based firm and it was founded in the year 1907 in Seattle, Washington. It is basically a package delivery company headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States. UPS is well known for its brown cars. It also operates its own airline. The essential part of it is that it provides the product as its process. UPS is the leader in freight services as well as in supply chain; in addition to that they are the largest package delivery company in the world. They supply around 3.8 billion packages annually across 200 countries and territories. The company is also the global leader in the logistics segment. UPS provides the most fuel-efficient logistics networks in the world, by mitigating the carbon footprint indirectly. They provide services, expertise, consulting support and also the products to green the supply chains of their own. In the year 2010, each day the company used to deliver more than 15.6 million packages to a minimum of 1.1 million customers per day which represents approximately 2% percent of GDP. They offer high class integrated solutions to mitigate the challenges faced in the globalization (Kumar, 2007, pp.5-11). Globalization and the UPS strike A report published in 1995 says that UPS undergone a signi ficant change in their management and started to follow strategic market management through which they were on the front lines of competition. The company grew from a bicycle delivery service to a digitally coordinated corporation by using several strategies like ensuring maximum flexibility while cutting down the operational cost. It is quite evident that it was just because of the workers’ loyalty and commitment which made the company to stand high but the problems occurred when the higher authority started to enforce rules upon them. The workers found hardly any variation from the company’s stereotype rules. The injury rate in the organization was growing high and the workers didn’t find the place safe enough to work. Due to the implementation of several strategies in the globalization phase the company was getting high returns but still the workers didn’t get any benefit out of that and got frustrated. Hence, due to these several reasons they stand ag ainst the company for a strike in the year 1997 and challenged the globalization (Kumar, 2007, pp.5-11). Some approaches of being global Though the culture of UPS has been tested many times but still it is their core through which the company is standing sky high against the pressures from competitors. They did not mould into pressure even during the worst economic times. They took many initiatives and approached challenges. They created a centralized process group, which is known as Program Management Group-Process Center of Excellence by which they can propose the initiatives after which it is evaluated. After the evaluation it is well approved and then measured. This is an effort to redefine the Strategic Processes of the organization. It also ensures that the processes are documented. It also provides the training in design and process analysis. It is quite evid

Web 2.0 Learning Essay Example for Free

Web 2.0 Learning Essay The original wiki, The Portland Pattern Repository (Portland pattern repository, n. d) was created by Full Name Cunningham in 1995 (c2. com/cgi. wiki? WikiHistory – reference properly – if there is no author use the title of the page The definition of a wiki is a webpage or set of webpages that can be easily edited by anyone who is allowed access (Edersbach et al. ,2006 ). The overriding goal of a wiki is to become a shared repository of knowledge with the knowledge base growing over time (Godwin-Jones, 2003). Chawner and Lewis (2004) noted that a wiki is an example of â€Å"social software†, â€Å"a type of software that makes it easy for groups of people to work in a virtual environment†. However, Viegas , Wattenberg and Dave (2004) indicate that wikis are vulnerable to malicious edits or â€Å"vandalism,† which can be a problem at may levels. However, Cych (2006) argues that acts of vandalism and mistakes are rectified quite quickly by the self-moderation processes at work (a couple of sentences expanding on this issue is needed here – if I were you I’d try and refer to something which discusses the accuracy of wikipedia against the encyclopeadia britannica). As an alternative to the global editing of wiki’s, restricting access to registered users only is often used for professional, work group wikis. One of the great features of a wiki is its capacity to be able easily editable. A wiki has the capacity to be able to be edited collaboratively rather the information presented in wikis have the option to be edited or added utilizing a very rudimentary mark-up computer code that would use a internet explorer or browser. Broken down, one page within a wiki is referred by many as a wiki page as compared to the entire set of wiki pages is called a wiki when taken into consideration (Cunningham Leuf 2001). Thus, it can be generalized that a wiki is a collection of information where contributors can contribute collectively and users can access freely information. This has been proven as one of the most accessible or effective web 2. 