The Stolen Party By Lilliana Heker

Be a Good Sport and Accept Others

“As I often say, we have come a long way from the days of slavery, but in 2016, discrimination and inequality still saturate our society in modern ways. Though racism may be less blatant now in many cases, its existence is undeniable.”- Al Sharpton. Discrimination has been around for many generations, but now in modern days, discrimination has played a huge role in our society. Although discrimination isn't as bad as it was in 1964 where it was the time of segregation, discrimination still uses some violence around the world. For example the movement “blacklivesmatter” is a group that is protecting justices and freedom for black people. Discrimination is something that people should not spread because

it just brings more negativity to people and the world. The lack of friendships, negative impacts on someone's identity, and opposing judgement are reasons why people should accept other who are different from themselves.
In the short story “The Stolen Party”, Liliana Heker depicts how lack of friendships shows an example of why people should accept others who are different from themselves.

In the story, Rosaura wants to attend Luciana’s birthday party, but Rosaura’s mother, Herminia, doesn't want to let her go because she knows what is going to happen if Rosaura attends the party. For example, Heker states “You are not a friend of Luciana because I’m her cousin and I know all her friends. And I don't know you.” This shows that the girl with the bow is telling Rosaura that she is not a friend of Luciana because she knows all of Luciana’s friends. Also since Luciana is rich and Rosaura is poor this separates them because they both come from different social class which apparently doesn't make them friends. The evidence “I know all her friends” suggest that Rosaura must be embarrassed to tell her cousin that Luciana is her friend because she’s poor and she doesn't want her cousin to know she is friends with a penniless girl. In addition, their friendship starts to question Rosaura and Luciana’s because it seems that Luciana doesn't consider Rosaura her friend since she didn't tell her cousin. There’s also a possibility where the girl with the bow could have been friends with Rosaura’s if she didn't “attack” her by saying “your not a friend of

Luciana.”
In the article “Destroying a Culture”, by Pauline Bickford Duane, she argues how changing someone's identity creates a negative impact and can affect why people should accept others who are different from themselves. This article is about Native Americans who were forced to change their identity and give up on their tribes. This was called the The Dawes Act where Native Americans had to learn how to live in a “American Society”. For example, Duane states “School administrators assigned new names to the students. They gave the students western-style clothing to wear and unfamiliar foods to eat.Long hair, which was encouraged and admired in native families, was forbidden at the schools. Teachers and administrators punished children for speaking their native language or for practicing native traditions or celebrations.” This demonstrates that The Dawes Act made Native Americans change their identity and made them stop following their tribe. Also the children were forced to attend boarding schools which made them face a lot of changes like their names were change even their self appearance. The administrators were forcing the students to learn how to act and live in a “American Society”. Therefore , this affected Native Americans negatively because they weren't able to follow their tribe and this is something very important to them because it's their tradition it's what they grew up to and look up to. Losing your identity is like losing yourself because your identity is what makes you who you are, without your identity you don't know who you are anymore. Native Americans felt like they were losing themselves because they weren't able to express their tribe nor reveal who they were.
In the short story “What of This Goldfish, Would you Wish For?” Etgar Keret implies negative judgement to show why people should accept others who are different from themselves.

In the short story, this young Jewish boy Yonatan decided to film a documentary by knocking on people's houses and asking them a question “ If you found a talking goldfish that granted you three wishes, what would you wish for ?” Until he came across this person’s house name Sergei, he didn't want to interview him, so this turned into a bad outcome. For example, Keret states “his father had been a zionist, which was pretty much an invitation for them to drop by any old time.” This reveals his father experiences affected Sergei because he's paranoid that the jews will come back. However, since Sergei had a ruinous experience with jews, Yoni was a jew and Sergei had a “fear” that Yoni would do something to him which convinced him to kill Yoni. Also Sergei’s negative judgement made him kill Yoni because he didn't give him a chance to express who he was and what he was doing. There could've been a possibility where Sergei could of gave Yoni a chance and let him ask him the question but he quickly judged him because he was Jewish, this would of led to a positive outcome. Another example, Keret states “ and its hard for him to follow; his Hebrew isn't so good.” This shows since they are from both different race they won't be able to understand each other because Yoni speaks Hebrew and Sergei speaks

Russian. Also considering that they both speak different languages this convinced Yoni to barrage in Sergei’s house and Sergei took it as if Yoni was going to attack him. In addition, Sergei didn't want to kill Yoni because he didn't understand him and he took it as “threat”. This suggests that Sergei’s bad judgement led to hurting an innocent person which made Sergei realized after what he did was wrong.
People should accept others who are different from themselves because not accepting others leads to fewer friendships, negative judgment, and weakens someone's identity.