The Stolen Party by Lilianan Heker is a short story about a girl's life experience that changes her point of view of society. One day, she gets an invitation to a rich daughter's birthday. Her mother is a maid and works for them. Because of Rosaura's youth and innocence , she doesn't realize the true meaning of the invitation and firmly believes that there is no social distinction between the rich and the poor. She believes that even if she is the maid's daughter she is welcomely accepted in the party.
Although she is only nine years old, Rosaura feels confident that she knows more about rich people than her mother. In numerous occasion, she defends them saying that they are good people also. She thinks it is not just because they have money that they are necessarily bad people when she says: "Rich people go to Heaven too"� ( 22 ).
Ball de la Rosaura
Español: Escuela Rosaura Pedraza en Uriangato
Ball de la RosauraShe clearly opposes her mother's view who thinks that they are nothing but liars.
"Monkeys at a birthday?"� she said. "Get away with you, believing any nonsense you're told!"� Rosaura was deeply offended. She thought it unfair of her mother to accuse other rich people of being liars simply because they were rich.( 22) She doesn't approve the way her mother speaks, her mother uses mean words that really offend her: "The problem with you young lady, is that you like to fart higher than your ass."�( 22 ) Rosaura thinks she is smarter than her mother because she has a better education than her mother and because she is one of the best in her class. The little girl thinks she knows more simply because she shares the company of her higher class when in fact she is blinded by her naivetÃÂé.
Rosaura even sense that she is part of the Ines family when in fact she is there to fulfill a maid's job. Her naivete leads her to believe so because of Senora behavior during the party. She is asked to do different tasks and the young girl doesn't seem to bother because Senora made her believe that she is chosen because she is better than the others to do the job. Senora says: " You yes, but not the others, they're too boisterous, they might break something."� ( 23 ). During the party, she thinks of herself as an important person. She thinks she has a certain bond with the family because only the rich mother asks her personally to help her do things.
Just then Senora Ines arrived saying shh,shh, and asked Rosaura if she wouldn't mind helping serve out the hotdogs, as she knew the house better than the others. "See?"� said Rosaura to the girl with the bow, and when no one was looking she kicks her in the shin. ( 24 ) She doesn't mind to help, she thinks herself as a special person at the party, like a guess with an important status.
At no point of during the birthday party does Rosaura feels exploited by Senora Ines. In fact, she doesn't see any class distinction between the rich and the poor. She is only about nine years old and to her doing all that work only means to help the rich girl's birthday like any friend would do, and not because she is a maid herself. Even the Luciana's cousin senses that Rosaura is an outsider. She sees that Rosaura isn't like everybody else at the party. First of all, she has never seen her before and compared with the other guess, Rosaura has spanish eyes and isn't blond like the rest. A sign of social distinction between the rich and poor. Also, Rosaura claims that she is the friend of the rich girl, Luciana, when in fact they never seem to talk to each other at all. Beside from the beginning when she asks about a monkey, Rosaura is most of the time left out from her supposable friend Luciana. She knows that Rosaura is there to be a maid, only she is so naive and innocence that she doesn't see that she is being exploited.
It's only after the party is over that the little girl learns the painful lessons about life. Since the start, she always wanted to prove her mother wrong. She tells her that she is right about the monkey and that Luciana, the rich, didn't lie. It's when she is about to leave that Rosaura starts to feel left out. She senses a tension, everyone is getting little presents and she starts to think that she might be different from the others and won't get any presents. To cheer herself up she says: "I was the best-behaved at the party"� ( 25 ) She boasts about her behavior to conceal her fear of being left out. But when Senora hands her the present like Rosaura expects, she is clearly shocked to see that instead of getting the presents she gets money. It's only now that she realizes the true reason for her invitation.
Rosaura's reaction at the end of the party clearly proves us that she all the time thinks that she is invited because she is friend's with Luciana. She is sad to realize that she is, in fact, different from the others, that her mother is right all along and that there is a social distinction between the rich and the poor. It is now that Rosaura knows that she is a maid like her mother. She sees that Senora Ines uses her not because she is special but simply because she there to fulfill a maid's job. Her innocence and her naivete blinds her from seeing the truth.
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