The Stolen Party By Liliana Heker And The Test By Angelica Gibbs: Short Stories Analysis

“The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker and “The Test” by Angelica Gibbs are short stories describing the struggles of being segregated because of diversity. In “The Stolen Party” the protagonist, Rosaura, a nine year-old Latina girl, goes to a party thinking she’s a guest but ends up being worked by her mother’s employer, Senora Ines, without realizing it. In “The Test,” the main character, Marian, a black, twenty-seven-year-old woman, takes her driver’s test with a cruel driving inspector who makes degrading remarks about her because he only sees her for her race and mien. People view the world in the lens of their social class and they treat people of various socio-economic statuses differently because they are biased towards their own place in society.In “The Stolen Party,” Senora Ines is blinded by her social class, which is reflected in the way that she treats Rosaura. Rosaura attends Luciana’s party, expecting to celebrate with all the guests. Senora Ines constantly asks Rosaura to assist her because she knows the house better than Luciana’s other friends. Luciana’s cousin questions Rosaura and the way she knows Luciana, not believing that they are friends. Rosaura explains to the cousin that she and Luciana are really close since she is the daughter of the employee. In the midst of defending her friendship, “just then Senora Ines arrived saying shh shh, and asked Rosaura if she wouldn’t mind helping serve out the hot dogs, as she knew the house so much better than the others.” Later in the story, after the party ends, the children are given party favors. Rosaura lines up along with the other kids. Instead of getting a gift, Senora Ines gives her two checks, one for her, as a token for her “hard work” and one for her mother. As Senora Ines is handing Rosaura the checks she says, “‘you really truly earned this.’ she states while handing them over. ‘Thank you for all your help, my pet.” Senora Ines takes advantage of the fact

“The Stolen Party” by Liliana Heker and “The Test” by Angelica Gibbs are short stories describing the struggles of being segregated because of diversity. In “The Stolen Party” the protagonist, Rosaura, a nine year-old Latina girl, goes to a party thinking she’s a guest but ends up being worked by her mother’s employer, Senora Ines, without realizing it. In “The Test,” the main character, Marian, a black, twenty-seven-year-old woman, takes her driver’s test with a cruel driving inspector who makes degrading remarks about her because he only sees her for her race and mien. People view the world in the lens of their social class and they treat people of various socio-economic statuses differently because they are biased towards their own place in society.

In “The Stolen Party,” Senora Ines is blinded by her social class, which is reflected in the way that she treats Rosaura. Rosaura attends Luciana’s party, expecting to celebrate with all the guests. Senora Ines constantly asks Rosaura to assist her because she knows the house better than Luciana’s other friends. Luciana’s cousin questions Rosaura and the way she knows Luciana, not believing that they are friends. Rosaura explains to the cousin that she and Luciana are really close since she is the daughter of the employee. In the midst of defending her friendship, “just then Senora Ines arrived saying shh shh, and asked Rosaura if she wouldn’t mind helping serve out the hot dogs, as she knew the house so much better than the others.” Later in the story, after the party ends, the children are given party favors. Rosaura lines up along with the other kids. Instead of getting a gift, Senora Ines gives her two checks, one for her, as a token for her “hard work” and one for her mother. As Senora Ines is handing Rosaura the checks she says, “‘you really truly earned this.’ she states while handing them over. ‘Thank you for all your help, my pet.” Senora Ines takes advantage of the fact that Rosaura thinks that she is Luciana’s friend. Senora Ines makes Rosaura feel like she is valued by paying special attention to her. Senora Inus does this by asking her to help because Rosaura knows her way around. She treats Rosaura differently than she would with another one of Luciana’s friends because of her social class and Rosaura’s place in society. Rosaura thinks that she is being treated differently because she is a closer friend to Luciana than all of her other friends. However, in reality, Senora Ines is treating her differently because she is a worker. After Senora Ines pays her, Rosaura realizes that she will not be given a party favor like the other kids. Because of this Rosaura faces the harsh reality that she is only a worker to Luciana and Senora Ines and is not considered a friend.

In “The Test”, blinded by his social class, the driving inspector treats Marian discourteously, because he thinks he has power over her. Marian goes to her drivers’ test so that she can receive her license in order to drive her employer, Ms. Ericson’s kids to school. The driving inspector keeps making racially offensive comments. He is in shock when Marian reads a sign perfectly and asks her where she learned it. When she says that she went to college he replies, “‘Mandy got a degree, did she? Dogs my cats!’” Just as Marian is about to complete her drivers’ test with a perfect score, Marian makes a minor mistake, which the driving inspector makes a comment on. This comment sets her off and consequently, she jerks the car. The driving inspector is taken back and reacts by, “the inspector lost his joviality in an instant.‘Return to the starting place, please,’ he said, and made four very black crosses at random in the squares on Marian’s application bank.” Because Marian is black, the driving inspector thinks he has authority over her because he is dictating whether or not she passes her drivers test. Based on Marian’s race, the instructor is astonished that she has a college degree. He infers that she isn’t high-powered enough to be able to go to school even. Not only did he disrespect her because of her race, but the instructor also does not care enough to remember Marian’s name. The instructor consistently refers to Marian as any name that starts with an “m,” showing no respect towards her. The final straw for Marian is when the instructor makes a demeaning comment about her degree, and she responds in anger and the instructor is dumbfounded. In an instant, the instructor loses his contentment because Marian has the confidence to stand up for herself even though he has power over her. He takes advantage of his authority to fulfill his belief that Marian does not deserve to pass her drivers test.

People look at life through the perspective of their social class and view people of different social statuses through a biased perspective. In “The Stolen Party” Senora Ines treats Rosaura differently because she thinks of Rosaura as a maid because of Rosaura’s low social class. In “The Test” the driving instructor is powered by his social class, which leads him to form an opinion about Marian, which he fulfills by treating her inadequately because of her race and status. The protagonists in both of the short stories are alienated because of their social class and race by people of higher status than them because they are masked by their higher social class.