How to Talk to Girls at Parties

“Girls! Girls! Girls!”

Vic’s exclamation near the beginning of the story signifies Vic’s naïve confidence regarding girls and the night ahead. The quote also points to the gendered stereotype that boys are judged by their experience with girls, and in this way establishes Vic’s binary understanding of boys and girls. Vic’s sureness, based on his looks and carefully developed charm, will be his tragic flaw by the end of the story.

“While it would be a lie to say that we had no experience with girls—Vic seemed to have had many girlfriends, while I had kissed three of my sister’s friends—it would, I think, be perfectly true to say that we both chiefly spoke to, interacted with, and only truly understood, other boys.”

Enn feels like girls are like aliens—incomprehensible. This quote reveals his attitude, which will provide the context for, and foreshadows, how incomprehensible the girls at the party are. The quote also shows Enn’s envy of Vic’s experience with girls.

“You just have to talk to them.”

Vic declares that Enn simply needs to talk to girls as a means to physical intimacy. His advice suggests that understanding them is unnecessary.