0 applications in providing accessible and affordable information to students and researchers. One characteristic of a wiki that has made it so popular in sharing and communicating information to students is its ease of usability. Students need not have a degree in computer science or web applications but rather just the passion of sharing intuition and a little bit of patience in order to learn the scripts involved in the programming. They are free and without any need for registration so that users need not have the need to register or pay any amount (Aigrain 2003). It also offers real-time editing and creation so it provides the opportunity for students, researchers and faculty with much needed time as they acquire, research, and provide information within the educational institution. To summarize, unlike blogs, Wikis tend to be more structured and flexible,and, while blogs can be highly personal, wikis are intensely collaborative (Godwin-Jones, 2003). Wikipedia Wikipedia is full blown example of a Wiki. Wikipedia is the pet-project of Wikimedia Foundation which is a non-profit organization that aims to provide encyclopaedia-type information to internet users. Wikipedia has then turned out to become almost a household name, with more than 8,000,000 online articles that is accessible in the internet and is presented in more than 250 languages (it is noteworthy that almost 2,000,000 of those articles are made in English). These articles are peer-developed, rather they are developed and continually improved by researchers, users and experts of a particular field in order to provide the most accurate and up to date information on a given topic/subject (Hinchcliffe, 2006). Currently, Wikipedia holds just below 610 million words which are approximately 15 times more than what Encyclopaedia Britannica holds in these books (Godwin-Jones, 2003). Because of its nature of being able to be written collaboratively by practically anyone that has something to contribute in the page, its fame and usefulness as a resource for information has steadily increased even from the start of its creation. Currently Wikipedia is within the top ten websites around the world that is being visited daily by users worldwide (Chawner Lewis, 2004). The name â€Å"Wikipedia† that was developed by Wikimedia is a combination of two words – Wiki which points to an online collaborative effort in creating an article or text and Encyclopedia (Godwin-Jones, 2003). But fame is without its critics. Because of Wikipedia’s astronomical rise and open nature, other people critical about these aspects have begun to look closer on wikipedia’s accuracy, precision with respect to how it is able to present information and reliability for users and researchers alike. Wikipedia has been constantly hounded with comments pertaining to high vulnerability of being vandalized and used for spreading wrong information that can be used as reference. However, because of its huge support from users, contributors and sub-programs have begun to address these problems (Chawner Lewis, 2004). In addition to this, there were studies conducted that focused on these two aspects of wikipedia and they showed that in general, Wikipedia’s instances of vandalism is rather short-lived and is as accurate as any other encyclopaedia, online or hard bound. Because of this it has won such prestigious awards as the Time Person of the year that focused on how Web 2. 0 technologies has furthered and practically galvanized online collaboration and collective effort throughout the world in order to produce scholarly articles for free.

The Failure of the Welfare System in France Essay -- The Violence of H

IntroductioThe Algerian War of Independence in 1962 marked the end of France’s colonial regime. Before decolonization, Algeria had been held as the prize of the French empire, â€Å"one of the most beautiful provinces of France.† While it is somewhat inaccurate to pose Algeria and France as separate states throughout the process of colonization and decolonization, for consistency and clarity, Algeria and France will be referred to as separate entities, although for much of the studied time period, Algeria was a part of France. Algeria and France enjoyed a special relationship, beyond that which France had with its other colonies. This allowed freer migration between Algeria and France, and France fought harder to keep Algeria as a colony than it did with any of its other colonies. It established two separate welfare programs, one track for immigrants from countries other than Algeria and one for Algerians. Throughout this process, Algerians and other Maghrebi immigran ts were integral to the French industrial force even as immigration policy changed around them. This paper seeks to unpack the French welfare state and humanitarian aid through the lens of housing for Algerian immigrants between the end of World War II and the mid 1970s. Ultimately, I argue that the welfare state in France is founded on flawed perceptions of â€Å"the other† and that humanitarian aid as it stands in France only works to perpetuate inequalities. The first recorded evidence of Algerian immigrants in France dates from 1871, just at the beginning of the second industrial revolution. It was not until just before World War I, though, that any significant migration to France took place. At this time, no migration from Algeria to France was permanent migration, a... ...n France.† MERIP Reports No. 34, 1-12. French Court of Auditors. â€Å"De la SONACOTRA à   Adoma : des dà ©rives corrigà ©es tardivement† in Rapport public annuel 2013 – fà ©vrier 2013. (See attachment) â€Å"France: Soundtrack to a Riot† http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2006/03/france_soundtralinks.html, Accessed 27 April, 2014. Lyons, Amelia. The Civilizing Mission in the Metropole: Algerian Families and the French Welfare State during Decolonization. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013. Mehta, Brinda. â€Å"Negotiating Arab-Muslim Identity, Contested Citizenship, and Gender Ideologies in the Parisian Housing Projects: Faà ¯za Guà ¨ne’s Kiffe Kiffe Demain.† Research in African Literatures, Vol. 41, No. 2, 173-202. Ticktin, Miriam. â€Å"Where Ethics and Politics Meet: The Violence of Humanitarianism in France.† American Ethnologist, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Feb, 2006), 33-49.

