Lit. Essay Stolen Party
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). 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
“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). 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