In Liliana Heker’s short story, “The Stolen Party,” Senora Ines invited Rosaura to the party for only one reason, to serve. Rosaura was a very smart girl in school, but she lacked people smarts. Senora Ines told Rosaura that she would be a guest there but tricked Rosaura into being a helper instead of a guest. Senora Ines needed Rosaura to help at the party so she mislead Rosaura by making her tasks seem as if they were privileges. Senora Ines’ deviousness ultimately devastated poor, innocent Rosaura.
Rosaura was a smart yet naive girl. Heker tells us that, “she was barely nine, and one of the best in her class” (1133). But as her mother, Herminia, says, “Get away with you believing any nonsense you’re told” (Heker 1133). Rosaura felt like she was equal to Lucinda, but to Senora Ines she is nothing but the maid’s daughter, another pair of hands. Rosaura wanted a better life than her mother’s, and she thought that this might be the first step in that direction.
Senora Ines was very secretive in her true intentio…
The Symbolic Meaning of the Radio in The Enormous Radio
The Symbolic Meaning of the Radio in The Enormous Radio
Many authors use the personification of inanimate objects to symbolize the feelings and expressions of their characters. One example of this is in John Cheever’s short story, “The Enormous Radio.” Although critics argue that the characteristics of the radio are the opposite of those of Jim and Irene Westcott, the radio actually reflects the couple’s life.
Even though in the beginning of the story the Westcotts’ old radio is outdated and constantly malfunctioning, it has the same innocence and simplicity as the couple. The radio, being “an old instrument” (817), and the couple, resembling “statistical reports in college alumni bulletins” (817), are both average and uncomplicated. Neither Jim nor Irene “understood the mechanics of the radio” (817), just as the radio, a machine, did not understand the human music and language it transmitted. Eventually the couple’s life begins to fall apart. This happens as the old radio get worse and finally “the music [from the radio] faded away all together” (817).
When the …