Introduction
The present critical analysis will explore and analyze “Colour of Walls” by Thomas King and “The Stolen Party” by L. Heker. The “Colour of Walls” and “The Stolen Party” give the readers insightful messages about the characters’ experiences and highlight common and robust themes. These stories highlight interesting racism, classism, and identity destruction incidents. Indeed, the plot and the unexpected climax in the allegories serve an essential role in supporting the theme of class inequalities and the societal influence of personal identity. The two narratives bring out significant themes of class and racial prejudice and the impact of society on a person’s identity.
Summary of the Works
“The Stolen Party” by Lilian Heker is a short narrative that analyses a girl’s experience that changed her description of society. The story revolves around an invitation to Rosaura to a rich people’s party where there was to be a magician with a monkey and other children to play with it. Despite her expectations, the event made the nine-year girl lose her innocence and discover the hurtfulness and evil of class distinctions (Heker 3). According to the Marxism class theory, the position of an individual in any given class hierarchy depends on the person’s role in the production process, which consequently influences the person’s ideological and political consciousness (Eagleton 45). The Marxist theory about the existing social inequalities will help understand the class differences in “The Stolen Party.”
Contrarily, “The Colour of Walls” by Thomas King is a short story about Harper Stevenson. The entire story is a symbolic portrait that exemplifies society’s obsession with categorizing favorable and unfavorable based on appearance. The story takes the brunt of how society’s obsession with color, a classifying aspect of human appearance, determines the kind of treatment one gets (King 3). Post-colonial theory is an effective model that can help illustrate the occurrences in this short story. According to Rui and Jiao, post-colonialism theory is a critical model that highlights that an individual’s knowledge represents one’s identity and culture (196). Hence, the occurrences within the short story “The Colour of Walls” indicate persistent colonial aspects in global interactions and politics with identity, power, and culture questions.
Common Themes of Prejudice and Personal Identity
The prejudice that emerges from differences in socioeconomic status and social class is the central theme in “The Stolen Party” and “The Colours of Walls.” According to Heker, while talking to her mother, Rosaura said, “I helped the magician, and he said to me, ‘Thank you very much, my little countess” (3). Similarly, the short story by Thomas Kings is an illustration of racial prejudice that is prevalent in western countries. While talking to Afua, Hamper said, “White… I’d like a nice, clean white” (King 2).
The occurrence in the two allegories depicts the reality within the modern world. Indeed, society today has more significant levels of classism, whereby people receive differential treatment based on their perceived social class. Besides, there is also a high prevalence of racial discrimination, making the Whites have more privileges, respect, and apathy than people from other racial backgrounds. Hence, the social class structure is the central point of this piece, which signifies more significant inequalities and discrimination of the minority members of the community.
Moreover, the two stories bring out the illustration of perceived personal identity and imposed identity. According to Heker, “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” (4). Similarly, Afua says, “They have a history. Walls have a memory… know, but they don’t want to cooperate” (King 2). According to King, Harper tries to erase the difference between the natives, symbolized by the walls and his insistence on excellent and while color emerged from the white man’s assimilationist attitudes (3).
Thomas King uses the wall to illustrate people who resist the assimilation efforts and the white walls to demonstrate the adoption of one’s culture. I concur with the author’s argument that a person’s cultural systems greatly influence how people see themselves and interpret their experiences into their identity. These incidents indicate that although people might understand and appreciate themselves, society affects how people think and feel about their identity.
Conclusion
Overall, “The Colours of Walls” and “The Stolen Party” are influential narratives that bring out the subjects of classism and the societal influence of personal identity. In “The Stolen Party,” Heker tries to bring about the issue of classism present in different communities and how it affects an individual. Contrarily, in “The Color of Walls,” the author illustrates the societal obsession to categorize unfavorable and favorable aspects based on appearance. The illustration of prejudice and its influence on personal identity depicts the impact of class inequalities, racism, and discrimination in the modern world. Indeed, the short stories offer essential insights into how current imbalances in the societal social class systems emerge from human behavior. However, given a chance, it would be necessary to explore how classism and racism pass from one generation to another.
Works Cited
Eagleton, Terry. Why Marx Was Right. Yale University Press, 2018.
Heker, Liliana. “The Stolen Party.” A. Manguel (Ed. & Trans.), Other fires: Stories from the women of Latin America, 1986, pp: 151-58.
King, Thomas. Colour of Walls. U of Minnesota Press, 2013.
Rui, Li, Jiao Dan, and Jiao Dan. “Original Paper Analyzing “Other” Construction in Robinson Crusoe from Post Colonialism Perspective.” Studies in Linguistics and Literature, vol. 2, no. 3, 2018.