From the beginning of “The Stolen Party,” Lilian Heker introduces tension between Rosaura and her mother. The story starts with a kind of flash forward, letting the reader know that Rosaura does end up going to the party, and that there is in fact a monkey there. Heker then takes the reader back to an argument before the party, when Rosaura is trying to convince her mother that Luciana is in fact her friend, and that there will be a monkey at the party. The two characters have completely different perspectives on Luciana and her family. This is shown in their dialogue and in Rosaura’s inner thinking (we don’t get to hear Rosaura’s mom’s thinking.). Rosaura’s mom says, “I don’t like you going . . . it’s a rich people’s party.”(p. 1) When she says this, she lets Rosaura and the reader know that she is suspicious of people with money. She clearly doesn’t see herself as friends with Luciana’s family and can’t see her daughter that way either. She also says that Rosaura “fart[s] higher than [her] ass.” (p. 1) This is a shocking way of talking to a child—it shows that the mother speaks plainly, even using gross language, and it makes her point even stronger that she and Rosaura don’t belong at fancy parties. The author probably chose these words to show that Rosaura’s mother doesn’t always speak politely. On the other hand, Rosaura desperately wants to go to this party. What she says to her mom and what she thinks reveal that this is more than just a fun afternoon for her. When her mom tells her that Luciana is not really her friend, she yells, “Shut up! You don’t know anything about being friends!” Sometimes people get extra mad when they are nervous that they might be wrong. Maybe Rosaura is worried that her mother could be right, and she yells to convince herself that what she wants to be true is. In this same scene, Heker reveals some of Rosaura’s thinking. She writes, “Rosaura too wanted to be rich, of course. If one day she managed to live in a beautiful palace, would her mother stop loving her? She felt very sad. She wanted to go to that party more than anything else in the world.” (p. 1) Heker is letting the reader see that this is about something much bigger than just a party. Rosaura wants things her mother doesn’t want her to want. At the end of the story, there is a quick and horrible twist in this relationship. Throughout most of the party, Rosaura has believed that her dream is coming true. She was welcomed with the other children, she got to serve cake and help out the magician. The magician even called her a “little countess.” (p. 4) When she tells her mother of these things, her mother begins to soften. Heker lets the reader know this by describing the way the mother smiled: “one could see that she was beaming.” (p. 4) But sadly, this hope that Rosaura’s dream could be true is crushed when Senora Ines tries to pay Rosaura for her “help.” The mother and daughter finally share an emotion at the end of the story—but unfortunately that emotion is despair. We can only hope that Rosaura will see her mother’s real love for her as just as important as her imagined friendship with Luciana.
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In “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker, Rosaura’s understanding of the divide between rich and poor changes after her experience at the party. At first she believes in the best of the Ines family (that Luciana
is her friend and she’s invited as a guest) as shown in the first panel where she is defending the family and insisting she is right. However, after Senora Ines tries to pay her for her help, Rosaura’s worldview is shattered and she has to adjust to a cold new truth from here on out as shown in the second panel as Rosaura’s eyes widen and her stare turns cold while her thinking shows the permanent change in her perspective.
is her friend and she’s invited as a guest) as shown in the first panel where she is defending the family and insisting she is right. However, after Senora Ines tries to pay her for her help, Rosaura’s worldview is shattered and she has to adjust to a cold new truth from here on out as shown in the second panel as Rosaura’s eyes widen and her stare turns cold while her thinking shows the permanent change in her perspective.