94 pages • 3 hours read
Adeline Yen MahFalling Leaves
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1997A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “Ren Jie Di Ling (Inspired Scholar in an Enchanting Land)”
Adeline describes life at the Sacred Heart Convent School and Orphanage, one of the few schools that accepts both boarders and orphans. There is a subtle hierarchy between the boarders and orphans, who are distinguished with different uniforms and classes (orphans are only taught “practical skills” (99) versus academics). In accordance with these different rules and uniforms, orphans are accorded different expectations for their lives. They are expected to “leave the convent at sixteen and get jobs as waitresses, maids and shop girls” (100). Adeline suggests that this treatment is indicative of cultural attitudes toward female worth, reflecting, “girls were a cheap commodity in China” (100).
Even among boarders, there is an unspoken hierarchy based on gifts and food sent from home. Because Adeline never receives anything from her parents, it is understood that she is “unloved” (102). She finds solace in her friendship with a fellow “unloved” girl named Mary and in her regular visits to the library. Adeline haunts the library with such regularity that the kind librarian jokingly asks, when locking up, “‘Is the “scholar” out of her lair? Or is she spending the night in here?’” (104).
Lonely and without visitors, Adeline watches the ocean liners and imagines journeying to England and America, explaining—in the words of the Tang Dynasty poet, Wang Bo—“these were the mythical places I longed to visit and be transformed into an ren jie di ling (inspired scholar in an enchanting land)” (105).
Chapter 10 Summary: “Du Ri Ru Nian (Each Day Passes Like a Year)”
Life is unpleasant for Ye Ye in Hong Kong. As a traditional Chinese man in his embroidered jackets and skull cap, he feels alienated in such a modern city. All of his grandchildren except for young Susan and Franklin have moved away, and Franklin proves to be a cruel, insolent boy, treating Ye Ye with great disrespect. Ye Ye’s only pleasures are corresponding with Aunt Baba and eating. When Ye Ye develops diabetes, the latter pleasure is removed from his life, and he is put on a depressingly restrictive diet. He is also humiliated and chastised by Niang whenever he sneaks a small bit of chocolate or a cookie.
Just before Ye Ye dies, he exchanges a series of despondent letters with Aunt Baba, divulging that “each day passes like a year” (110). In these letters, he apologizes for failing to find a suitable marriage for her, explaining, “I cared too much. Somehow, no one was ever quite good enough for you” (111).
When Ye Ye dies, Joseph treats his death lightly. Aunt Baba learns of Ye Ye’s passing through a letter written by one of Joseph’s employees.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Zi Chu Ji Zhu (Original Ideas in Literary Composition)”
At Sacred Heart, Adeline becomes very ill and begins coughing blood. Her father visits her while she is in recovery, and a nurse reacts with confusion because she always assumed Adeline was an orphan. Adeline’s friend Mary comforts her, joking that she is in the “same general category” of “almost an orphan, but not quite” (113).
Adeline is summoned by the family chauffeur to attend Ye Ye’s funeral. She is distraught, unable to hold back her tears for the duration of the service. Niang cruelly tells her to compose herself because “no man wants an ugly bride” (115). Niang asks about Adeline’s plans for the future and tells her that she and Adeline’s father have decided it is time for her to get a job.
In a timely change of luck, Adeline wins a major international playwriting contest. Her father’s colleagues draw attention to the publicity from the contest, and her father is proud of her. Thus, he agrees to send Adeline to England with James to study medicine. James tells her, “‘No matter how bad it is in England […] no matter how much they discriminate against us, no matter what names they call us, just remember, it can’t be worse than this!’” (117).
Chapter 12 Summary: “Tong Chuang Yi Meng (Same Bed, Different Dreams)”
In Tianjin, Lydia is experiencing hardship in her life and her marriage to Samuel. They temporarily flee to Taiwan but are forced to leave due to the lack of career options for Samuel. When they return to mainland China, Samuel is arrested and accused of being a counterrevolutionary.
When Samuel is released six months later, he and Lydia take up residence in one of her father’s houses, which is currently occupied by his employees. Niang and Joseph react with fury when they discover that Samuel and Lydia are living in the house, and they retaliate by blackmailing Joseph, threatening to expose evidence of his illegal dealings if they are removed from the house. Thus, they are permitted to remain, but Niang and Joseph never forgive them.
In Hong Kong, Franklin grows into a tyrant, treating Susan like a servant and frequently bullying her. One day, when the family chauffeur escorts him home from a friend’s birthday, he orders the chauffeur to pull over and purchase two large boxes of strawberries from a roadside vendor. He eats all of the strawberries and becomes fatally ill because the fruit was fertilized by human feces. After Franklin dies, Niang becomes even crueler. Adeline reflects that “whatever love she was capable of perished with her son” (121).
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
Adeline continues to finds comfort in the practices of studying, reading, and dreaming, imagining the possibilities of living as “an ren jie di ling (inspired scholar in an enchanting land)” (105). She finds a kind of personal sanctuary in the library, wherein she cultivates her identity as a scholar. Adeline notably establishes herself as a scholar—and gains some measure of agency over her own future—when she wins a writing contest at age 15 and earns the respect of her father. Her father, however, still reserves the right to dictate which profession she will choose, establishing that she will be sent to England for school on the condition that she does not study writing, but medicine.
Adeline’s success in obtaining some measure of control over her future might further inspire Lydia’s resentment, as these chapters demonstrate through her troubled arranged marriage to Samuel. Though Lydia is ultimately blamed for her own unhappiness—her “choice” to stay in Tianjin—Niang gives her few alternative choices.
As James and Adeline journey to England, his words foreshadow the continued exploration of racism and sexism in other environs. James’s words also foreshadow the ways Adeline will carry her internalized family dynamics into her romantic relationships as a young adult.
