Chinese Cinderella
Yen Mah associates
home with fear due
to her family
"throbbed at the back of
my mind like a persistent
toothache"
simile
'persistent' connotes intense and
chronic
'throbbed' - intense pain
"Full of foreboding,"
fronted adverbial 'full'
harsh fricative alliterative quality
create a foreboding atmosphere
and emphasise her fear
"ran downstairs as in a nightmare"
simile
cannot control her fear, like a nightmare is
uncontrollable
emphasises the unpleasantness of going home
Yen Mah and her father's
relationship is more akin to worker-
employee relationship rather than a
father-daughter relationship
"summoned"
verb
father tells her what to do
domminering nature
she has no choice
"Hall of Hollies"
allusion to the old testament
God
who was ruthless and
wrathful, like a boss
Constant use of imperatives such as "you will"
repetition
emphasises how little choice she has
does what her father says without questioning
like an employee
Yen Mah has very low self-esteem
and and a lack of self belief
"Is it possible? Am I dreaming? Me, the
winner?
short paragraph
conveys her extreme shock that she
actually won something
trioclon
keeps questioning herself - doesn't believe
it's real
"See me in his room?"
rhetorical question
confused - communicates her fear
insecure
"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive"
from Wordsworth's poem 'french revolution'
describes the joy the French felt when getting rid of
the oppressive ruling class
shows the joy she will feel after liberating herself
and becoming a writer, defying her fathers wishes
Yen Mah seeks constant validation
from her father which is seen by
how excited she is when her father
is proud of her
"I had given him face"
"My heart gave a giant lurch"
"he scoffed."
short sentence
dismissive verb - no care
for her aspirations
rude tone
metaphor
shows the shock she felt when her father
was proud of her
doesn't normally happen
idiom
father was pleased with her
"being vibrated with all the joy in the world"
hyperbole
conveys extreme happiness
verb 'vibrated' shows how powerful the happiness
sensation is
rhetorical questions
Yen Mah uses the technique of intertextuality
emphasises intensity of her fear
emotional - 'heart'
onomatopoeic verb 'lurch'
