Class Separation And Human Right Violation In Liliana Heker's Novel The Stolen Party

As I leaned back in a big chair at my house, and I read a book which my grandmother just gave to me. I knew I would learn a new lesson from the book because learning through experience is an important part of life. Passing three short stories, I found an interesting story that I could learn more about aspects of society.

“The Stolen Party” is a fiction story written by Liliana Heker which tells us about an innocent girl. Rosaura, who is a Herminia’s daughter, was very happy because she was invited as a friend to a birthday party which was a Lucian’s birthday party, a daughter of Senora Ines, whose house Rosaura’s mother cleans. Herminia tried to tell Rosaura that Rosaura should not come to Lucian’s birthday. However, Rosaura didn’t care about that and enjoy the party. During the party, Rosaura Rosaura met a girl who is Lucian’s cousin wearing a bow in her hair. The girl and Rouaura argued who Rosaura was.

After that, Ines asked Rosaura to serve the cake for other Lucian’s friends. At the end of the party, when Lucian’s mother gave Lucian’s friends a small gift, she saw Rosaura and her mother leaving. Ines asked them to wait a minute, and then Ines gave them 2 bags which had some money inside, and thanked for helping. The story implied deep character, the separation between social classes, and inhuman treatment.

One of the strongest features of “The Stolen Story” is the depth of its colorful cast of characters. The author starts the story with an argument between Rosaura and Herminia. Rosaura is an innocent girl who never knows what is a real live. She wants to go to the party because Rosaura thinks she is invited, but her mother doesn’t want Rosaura to go to the party because of rich people party. Rosaura said, “I’ve been invited because Luciana is my friend.” or “I’ll die if I don’t go.” Herminia said, “That one’s not your friend. You know what you are to them? The maid’s daughter, that’s what.” Rosaura ignores her mother’s warning as she said,”Shut up! You know anything about being friends!” Rosaura is hardness and an inexperienced girl. She doesn’t image that her mother who knows what is a real live will be right. The party won’t be for her, and she doesn’t realize that not everyone in the party will treat her with the same respect or as her treatment.

Second, “The Stolen Story” points out the barriers that separate the different classes in our society. As a reader's view, the author demonstrates this point through symbolism between Rosaura and the monkey. The significance of the monkey to Rosaura is made clear to the reader by the constant mentioning of the animal. Although Rosaura doesn’t realize it, she and the monkey are being used for the same basic purpose at Luciana s birthday party. At the party, the monkey is there only to entertain the upper class children whether it wants to or not. Rosaura, like the monkey, is there for the same basic reason which is to serve the upper class children by serving them when they need something. When being compared to a monkey at the party, Rosaura is very similar to it when dealing with social classes. The monkey is separated by a cage which it can not break through, and all it can do is follow the orders given to it by the magician.

Moreover, “The Stolen Story” also implies inhuman treatment. The behavior of Senora Ines is an excellent example of someone restricted to a perspective that only views people by class. Being in the uppermost class, she can only see Rosaura for what she is in the most general of terms, a poor young daughter of a maid. Rosaura is more than this, and reading from her perspective we understand that- but in a very socially stratified society such as this, what you are born into is something you simply cannot escape.

The lower class can, in some manner of speaking, coexist with the upper class. Though, by Senora Ines actions, we can deduce that in the end it can be two wildly different incentives for such a society to function as such. At the party, Rosaura is practically interrogated by Luciana’s friends, being asked how she could possibly know Luciana and just what exactly her mother does, and only shown respect when she talks with people who are in the same class.