Reading Response: CTQ 1

There is a saying that "life isn't fair."  Some may have mixed feelings about this, but Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mun has made me think and realize what 'unfair' exactly means. Chinese Cinderella is a true story of a girl considered bad luck and blamed by her family for the death of her mother, who died while giving birth to her. All her life she was ignored by her father and hated by her siblings. However, once her father notices her when she brings in a medal from school. Jun-Ling soon learns that winning medals is the only way she can make her father recognize her. Her father  remarries and her new step-mother is a woman who despises all the children from her father's first marriage. She sends Jun-Ling to a boarding school far away, knowing that the part of the country that the boarding school is located in is about to be taken over by Communists. Fortunately, she is rescued by her step-mother's sister, who is actually a really nice and fair woman. Jun-Ling rejoins her family, only to be sent away to another boarding school. Eventually she enters an international writing contest and wins. She is able to persuade her father to send her to college.

This book has made me realize that in life, one has to fight his or her way up to success and happiness. Not a single person is born with the same advantages or disadvantages an it's much easier to roll down the mountain of success than it is to climb it. Only the determined and persistent people peak this mountain.