Response to Aimee Bender's "Off"

The story is about a selfish conceited girl who is out trying to achieve a goal she imposed on herself at the party. She wants to kiss three guys, a goal that is made evident from the beginning as the narrator states it from the get go. The story follows her effort to achieve this goal but also explores her past and her spiteful personality. Maybe spoiled would be a better word. In any case, the story is told from a first-person perspective. The girl tells the reader that she is going to kiss these three types of guys and makes it clear that she’s not extremely picky when it comes to whom she is kissing, she’s only going for what is easiest for her. While she is going through the party, searching for her victims, she gives her commentary on people at the party and, in a way, life in general. Not much (if anything) of what she says comes off as nice and she seems to be no more than a spoiled brat in some cases. Underneath that, the reader can eventually see that the narrator seems to be reaching out for attention through her actions. She is mad that someone can recall something from her childhood that she can’t but can’t remember that she was “really good at painting”. This eventually culminates into the childish stunt of stealing everyone’s coat at the party just so one person will come look for her (which would be her last victim). When she is discovered, her act is shrugged off as nothing more than a drunken incident and she is, for the most part, ignored by the rest of the people at the party, including her would-be victim, who is more interested in another girl. This sends her into a small breakdown that she is brought out of by an old boyfriend (who was coincidentally her second victim).