A Painful Childhood Experience

Painful Childhood Experiences
In a child's world, there is always a lot of imagination. Children create worlds of their own out of their familiar surroundings, despite what adults tell them. The only way to let them realize the truth is to make them experience it, as Rosaura from "The Stolen Party" and An-mei from "Scar" do in their lives. Liliana Heker's "The Stolen Party" and Amy Tan's "Scar" share a similar theme. Both stories follow the perceptions of young girls. Although Tan's "Scar" and Heker's "The Stolen Party" share a distinct resemblance, they also differ. Rosaura suffers the pain that others give to her, but An-mei suffers it from her loved ones, such as her grandmother.
The main similarity is that both Rosaura and An-mei suffered from the painful circumstances of their lives. Rosaura convinces herself that Luciana is her friend and that she has been invited to Luciana's birthday party as any other guests. For Rosaura, there is the proof that every afternoon she goes to Luciana's house and they do their homework together. That is all the evidence Rosaura needs to consider herself a friend to Luciana. She even helps out with some chores during the party thinking she has some sort of "special" status in the house because of her familiarity with Luciana's home, as Heker states, "Rosaura was the only one allowed into the kitchen. Senora Ines, Luciana's mother also says, "You yes, but not the others, they're much too boisterous, they might break something." Rosaura had never broken anything." (P89) However, at the end of party, when Luciana's mother tries to pay her for her services, Rosaura realizes that she is just the maid's daughter, not a friend, not an equal, but merely a subordinate. We can imagine Rosaura's pain, as Heker writes, "Rosaura felt her arms stiffen, stick close to her body, and then noticed her mother's hand on her shoulder…."(p92) She is devastated.
In the other story, An-mei's mother has left the family to marry someone who already has a wife, after her husband dies. As a result, An-mei is separated from her mother. The whole family blames her mother and calls her a ghost, and they say she has no respect for her husband's grave. An-mei's Popo tells her scary stories, which stress the importance of morality and obedience. In one of her tales, she says that An-mei and her brother come from the egg of a useless goose. Being a young child, An-mei literally believes the stories and feels worthless and unimportant as a result. She says, "Now, I could imagine my mother, a thoughtless woman who laughed and shook her head, who has…her unhappy husband on the wall, and her disobedient children. I felt unlucky that she was my mother…."(p386) This is pitiful of An-mei, as she does not deserve this kind of treatment from her Popo, which makes her dislikes her own mother. As a child, An-mei has suffered the pain both emotional and physically, from her family.
Another similarity is that both girls have to find out the truth by themselves. Rosaura does not believe what her mother tells her. Her mother says, "That one's not your friend. You know what you are to them? The maid's daughter, that's what."(P89) But, Rosaura so excited about the party. As Heker writes, "She wanted to go that party more than anything else in the world." (P89)"I'll die if I don't' go" she whispered,"(p89) However, the party turns out to be the end of her illusion.
On the other hand, An-mei has been greatly influenced by her grandmother. She observes her mother and "saw that she had a long white neck", "just like the goose that had laid me." (P387) After An-mei sees her mother trying to cure her grandmother with the traditional medicine, she realizes that her mother is not as her grandmother had described her. As she says, "I come to love mother, how I saw her in my own true nature and what was beneath my skin, inside my bones." (P388) That is how An-mei finds out the truth about her mother and how she began to love her.
One major difference in the two girls is their attitudes at the end of each story. At the end of "The Stolen Party", Heker writes "Rosaura felt, her arms stiffen, stick close to her body, and then noticed her mother's hand on her shoulder. Instinctively she pressed herself against her mother's body. That was all. Except her eyes, Rosaura's eyes had a cold, clear look that fixes itself on Senora Ines face." (P92) Rosaura does learn a lesson from this experience, as would any child. It is not certain if this experience makes her stronger, or if it makes her succumb to her mother's view of the world. Rosaura's mother says at the beginning of the story, "That one's not your friend. You know what you are to them? The maid's daughter, that's what" (p89). However, Rosaura does not agree with her mother and has her own ideas about people and places.
After many years of sad confusion, An-mei finally comes to understand her mother and accept that she is like her in many ways. Her own suffering has made her appreciate the suffering her mother endured. She states, "Not because she came to me and begged me to forgive her. She did not. She did not need to explain that Popo chased her out of the house when I was dying. This I knew…."(p388) An-mei cannot control herself not to love her mother, as she says, "This time I did not look for fear my head would burst and my brains would dribble out of my ears.", (p387) scared as she lies in her mother's arms. She understands her mother. An-mei further explains that to really know yourself, you must peel away your own skin, and the skin of your mother. It is a painful but necessary process, in order to be in touch with your true self; but it is only when the scared skin is peeled away that the healing can begin.
Rosaura and An-mei are both young girls living in environments where certain things or people are not accepted. Through childhood experiences, both girls have learned the difference between what society dictates and the heart cravers