FALLING LEAVES by Adeline Yen Mah

How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?
It is a story that relates to the theme of a journey in the sense that throughout Adeline Yen Mah’s life, she underwent a string of downpours. Although the sun eventually shone on her, there are still some occasional drizzles but she was able to cope well at the end.

What is the main issue in the text?
The way Adeline Yen Mah who was deprived of love and was treated with meanness survived through the hardships in life and finally found herself a wave of repose after all those ordeals.

What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?
The optimism in Adeline Yen that brought her through the most difficult times when hopes seem to fade. She made herself strong enough mentally and not to be defeated by the unfair treatment she has been given ever since she was a kid and even after she had grown into an adult.

How does the text develop your understanding of the world?
From the Falling Leaves, it obviously shows that females and males do not get the equal treatment especially during the older days in China. Even most women themselves prefer males over females. Also, it is saddening to note that people are capable of all sorts of cruelty, meanness and pretences in many ways. As time goes on, there are people who change and there are still some who remain as they are. The text reminds me of Carl Gustav Jung’s quotation “Where love rules, there is no will to love; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other”. It also implies that one’s trust towards another is indeed like an investment for at any instance one is capable of losing all of it and left with nothing.