Analysis of “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker

The stolen party

The author of the story The Stolen Party, Lilian Heker, was born on February 9, 1943 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Hekers career began at the age of 17 when she met Abelardo Castillo. Castillo was writer and chief of the literary periodical, who introduced Heker as an editor to a magazine. In 1966 Heker published her first collection of short stories, Los que vieron la zarza. In 1972 she published Acuario and then her first novel Zona de Clivaje in 1987. Heker had been devoting herself the stolen party analysis of political repression. She wrote another novel in 1996, El fin de la historia, during the Argentine dictatorship which was a time marked by state brutality and by the disappearances of many of the systems critics. Heker states that her text where meant to be facts as literature (Artist Portrait: Liliana Heker).

Theme of the stolen party

One of the major works by this author would be The Stolen Party which was written in 1982. The Stolen Party theme is a short story about a little girl named Rosaura, a 9-year-old daughter of a maid who is seemingly friends with Luciana, the daughter of Senora Ines, the lady of the house who is Rosaura’s mother’s boss. Rosaura was invited to Luciana’s birthday party where there was to be a magician with a monkey and other children to play with.

Although Rosaura’s mom detested the idea of Rosaura going to a “rich people’s party”, she dressed Rosaura up anyways and off to the party Rosaura went (“Stolen Innocence: A close reading and critical analysis of Liliana Hekers “The Stolen Party”). Throughout the whole party, Rosaura was asked to serve the guests. After all the party games, the magician came and performed tricks. Rosaura got to be a volunteer for one of his tricks and was very pleased when he thanked her, calling Rosaura a countess. In the end, instead of being given a small trinket like all the other party guests, Senora Ines paid Rosaura, an action which left Rosaura feeling hurt and cold. The short story “The Stolen Party” can be considered to be a universal work in that it addresses an issue or experience shared by many people in their lifetimes. Major considerations for this analysis will be based on the conflicts encountered by the character, the characters outcomes to the conflict, and the application of the issue or the conflict to the human experience (Heker 407). One type of conflict in this story would be man v. society.

The story starts out with a conflict, Rosaura is the main character in the “Stolen Party” and she came from a poor family. One day she was invited to her rich study partner’s birthday party and asked her mother if she could go. Rosaura’s mother worked for the rich girl’s mom Senora Ines. She did not think it was a good idea for Rosaura to attend the party due to their social differences but her mom let her go anyway. At the birthday party there was to be a magician with a monkey and other children to play with. Rosaura’s mom doesn’t like the idea of Rosaura going to a “rich people’s party”, because her mother knows how the “rich” people at the party are going to look down on Rosaura for being the daughter of the help. Rosaura doesn’t understand the social differences between herself and the other kids at the party but her mom does and has learned to just accept it. During the birthday party Luciana’s mother Senora Ines had Rosaura do more than just be a guest at the party, such as, serving the cake, and hot dogs to the guests at the party. This is where another conflict begins because she loved the tasks that Senora Ins gave her without comprehending that she is using her to do all the works. After all the party games, the magician came and performed tricks.

Rosaura got to be a volunteer for one of his tricks and was very pleased when he thanked her, calling Rosaura a countess. All of this adds up to indicate to us the fact that Rosaura is separated from the rest of the guests at the party is because she is not as prosperous as others and she is the daughter of the maid. Rosaura fails to understand the truth at the beginning of the story to throughout the party. Rosaura finally realizes the truth by Senora Ins at the end of the party by giving her two bills and insisting her as her pet. Rosaura’s happiness was shattered and heart broken by the harsh words by Senora Ins (“Stolen Innocence: A close reading and critical analysis of Liliana Hekers “The Stolen Party”). In addition, Rosaura, the little 9 year old Hispanic girl in the story, is forced to come to the reality that people are looked down on due to their social class. This story gives a good example of a loss of innocence in a child who doesn’t know any better about society.

The reader and her mom may sympathize with Rosaura but they are not surprised by the outcomes in this story. Rosaura has a blast at the party, playing all the games, helping the magician with his tricks, serving cake to the other children, and getting to see the magician’s monkey before the other children at the party. By the end of the party Rosaura felt special, because she got to help and do much more than the rest of the children there. But unfortunately her happiness quickly comes to an end. While she was leaving the party Rosaura didn’t receive a toy like the rest of the children as they were leaving, but instead she received two bills from Senora Ines, the hostess of the party. This left Rosaura crushed, hurt, confused, and forced to see the reality of society. Rosaura’s mom on the other hand, has the same emotion and thoughts about the party throughout the whole story (“Stolen Innocence: A close reading and critical analysis of Liliana Hekers “The Stolen Party”). Her mom has already realized and accepted the way that society is.

Her mom already knew how the party was going to turn out but she let Rosaura go anyway (Heker 403). When she picks her daughter up from the party she isn’t surprised at all when her daughter receives two bills instead of a toy. The author Heker builds and builds our hopes and our sympathies for Rosaura up into the last moment, were she leaves you somewhat surprised (Heker 407). Finally, in this story the conflicts give an example of different social gaps in some communities. The main conflict that is brought to your attention is the social gap between people of different incomes, mainly between the rich and the poor (“Stolen Innocence: A close reading and critical analysis of Liliana Hekers “The Stolen Party”).The conflicts in this story do not relate to me on a personal level, but they do relate to some current issues to this day, because the conflicts in this story is something some of us see in the world every day. There is still this same social gap in the world today between the people of different social classes. I personal don’t think that this conflict is as intense as the one in the story, but the conflict is still greatly known.

And it still exists for sure. People are judged by the brand of clothes they wear, the kind of cars they drive, the way they look, and by the way they live. A lot of this is because of the social class that people fall in, between the rich and the poor. Money is the number one thing that people judge on in our world today. In conclusion, “The Stolen Party” is considered to be a universal work in that it addresses an issue or experience shared by many people in their lifetimes. Major considerations for this analysis is based on the conflicts encountered by the character, the characters outcomes to the conflict, and the application of the issue or the conflict to the human experience. The author of this short story, Lilian Heker uses this story to impact society by writing it in the viewpoint of a child. A viewpoint that is so innocent and something we don’t look at or even think about in everyday life. Her main focus of this story was to bring to the reader’s attention to the social gap between different people of different incomes. Heker engages you to see the way things are through Rosaura’s eyes, the eyes of an innocent child. She uses this story to give society a fresh look at the world from a different point of view.

Works Cited

Heker, Liliana. “The Stolen Party”. Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Frank Madden Ed 5th: New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. 403-407. Print. International Festival of Literature Berlin: “Artist Portrait: Liliana Heker”. Culturebase.net. 28 April. 2005. Web. 4 Sept. 2014 “Stolen Innocence: A close reading and critical analysis of Liliana Hekers “The Stolen Party”. Thelivingdays.wordpress.com 15 Nov. 2000. Web. 3 Sept. 2014.