Monday, October 26, 2009
How to talk to girls at parties response
In the story "How to talk to girls at parties", Enn is the main character as well as the narrator because it is first person because we are seeing everything through his eyes. Enn is a teenage boy attending a party with his friend Vic, however the girls they actually meet are "different". The girls seems to talk about weird subjects or act strange to Enn, but Enn doesn't really seem to notice because he is too busy trying to make a move on some of the girls. I think that the Narrator is very reliable because he has all the details about what the girls say to him and doesn't seem to miss any of what the girls say, however the he did say "This all happened thirty years ago. I have forgotten much, and I will forget more, and in the end I will forget everything ...... I cannot believe that i will ever forget that moment....". It seems as though hes saying that he is missing things but when reading the story I don't think he missed a single thing that happened at the party. The author's choice of narrator influenced how the story dealt with the main issue because he was a witness to everything and saw what was going on. For example: he was watching his friend Vic throughout the story and what he was like but in the end "He walked away from me then, shoulders heaving, and he hurried down the road so he was in front of me and I could no longer see his face.", he saw his friend that was cocky with the girls but in the end he was just a teenage boy again. I think that what we witnessed was the eagerness to be older because they brought alcohol and tried to do things kids their age wouldn't do.
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I totally agree with the fact that Enn is telling his story in first person. This really gives the reader the feeling like they are in the memory. I slightly agree with the statment that Enn is a reliable narrator. Throughout the story Enn contradicts himself may times, suchas, "this all happened thirty years ago. I have forgotten much, and I will forget more......I cannot believe that I will ever forget that moment..." shows that he will soon forget everything that happened. Although as we read the story he gives vivid details of what the girls looked like and how they acted. The only question that comes about is the fact that he is very distracted by trying to put his arm around a girl that maybe he made up some of the details. It is also strange that Enn would not realize that these girls were from another world. Different turn in the story when you think about humans at a party with a different species. Yet then again guys and girls are so different that maybe Enn did not know what to expect.
ReplyDeleteI also did a close reading of How to Talk to Girls at Parties and I also agree that because this short story is told in the first person narrative through the eyes of the protagonist, that it makes the reader not just be a member of the audience, but also a member of Enn's memories. I agree with Heather in that Enn is not such a reliable narrator. If anything Enn is reliable in what he, and only himself, felt during this party though it may have happened 30 years ago. By using the first person narrative, Enn approaches and deals with certain issues of concern to him. For example the entire short story is about Enn's inability to speak to girls as well as Vic's. And by seeing Enn's point of view, the reader is also able to actively imagine and think about the situation, especially in the end when Vic suddenly rushes Enn out of the party house.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you got the first person narration right, so good job on that. However, I feel as if your paper is all over the place. You should definitely elaborate more on your ideas and make sure you’re sticking to one thought. You kind of contradict yourself in your blog when you say that the narrator is a reliable narrator, but then the next sentence you follow by saying that the narrator may have forgotten much of the actual story since it was 30 years later. If so much time had passed, it is logical for anyone to forget some details. You also talk about how you don’t think the narrator “missed a single thing”, which is hard for your reader to take as a fact because you weren’t there at the time the story took place. All we have to go off of is what the narrator remembers, but its not really your place to be able to “back him up” and say that the story he is telling is exactly what happened.
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