Chinese Cinderella

Chinese Cinderella Essay In the book, â€Å"Chinese Cinderella,’ by Adeline Yen Mah, there are many things that happen to Adeline throughout her life. The book is based on the original Chinese Cinderella, had a similar life to Adeline. Both were maltreated by their stepmothers, both original mothers die and both gradually become more powerful and renowned throughout their lives. The two girls were severely maltreated by their stepmothers throughout their childhood years. Chinese Cinderella, Ye Xian, was bullied by her stepmother.In the letter from Aunt Baba about the Chinese Cinderella, it said, â€Å"Her stepmother maltreated her, showing preference for her own daughter. † So what Ye Xian’s stepmother did was, she ate Ye Xian’s only friend, her goldfish, then she hid it but then Ye Xian found out. Adeline Yen Mah was also maltreated by her stepmother. Her stepmother was always biased and only treated her own children and the elder children (siblings of A deline) well. For example, Niang never gave her any tram money but she gave it to the other children.Also, Niang and her father never cared for her when she was young. What Adeline’s parents did affected her a lot in life. Adeline would strive to achieve more throughout her time at school to show what she could do, which made her more confident to work harder and have a better future. Both of the girls’ mothers die when the girls were very young. Ye Xian’s mother died first, and then her dad passed away a short time later. So the only carer for Ye Xian was her father’s other wife, her stepmother. She had her own child and didn’t care much for her, leaving Ye Xian on her own.Adeline’s mother died when Adeline wasn’t even in kindergarten yet. But Adeline wasn’t told much about her mother, even how her mother looked. On page 3, it said, â€Å"Do you have a picture of my dead mama? † But her aunt hesitated a bit and said no. This changed Adeline’s life because this could have made her work a lot harder at school so she could get a good job and try to recover her mother’s history. The two girls were afraid and weak when they were young but proved they could do well and become powerful when they got mature. Ye Xian was a professional at being a potter.She made many pots once and traded them for a pair of golden shoes. She wore them to a festival but lost one. A warlord found out it was Ye Xian’s shoe and married her. This is how Ye Xian was successful at the end. Adeline Yen Mah also became powerful at the end after all the years of suffering. She got very good marks at school and entered a writing contest once and won first prize. Her father was proud of her for one time and let her go to university in England. She was successful and got married and became a mother, which was a very big responsibility for her.How they became powerful was a big step for the two girls because they cou ld have courage in themselves, giving them more opportunities they had never done before and not be afraid to encounter problems. I think that Aunt Baba sent her this story because she wanted to tell Adeline she wasn’t the only person that was treated that way and wanted to give her more faith in herself. In conclusion, Chinese Cinderella and Adeline Yen Mah had pretty much the same life, but just different people in their stories. Chinese Cinderella Adeline Yen Mah’s novel Chinese Cinderella is an autobiographical novel about ‘the secret story of an unwanted daughter. ’ The novel is memorable because the story is intriguing and it is also historical as it depicts the chaos of China in the early 1940s. The novel is also remarkable for its strong depiction of characters. The novel is based on a girl called Adeline who is neglected and unloved by her family members. There are few people who love her. Adeline’s family considers her bad luck because they believe she killed her mother. Big Sister [tells] me, ‘†¦ Mama died giving birth to you. If you had not been born, Mama would still be alive. She died because of you. You are bad luck. † (Yen Mah, 1999:3). Chinese Cinderella is the story of Adeline’s struggle for acceptance and how she overcomes the odds to prove she is worth a chance. She does this by excelling in her studies at school. She is born the fifth child to a wealthy Chine se family where her life began tragically due to her mother’s death. She then struggles to find a place where she feels she belongs.With no love given from her parents, she finds a special relationship with her grandfather and Aunt Baba, who she is later separated from. She is then sent to a convent boarding school in Tianjin where the communists enter under their leader Mao Ze-Dong. Soon she is the only child left in the convent due to communism. After many months she is collected by Aunt Reine Schilling who is Niang’s sister. â€Å"Adeline! ’ she smiled and greeted me in English. ‘†¦ Do you remember me? I am Aunt Reine Schilling, your Niang’s older sister. ’†¦ ‘Come here! Don’t be afraid! †¦ (Yen Mah, 1999:154). Adeline was then taken to Hong Kong. The characters in