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4.1.4 Ambitious
Adeline is an ambitious person. As Murphy said by knowing her thought, we know what a person is thinking about 1972:171. Her ambition can be seen
from Adeline‟s hope to be accepted and loved by her family. Her bleak past has
formed her to be an ambitious person. According to Murphy, a person‟s character
is formed by the person ‟s past life p. 166. By knowing and learning about a
pe rson‟s past life, we can have some clues to events that have helped shape the
person‟s characters. We understand Adeline‟s past life from direct comment of the author and also through the person‟s thought.
Adeline‟s past life was not only full of her Father‟s and her siblings‟ judgment that she
was a cause of their mother„s death but also her Niang‟s authority. She lived in Tianjin, China, before moving to Hong Kong with her
Father, her four siblings, her Grandmother, her Aunt Baba, and her Grandfather Ye Ye. She is the last child in her family. Her mother died two weeks after giving
birth of her. This is considered as bad luck for her because her Father became not very affectionate to his children.
It made her siblings judge her that their mother‟s death and the change of their Father‟s attitude are because of Adeline‟s bad luck.
Adeline grows up with less affection from her family, except her Aunt Baba and her Grandfather Ye Ye. That makes Adeline have strong motivation in
her life. Therefore, she realizes that if she tries hard enough, someday everyone in her family will be proud of her. She is not close to her family except her Aunt
Baba and Grandfather Ye Ye: I knew that I was the least-loved child because I was a girl and because
my mother had died giving birth to me. Nothing I did ever seem to
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27 please Father, Niang or any of my siblings. But I never ceased to
believe that if I tried hard enough, one day Father, Niang and everyone in my family would be proud of me p. 60.
Ad eline‟s ambition is also act when she studied hard and gave her best on
her study. Because she is smart and wins a writing competition, she can study abroad and join her brothers in England. When she is studying abroad, she always
has a dream and ambition that someday when she comes back to Hong Kong with highest academic honours, her Father will be proud of her. She uses her
opportunities in England to study many things. She continues by taking post- graduate. She also takes some tutorial classes during summer vacation:
Consistently, I studied hard and gave my best effort. I dreamt of returning to Hong Kong with the highest academic honours and
making a name for myself in my father‟s city so that he would be proud of me p. 127.
All what Adeline does in England means that she wants to show her Father that she can give her best so that her Father will be proud of her. Adeline is also
full of hope. Her hope becomes her ambition. She has a wish that she wants her Father‟s acceptance and affection. She hopes one day her Father will say that he is
proud of her, although just once. She wants to be loved and wants her Father be proud of her:
As I listened, my former resolutions disintegrated. All I knew was that I wished above all else to please my father. Oh, so very much To gain
his acceptance. To be loved. To have him say to me, just once in my life, „Well done, Adeline We‟re proud of you‟p. 145.
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4.2 Adeline’s Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation to be Accepted and Loved by Her Family
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