The Stolen Party

The short story, "The Stolen Party" by Lilian Heker was one of my favorite short stories that I have read. This story is about a little girl named Rosaura and she is the daughter of a maid. Rosaura is invited to a girl named Luciana's birthday party and Rosaura's mother is the maid of Luciana's mother, Señora Ines. Rosaura's mother doesn't want Rosaura going to the party because it's a "rich people" party and she knows why her daughter was invited. However, Rosaura thinks that she was invited because she's friends with Luciana and she wants Rosaura to be there to celebrate with her. When she gets to the party, Luciana's cousin questions her and ask her why she's there and says "No, you are not a friend of Luciana because I'm her cousin and I know all her friends. And I don't know you." Throughout the story, there is a "monkey" that keeps being mentioned. At first, I didn't think much of it but then I started to look deeper into it. Rosaura had a lot of fun at the party but didn't realize that she was only the helper all along. She helped Señora Ines with the food and she helped the magician, just like the monkey did as his helper. At the end of the story, Señora Ines gives Rosaura 2 dollar bills and says "You really and truly earned this. Thank you for all your help, my pet." That is when it finally dawns on Rosaura that she was just a helper, just like the "monkey" and just like her mother who was the maid.

While reading this story, I could clearly see the divide between classes. Luciana was born into an ascribed status just like Rosaura was but a different kind of ascribed status. Luciana was born into the higher class and automatically had a better life just because her parents were rich and a part of the higher class. Rosaura was born into the lower class and since her mother was a maid, Rosaura was looked at as just another little helper too and didn't have all the luxuries that Luciana and her family had. What I don't really understand though is why children are subjected to this kind of behavior. I don't understand how little kids could just not be friends with someone or treat someone differently just because they come from a different background and aren't just like them. Luciana's cousin questioned Rosaura because she knew Rosaura was different from everyone else.

Would you treat someone differently if you thought that they were in a lower or higher class than you? Do you think Rosaura could have stood up for herself or do you think it was better that she didn't try to defend herself after Señora Ines handed her the money?

Girl

Recently, I read a short story written by Jamaica Kincaid called "Girl." The narrator of this story is a mother and this mother is talking to her daughter. She is telling her daughter all of the rules about being a girl and how she should act and how she should live her life. She is telling her what to do and what not to do. When I first read this short story, I didn't really know how to interpret it. It just sounded like a mother who wanted to teach her daughter how to be a lady and wanted to raise her right. However, when I was able to discuss this story in a group with other people, my interpretation of the story changed. When I first read this, I read it with a very stern yet caring tone of a mother. When I read it again with a group, I picked up on a quite harsh tone coming from the mother and was able to pick up on things I didn't notice before. Starting on line 9 and 10 the mother says "On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming" and she repeats the "slut" part in lines 16 and 17 as well. I also noticed that the daughter isn't able to get a word in at all because the mother just keeps going on and on giving her this huge lecture about what girls are 'supposed' to do  instead of simply just having a talk with her daughter. The mother keeps repeating the phrase "this is how" in the beginning of every sentence. This is when I realized that the tone of this story isn't just stern and caring but it is also very harsh. Her mother is practically calling her a slut. She is trying to tell her how to be lady because she thinks that if she doesn't then her daughter won't be able to find a good man on her own and have children because she's "so bent on becoming a slut."

How would you react if your mom gave you a lecture and was practically calling you a slut or any other demeaning name? Do you agree with the so called 'rules' that girls should follow?

Danger of a Single Story

Recently, I read a speech written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie called "Danger of a Single Story." The three main ideas I picked up on while reading this speech was 1. Don't judge a book by it's cover 2. Don't let a single story define a person and 3. Tell multiple stories instead of one. Before I start talking about why I picked out these three main ideas, I'll give you a little background on the speech. In the speech, Adichie talks about how when she was younger, the only books that she read were British and American children's books even though she grew up on a university campus in eastern Nigeria. She also used to write stories when she was younger and all of her characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather. She said "What this demonstrates, I think, is how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story." What she is trying to say is that being told only one story about a certain group of people over and over again will become embedded in your mind and will prohibit you from being able to form your own opinion about a specific person and will force you to just believe stereotypes. Adichie came from a middle-class Nigerian family where her father was a professor and her mother was an administrator.  They got a house boy and all her mother kept telling her was that their house boy, Fide, was poor. Since she was told over and over again by her family that Fide and his family were poor, that is all she ever thought of them. That was her only opinion of him and his family until she went to his village to visit and saw a beautifully patterned basket that his family had made. She didn't think they were capable of creating something so great simply because they were poor. She realized that their poverty was her single story of them.

When Adichie went to college, she experienced being at the other end of the stick when someone had a single story about her. Her roommate was shocked that she learned how to speak English so well. She asked if she could listen to what she called Adichie's "tribal music" and was very surprised when she produced her tape of Mariah Carey. She realized that her roommate felt sorry for her before she even saw her. Her roommate had a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe.

By only listening and believing a single story, you miss out on getting to know a person as an individual and having the pleasure of learning that they might not be anything like the single story that you were told. The point of this story was to in fact show the danger of a single story and to also try to encourage people to tell multiple stories instead of just one so that you don't judge a book by its cover and you don't let a single story define a person.

Have you ever let a single story determine your opinion of someone? Have you ever been a victim of a single story?