Thursday, June 7, 2012
Who had the harder lifestyle, Adeline or Jeannette?
In both books, we see that Jeannette and Adeline both faced many challanges and obstacles during their early lives, however their stories are quite different. So, who had the harsher lifestyle, someone like Adeline whose family despised her or Jeannette whose family lived in poverty? Feel free to explain your answers.
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I think that Adeline's lifestyle was harsher because although both of their lives were hard, Jeannette had support from her siblings and parents. In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline was disliked by her family, which made her feel alone in life. She found all her enjoyment in her school, which I think is very sad for a child's life.
ReplyDeleteThe character that harsher lifestyle depends on the point of view. As readers, we generally see Jeannette as the one with the more difficult life. She was the one that lived in poverty, unlike Adeline whose family was quite rich. Digging through trash for food, being bullied at school, living in a house exposed to the elements. All these things draw sympathy for Jeannette. On the other hand, in the Chinese Cinderella, Adeline has a difficult home life, but she blossoms at school. School is the place where she feels a sense of confidence, and security. And when she is placed in various boarding schools/convents, her home life disappears.
ReplyDeleteIf we look at this from the character's perspective, Adeline would definitely have the harder life. She describes her emotions and feelings in depth, especially when it comes to the horrors of her home life. She makes her mother out to be an evil, relentless witch, and her isolation/loneliness at school seem endless. in the Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls uses far less emotion, letting the reader decide what to feel. So as time passed, Jeannette became accustomed to her lifestyle, perhaps unaware of how deep in poverty in family was. Nonetheless, from her perspective she lived a great, fulfilling, and adventurous life.
Ultimately, the decision on which character had the harder lifestyle is up to you as the reader. You can choose to look at from the character's perspective, or from your own perspective. Besides, I think it's safe to say that both characters lived difficult lives!
Good observation Connor, I don't really think you could say that either Adeline or Jeannette had the tougher life. They both faced their fair share of hardships and at the end of the day their stories are quite similar. However, what drove Adeline to succeed, I mean she had essentially no support from within her family?
DeleteWell her education was in her eyes the only positive thing in her life. Therefore, her education, her schooling, was the main driving force in her life enabling her to succeed. You could say that the no support from her family was offset by the confidence that her education gave her.
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