"She is dust to me inside this silverness..." Response to Aimee Bender's "Off"

          Aimee Bender’s short story “Off” is about a spoiled rich, overly confident (perhaps narcissistic is a better word),  overly sexual?, young woman who declares that her mission for the night is to kiss a blonde, black, and red haired guy. The voice is really awesome and besides the obvious imaginative element she brings to each scene it was the most prominent part of her style that stuck out to me in the story.
      Readers are completely inside the head of the narrator. What I mean by that, and what sets this story apart from the others we read, is that the sentences run on on and on, and the narrator doesn’t stop to make her sentences more clear or easier to read. BUT, it is clear, because this is essentially how we talk in our heads or how we may go about telling a story to our friend.

And....and...and.....and....(I loved how she started so many sentences with And).

     We are able to follow her actions while hearing her bitchy commentary on everything. There’s a certain comfortableness when reading this voice for me. It seems effortless, which makes it seem completely sincere. Sometimes when a story is written in first person it’s difficult to judge the sincerity of the voice, but because this narrator doesn’t really care what I think it builds her character in my opinion. It shows us more about her eccentricity and insensitivity to those around her, those that she confirms more than once she is better than.  One line that was great that showed how overly confident was when she said, “but lady she is dust next to me inside this silverness.” Those subtle creative linguistic choices really added depth to her character.

      I have to point out a couple parts that I thought were brilliant ways to develop her character. First, I thought the art/artist theme was really creative. She gives us a little history on how her old art teacher never noticed the weapons and the “bad” things she added into her paintings. She signs her name on the evaluation she fills out to get her teacher fired. Again, it shows us people are beneath her. There is a significant difference between being an honest character and being a brutally honest character. It really makes her come to life.

      Another section I thought was creative was pretty much everything on 113. She complains about getting in a bad mood and then says, “And I still have one flavor to go.” Flavor is significant here because it shows us how the guys she is trying to conquer are merely flavors. She doesn’t care so much about their emotions or search for anything deeper from anyone. She just wants a taste. This shows up too with some of the female relations she mentions. For instance, on 116 she talks about the host of the party, “we never touched but she still always blushed like crazy.” I don’t think Bender is hinting at her being bisexual, but more so that the character believes that everyone guy and girl wants her. They just have to. For her, the people at the party are disposable flavors. Pawns put there for her to play with. The only person who’s really consistent is Adam.

This is one of my favorite stories we've read. I learned a lot from the playfulness of the voice.