Aimee Bender's "Off"

       I found this story to be about a very harsh woman who has made it her goal to make-out with three men at a party she is attending: a blond, a brunette, and a red head. As we enter the mind of the blunt and judgmental woman with the never-questioned make-out goals, we follow her as she begins to succeed through the night, kissing the red head first. Her true and mainly malicious side shines through her materialistic personality quickly. In many instances, we are able to see her as a heartless and cruel woman who was born into a wealthy inheritance, in which she has never regretted. She seems to be extremely bored with life,and her only way of making it interesting is to play with people and to manipulate them. For example, I saw this prominent during the scene where the narrator explains that she knew the party's host previously and used to buy her clothes that her mother would never approve of, simply so the host could try them on and blush when she received compliments from the deceiving woman. the host would never wear them outside of the closet, but she secretly enjoyed being able to be "rebellious" and at least try them on. Though the woman encouraged the host to wear the clothes outside of the closet, it never happened. This particular scene could also be seen as a good quality the narrator possess, but we the readers must question her motives due to the previous insights we have of her.
       It almost seems as though every time I begin to somewhat like that narrator, she goes and does something completely evil, or says something unnecessary about another person attending the party. Her motives are never pure or good it seems. Although we do get to see one scene where the narrator thinks back of her Great Dane dog she once owned. She describes its death, and we want to believe that the narrator is capable of some kind of feeling or emotion. She gives us a splint second of hope, and then quickly changes the subject. Also, we are able to see her interaction with her ex-boyfriend, Adam. Obviously, Adam is someone she did care about on some level, no matter how shallow, and we can see that he is someone who made an impression on her because she still seems to care about him.
       Although the narrator is an unlikable character, she is someone I wanted to read about. I wanted to know just how mean and deceitful she could get. Even with her brutal comments, manipulative nature, snobbishness, judgmental views, and moody attitude, she is still a character who draws readers in. Since she has no shame and apparently no connection to anything or hardly anyone, she is such a bold character that many readers are intrigued by, even though she is hated.