“The Stolen Party” – by Lilliana Heker
“How do you think Rosaura will change after the experience at the party?”
Sample #1: 1/5
I believe Rosaura will change in a bad way. She will not like Senora Ines
anymore, and will stop playing with Luciana. They will not do their
homework together after school anymore. Also, Rosaura will now see
that she is poor, and she will start hating on rich people. She now
knows that rich and poor people have different ideas about things in
life. She will start to get jealous of all the stuff Luciana has, and she will
really hate her for everything she has. This reminds me of a movie I saw
about rich and poor people. The rich people did all kinds of bad things
to the poor people, and the poor people hated the rich people. Rosaura
will not like Luciana the same way those poor people didn’t like the rich
people in the movie.
Sample #2: 5/5
I believe Rosaura will struggle with her newfound understanding of the
world, and the responsibilities that come with it. As soon as Rosaura is
paid for her “work” at the party, she is thrown into a world marked by
social status and class distinctions. Her naïve innocence, one that
protected her from the abuse of upper class people, is shattered. She
will now have to live in a world where she is at the bottom of the social
order. Depression, quickly coming on the heels of realization, will soon
follow her and plague her for many years. However, given Rosaura’s
resiliency earlier in the novel, particularly the way she brushed aside
Luciana’s cousin, she will overcome this enlightening later in life.
Rosaura’s mother, despite her hints about the party, understands how
to help her daughter navigate the “intricately delicate balance” that
exists in society. Rosaura will push through her initial difficulty and
come out stronger on the other side.
“The Ninny” – by Anton Chekhov
“Is Yulia a Ninny? Include a definition in your response”
Sample #1: 2/5
Yulia, a foolish person, also known as a ninny, upholds the values of her
employer, thereby showing she does not learn from her past mistakes.
She never challenges her employer when he starts to deduct her wages,
and she just listens and accepts what he tells her. By blindly accepting
her punishment, she shows herself to be a ninny, to be a fool.
Sample #2: 4/5 or 4.5/5
A ninny is a foolish person, and sadly, I believe that Yulia follows this
definition. She is foolish in accepting all the bad news and ideas that
her boss throws at her. He lies to her about all her deductions, and
makes up a bunch more of them, in order to teach her a lesson.
However, the end of the story shows that she will feel the same way
later on in life. She meekly accepts the punishment, and then just takes
the abuse when her boss yells at her. The fact that she just accepts his
abuse shows that she will accept it again in the future. She has not
changed after the “lesson” that her boss teaches her. If another boss
tries to take her money from her again, then she will just sit down and
take the abuse. Like any foolish person, she does not learn from her
mistakes.