Chinese Cinderella are portrayed very well. Every character is three dimensional. The horror of Adeline’s life is depicted vividly in the nov el. The characters in this novel vary in personalities. The aspect of the story that impacts on the reader is the terrible treatment Adeline endured. Niang, who is the stepmother, has a particular hatred towards Adeline. Her father, who is a mysterious character loves her at times and at others uncaring towards Adeline. â€Å"Is this medal for topping your class? he asked. I nodded eagerly, too excited to speak. † (Yen Mah, 1999:11). This was the only time he congratulated Adeline. Adeline has three brothers and one sister. She is attached to Aunt Baba most who is a loving character. She shows great love and affection towards Adeline unlike her other family members. Her grandfather (Ye Ye) is one of her most passionate supporters throughout the story. Her grandfather believed in her so much that Adeline said â€Å"And if I should be so lucky as to succeed one day, it [is] only be because you [believe] in me. † (Yen Mah, 1999:208).This proves the influence her grandfath er had on her. Chinese Cinderella is so well written that one could envisage what China was like in the early 1940s. In the late 1930s to the early 1940s China was a strict society. People expect you to be obedient and respectful. Adeline’s life starts in Tianjin where she is born. She studies kindergarten with her older sister Lydia at St Joseph’s French Convent School. As soon as she starts school she shows her talent and skills. â€Å"What’s that hanging on your dress? † â€Å"It’s something special that Mother Agnes gave me in front of the whole class this afternoon.She called it an award. † My aunt looked thrilled. â€Å"So soon? You only started kindergarten one week ago. What is it for? † â€Å"It’s for topping my class this week†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Yen Mah, 1999:1) Adeline continues her success at school. A few months later in early 1942 Adeline’s Nai Nai dies of a massive stroke. Adeline’s family is planning to move to Shanghai due to the Japanese communists but waited six weeks till after Nai Nai’s funeral. Then Adeline, Big Sister, Big Brother and Second Brother left to Shanghai to live with Niang. On the way to Shanghai â€Å"[They] were delighted and astonished†¦ (Yen Mah, 1999:24) when they came face to face with their father. Even in Shanghai Adeline continues to succeed at school. The reader can imagine the conditions to which Adeline was subjected. One could imagine the misery of having to walk home from kindergarten. One afternoon, â€Å"Not long after Father and Niang [return] from Tianjin, Mr and Mrs Huang [come] to visit. They [bring] gifts for all seven of us children in a large cardboard box with several holes punched in the lid†¦When we [open] the gift from the Huangs, we [are] delighted to find seven little baby ducklings. (Yen Mah, 1999: 83). Adeline names her duckling PLT (Precious Little Treasure). After a few days Adeline’s father suggests t esting Jackie’s, the pet dog’s obedience after dinner. He orders fourth brother to fetch a duckling and he came down with PLT. That night is PLT’s death. Fourth brother has been with Adeline during PLT’s funeral. Soon Niang decides to get Lydia married. After the wedding Niang moves Adeline into Tianjin and sends her to a convent boarding school. By December that year she is the only student left due to the communists.Aunt Jeane Schilling comes to pick her up and take her to Hong Kong where she studies secondary school. Later Adeline studies medicine in England. The language in Chinese Cinderella successfully describes Adeline’s life, particularly the hardships. Upon hearing that Adeline wins the writing competition and her father being pleased she imagines, â€Å"[Her] whole being [vibrates] with all the joy in the world. I only [have] to stretch out my hand to reach the stars. † (Yen Mah, 1999:220). This quotation means that Adeline feels as though all the joy is inside her.She had so much joy she is vibrating. She thought the joy lied in the stars, which she obtains by stretching towards the sky. The language is also very emotive because the novel describes the feelings of every character, such as the scene when Adeline’s little duckling PLT is killed by their dog. â€Å"I [am] overwhelmed with horror. My whole world [turns] desolate. † (Yen Mah, 1999: 96). Adeline says this in a very small amount of words, but it is so descriptive you can feel the emotion.This quotation means that she is suffering through too much horror and sadness to cope with. Adeline felt that the whole world was deserted, nothing but grief. Through the language the reader is able to resonate with the hardships Adeline endured. Chinese Cinderella is a novel which depicts the chaos of China in the early 1940s. It is an autobiographical novel telling the story of an unwanted daughter. The novel is memorable because the language is c aptivating. Chinese Cinderella is remarkable for its strong interpretation of the characters.