"Rich people go to Heaven too," said the girl, who studied religion at school.
After Rosaura's mother says she doesn't like the idea of her daughter going to a rich person's party, Rosaura replies that rich people go to heaven too. The passage reveals the difference between the way Rosaura and her mother see the world: while Rosaura innocently sees people as more or less equal, having learned in school that all people are created equal and end up with equal fates in the afterlife, Rosaura's mother understands society through a class lens. Having experienced prejudice as a working-class person, Rosaura's mother is guarded around wealthy people and seeks to protect her daughter from the realities of being treated differently because they are poor.
Rosaura wanted to be rich, too, of course. If one day she managed to live in a beautiful palace, would her mother stop loving her? She felt very sad.
Rosaura disapproves of her mother's prejudice against rich people because she herself wishes to be rich one day. In this passage, Rosaura sees ahead to the future and worries that her mother will not accept her or love her if she became rich. The passage is significant because it reveals how deeply issues of socioeconomic difference penetrate the minds and emotions of people, even a girl of nine.
Señora Ines, motionless, stood there with her hand outstretched. As if she didn’t dare draw it back. As if the slightest change might shatter an infinitely delicate balance.
The story ends with the image of Señora Ines standing frozen as she holds out cash to Rosaura. Though Rosaura and her mother make no motion to take the money, Ines continues to hold out the money, either unwilling to admit her mistake or unable to understand the gesture as insulting to Rosaura. Considering the theme of social class, the last line implies that Ines cannot withdraw the money without violating an invisible law which ensures the maintenance of a social divide between herself and her employee's family.
Just then Señora Ines arrived saying shh shh, and asked Rosaura if she wouldn’t mind helping serve the hot-dogs, as she knew the house so much better than the others.
Having noticed Luciana's cousin interrogating Rosaura about how she was invited to the party, Señora Ines swoops in to shush the cousin and ask Rosaura to help distribute food. While the gesture may on one hand rescue Rosaura from an uncomfortable situation, Rosaura is blind to how Ines is treating her like a servant. The passage reveals Rosaura's innocence, as she believes she is being asked to help because of her excellence and trustworthiness, rather than her lower class position.
“I helped the magician and he said to me, 'Thank you very much, my little countess.’”
When her mother comes to pick her up from the party, Rosaura relates to her mother how the magician referred to Rosaura as his little countess. As a person of low socioeconomic status, Rosaura feels special when referred to with this term, associated with aristocratic nobility. The passage reveals Rosaura's desire to think of herself as not limited by her class and to believe herself to be an exalted person.
