The Stolen Party By Liliana Heker

The story “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker is a story about a girl named Rosaura who is “invited” to a birthday party, but discovers that she was only invited because she was the maid’s daughter. Rosaura comes into conflict with characters such as the girl with the bow, and although she only points out what we find out to be true later, this provokes Rosaura into kicking her in the shin.. At the end of the story Rosaura is presented with money instead of a gift, and then, only then, she realises that she was not a guest at all, but just a maid’s daughter. By the end of the story we understand that the theme is that if your expectations don’t match reality you will be disappointed, as Rosaura doesn’t realise till the end, even though it is

The girl with the bow starts to interrogate Rosaura, and says, “You are not a friend of Luciana because I’m her cousin and I know all her friends. And I don’t know you.” She goes on to point out that they don’t even go to school together, and when she asks how she knows Luciana, Rosaura replies, “ I’m the daughter of the employee.” Rosaura’s mother specifically instructed her to say those words, as to give an ambiguous answer that wouldn’t reveal their low social status. The girl with the bow asks why would her mother know Luciana if she was an employee, but before Rosaura can come up with an excuse Luciana’s mother asks if she can help serve the hotdogs, and as she is about to leave she kicks the girl with the bow in the shin. While in the beginning of the story Rosaura’s mothers argument is accurate, but her reasoning behind it is flawed. However, the girl with the bow’s argument, and personality gives both evidence and reasoning to her mothers

When Senora Ines approaches Rosaura she tells her mother how helpful Rosaura has been. For a brief moment Rosaura thinks that she will get 2 gifts, the yoyo and the bracelet, but she gets money instead. Rosaura realises that she has been wrong all along, and that she was not really Luciana’s friend, but just a maid’s daughter, and her helping was a job. This comes as a shock to Rosaura, because she assumed that her helping was a privilege, and meant that she was trusted. The gift symbolises the friendship between Luciana and the guests, and the money symbolises the opposite; representing the difference in social status between Rosaura and the other