The Stolen Party

In "The Stolen Party" I noticed that Rosaura is very important. During the story Rosaura's mom doesn't want her to go to the birthday party but never really says why. I think that the mother doesn’t want Rosaura to go the party because in lines 59-60 Rosaura’s mother tells her to say she is the daughter of the employee, and to be proud of it. Her mom is scared that she will get hurt or made fun of because of the fact that they are in a different social class.

Even nowadays people tend to stick with people in the same social class. We become friends with people in our social class because we tend to befriend those who live in the same neighborhood. In Timber Creek the majority of people are relatively around the same social classes.

When Rosaura talks about the monkey, it made connections with how the Monkey was trapped in his cage, couldn’t get out and the magician called the monkey his “partner” on like 81. Rosaura relates to the monkey because she might feel trapped in her social class, even if she doesn’t realize it. When she was helping pass out the cake, she felt very happy with herself and when she went to leave she thought the birthday girl's mom would give her a gift, she was given money to take her for her service. I think that really hurt her feelings, but it goes to show that it is really hard to escape what your family around you has created to be your normal.

When her mom told her she didn’t want her to go, Rosaura was really upset and wanted to even more than she did at first. I think once she was offered money, she felt used and horrible about herself because she was actually enjoying herself at the party thinking that she was great at what she was doing and was doing it just to help out. She thought she was there for her friend, but her friend really wasn’t a good/true friend.

Just like now, sometimes the people with more money will make someone with less money feel bad about it when in actuality they can’t control what they’re born into and what they do or don’t have, but only when they’re older they can control it.

Kaffir Boy

When I was reading "Kaffir Boy" I noticed a lot of different meanings behind the story. The most prominent would have to be the usage of colors. In the beginning he talks about how his school, full of black children, is different than the school full of white children. How for his school he must wait and run to cross the street while the children have a man helping guide traffic with a signs.

On lines 20-25 he is talking about what the white people have at their school versus what his school does not have. How they have immaculate lawns, a new driveway for the school, lots of bright yellow buses, bright flowers, swings, etc while at his school doesn't have school buses or very many books.

I think this is very ironic because even now you still see a lot of these traits still in our current time. Even though separate schools aren't a thing anymore, there’s still schools that have a surplus of supplies while others are lacking in that area. Where as a school in Winslow might not have such great teachers, or lots of books/computers, and then there’s schools like Timber Creek that have the privilege to have many computers, a big library, teachers with a better education.

On line 59 Granny says that Master Clyde is older than her grandson, he is much bigger. I think it’s crazy that while trying to put Master Clyde up and compliment him, she puts her own grandson down to fit in and feel more accepted with the white family. I feel like the author wrote and added this in the story to go along with lines 77-79 when Mrs. Smith tells Granny that her food will right near the washing machine. I think she said that just to remind her that she isn’t eating where the rest of the family does, almost as if she’s holding her power over her.

Girls

The story Girls is all about the different rules of being a girl. Its coming from a mother going to a daughter and telling her how to be a good woman that a man will want. When I was reading this I was very surprised with what she was telling her. I felt like the daughter had so many rules to follow, like how to smile at people you like, don't like, and people you really don't like.

I thought it was ridiculous that her own mother kept referring to her as wanting to be a slut, and that any little thing would make her one. She acted as if the smallest thing would make her one.

The story gave the theme of strict, harsh and serious. The woman in the story have a specific set of rules they must abide by. When they talk about the different ways of being a slut, and how to not be one even though you want to be one.  Slut shaming is very big in this story and now a days women are trying to make it more acceptable to everyone in our society to be more comfortable with ladies doing what they want with their own bodies. Lines 38-39 it says “this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child” which goes against how it says women shouldn't be a slut. If she isn't expected to act a certain way why is there a way to get rid of a problem that they shouldn't have been in the first place?

Abortion and slut shaming are two very serious topics that are just as criticized now as they were back then.

Why is it more acceptable to get rid of an unplanned pregnancy than it is to feel comfortable in your body and do as you please with it?

Reading this made me realize that women are held to a different standard than men. Women have a long list of things to do and are expected to please their man while men are expected to just kind of, be there. There is a double standard in this story; that women have to follow these set of rules and do what it takes to please men, but this shouldn't be how things are. Women should be able to act how they want, do what they want and be whoever they want to be. Whether it be a stay at home mom/wife or a lady who wants to go out, get a good job and be able to support herself/family.