Fig. 5: Symbolic Comparison between the Monkey and Rosaura.
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“Monkeys at a birthday?” (p. 1) Rosaura’s mother asks her, in practically the first line of “The Stolen Party.” It’s a question that the reader probably has too, because it’s a strange idea. Why does Liliana Heker choose to put a monkey at this party? It’s not just a minor part of the story, as they story starts with Rosaura’s discovery of the monkey, and builds to the moment when Rosaura has the monkey in her lap as part of the magician’s act. The monkey is more than just a monkey. It actually is a symbol for Rosaura. It symbolizes how she is at the party as a servant, and how she is not like the other children there.
From the beginning, Rosaura is linked to the monkey, and, like the monkey, to the role 4 of servant. She runs straight into the kitchen as soon as she arrives. (p. 1) The monkey is in the kitchen, “deep in thought, inside its cage.” (p. 2). The monkey is kept in the kitchen, and Rosaura, too, is in and out of the kitchen throughout the story. The reader can imagine, if Rosaura is pouring juice and serving hot dogs and passing out cake, that she has to go in and out of the kitchen quite a lot. And we know that she is the only child allowed in the kitchen. (See Chapter 3: The Significance of the Kitchen.) The monkey is in a cage waiting to entertain the kids; Rosaura is in a kind of invisible cage that makes her a servant to the other children. Rosaura is not like the other children at the party, even though she desperately wants to be. Like the monkey, she is alone at the party, even if she doesn’t feel it. Luciana’s cousin points this out, even though Rosaura doesn’t want to see it. The cousin tells Rosaura, “You are not a friend of Luciana because I am her cousin and I know all her friends. And I don’t know you.” (p. 2) This conversation upsets Rosaura but she still can’t see that in fact the cousin is right. It’s not until the end of the party, when Senora Ines tries to pay her for her help, that Rosaura finally sees the truth. In this key moment, Senora Ines says, “Thank you for all your help, my pet.” (p. 5) Liliana Heker chose this word “pet” carefully, and it connects Rosaura even more to the monkey. The monkey is a symbol throughout the story of how Rosaura is viewed as a servant, and not like one of Luciana’s actual friends. What starts out as a funny question at the beginning turns ugly by the end, when it’s clear that the people Rosaura wanted to impress see her as no different from an obedient and amusing lesser creature. |