Literary Essay “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker Most people don’t realize the effect their place on the hierarchy has on them. The place a person has within hierarchy can limit their goals and restrict their life in numerous ways. Liliana Heker, in “The Stolen Party” comments on the effects class has on people. By using the character of Rosaura and her inexperience in life, Heker suggests that prejudice is still present in our society. Heker shows that a child’s ignorance of hierarchy is what allows them to evolve into the real world and understand the power hierarchy has on the world.
At the beginning of the story, the author emphasizes the protagonist’s ignorance of her place in the hierarchy. She doesn’t believe that a persons class in a society can affect another person. Rosaura lives in a childish world where everyone could get along, but that isn’t how the real world works. Her first experience with the outside world was in school. She was the “best in her class”(9).
Rosaura saw her intelligence as the key to showing people that she wasn’t a lesser being then anyone else, but equal to them.
In her mind she thought society was like her school where everyone had equal rights. She wants to be friends with Luciana even though she is actually her maid. Even when her mother told her that to them she was “the maid’s daughter”(13) she didn’t want to accept her wisdom as her mind is giving her the hope that there was a possibility that she was indeed Luciana’s friend and that her mother was jealous. At the beginning of the story Rosaura’s lifetime dream was to be “rich and live in a palace”(10).
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As societies become more complex a complex change came about. The social system elevated entire categories of people above others, providing one segment of the population with a disproportionate share of money, power and schooling. To a considerable degree, the class system in the United States rewards individual talent and effort. But, our class system also retains elements of a caste system; ...
Rosaura was seen to be really positive about her perception of the world.
She didn’t see a difference between normal and rich people as she had been exposed to the wealth of rich people and thought she could be just like them. Also, when the mother states that she doesn’t want her going to the party because “it was a rich people’s party”(10).
Her mother is aware of how the reality of the world is through experience. She doesn’t want her daughter to learn of the world’s ways at a young age and feel the disappointment as Rosaura was at an age where kids see the world as a perfect place. In the end Rosaura chose to ignore her mother’s knowledge as she thinks she knows what’s best for her. Even more revealing, when the agician at the party thanked Rosaura for helping him by saying “Thank you my little countess”(13), she took these words as proof that her class in society didn’t matter and that her mother was wrong, instead of just regular thanks which it had indeed been. This shows that even though she was ignorant towards her mothers advices she was still considering that her mother could have been right. She was just insecure about the fact that her mother could be right. When the magician called her a “countess” she was relieved of the burden that her mother’s words may have been true, and that her beliefs about her friendship was right.
After emphasizing the protagonist’s ignorance, the author portrays the protagonist is hurt because she is a victim of a class structure which keeps the rich on the top and people like her and her mother at the bottom of society. When Luciana’s cousin is curious about where Rosaura was from, Rosaura “kicked her in the shin”(10).
Even though she was a maid’s daughter her ignorance of class allowed her to only see the path she wanted to follow, and was scared that another path to her life exists. She wants to be friends with Luciana as she was already living the life which Rosaura dreamt of.
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The First World War was a huge event which ended abruptly; going from huge German advances after March 1918 to Germany asking for peace later that year: they were forced from a hard hitting offensive to defeat for various reasons: One of the key reasons for Germany’s defeat is the internal problems suffered by Germany from late 1917. Morale in the ranks of the Germany army was diminished to ...
She didn’t realize that friends within the opposite class is nearly impossible. To her being intelligent and being praised made her get accepted in the world of the rich. Secondly, when Rosaura was waiting for her toy from Senora Ines and instead gets handed money, she felt crushed. The money to her showed to her that she was viewed differently then the other kids. The money showed her that she wasn’t invited as a friend, but as someone to just help out. She stared at Senora Ines with a “cold look”(15).
She had finally opened her eyes to the evil of this world and removed it from her perfect world that she wanted to live.
Senora Ines was the person she wanted to grow up to be as and looking at her with “cold eyes” shows that she was in disbelief at what Senora Ines was doing. She was afraid and mad at the people of the higher class for ruining her dreams and haunting her childhood. Scared as she was, “she pressed herself against her mother”(15) as she needed protection. Her mother was her shield as she was the only one who knew what she was going through. She realized her mistake in ignoring her mother’s wisdom and wanted her comfort. Rosaura’s perception of Senor Ines and her high class, and her mother and her low class has hanged completely
