Summary Of Liliana Heker's Short Story The Stolen Party

The way of life for Rosaura goes a lot like this: Working hard to make ends meet, going to school, and helping your family. The short story “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker takes place at Rosaura’s friend, Luciana, birthday party. The rebuttal between Rosaura and her mother takes place when Rosaura challenges her mother to go to Luciana’s party, but her mother stops her willingly and knowing their status in their society. Rosaura rebelliously goes without listening to her mother’s advice and attends the party. There she challenges the events of questioning about who she really is. She doesn't notice at first, but ends up working for Luciana’s mother by helping at the party. This occurs consecutively when all guests at the party received

toys, but Luciana received two dollars. When accepting the money, she realized the full depth of what really had happened.

Consequently, she learned how some things don’t seem the way they are.

The way Rosaura saw the party was that she was an invited guest attending, but never thought of as a maid or a helper. She helped pass out cake, juice, and participate in the magic show (Heker, 3). Not seeing the full perspective, Rosaura was under the conception that she was a guest at the party. She thought that because Luciana was her “friend” and that her helping was a kind deed.

Later, she opens her eyes to what really was happening. She thought of Luciana as a friend, but she started to doubt it. On page 3, Luciana’s brother says “I know all of Luciana’s friends.. and you are not one of them”. Luciana’s cousin talks about how he knows all of her friends and keeps referring to that point to portray that Rosaura is not one of them.

Another opposing event arises when Rosaura is given names. Names that are dehumanizing in a way that relate to her standards of living, once again. She was serving when it was brought to the attention of the other guests that Rosaura was a “pet” and that she was wonderful in helping (Heker,3). Though Rosaura found pride in this, she did not see that she was, arguably, called a maid or a

helper.

Unquestionably, the message portrayed by the “Stolen Party” is that Social Structure of your place in society can affect the way people treat you.

People will indubitably question you and your actions based just on your financial circumstances, your wealth, and such. When inferred, one can think that Rosaura’s mother knew about her struggles and their place in the society, so she repeatedly requests that Rosaura not go to Luciana’s party. Furthermore, Rosaura’s mother warns Rosaura about their state and her being a maid. But, once again, Rosaura ignores her comments and attends the party. There she finally opens her eyes to see what her mother had warned her about. Others might say that the main message delivered to the reader is that friendships don’t always seem the way they are. Some might think that since Luciana’s cousin said, straightforwardly, that Rosaura is not one of her friends, that is the main message. Though that is an important part of the story, it does not signify the whole point of the story but a minor part of

it.
The eminence of the “Stolen Party”’s theme is that Social structures and wealth of a person in return shows a person is treated in society or looked at. Rosaura is subjected to this form of degradation when she attends Luciana’s birthday party, yet she doesn't seem like a guest. She helps out with the food, activities, etc., thinking that she is just helping out as a kind deed. Later, her cousin torments the idea of Rosaura being one of Luciana’s friends. He kept repeatedly bringing it up to make point about it. Furthermore, Rosaura was, quote on quote, called a “pet” on the last page and was given money instead of toys like the others. In many way then not, Rosaura see’s the full perspective and how her wealth and social structure influenced her being looked at in a negative way.