A Scence

“Me, I was too hungry, but I controlled myself. I wanted to seem, you know, like, polite. I didn’t eat as fast as I wanted to. I even pretended I didn’t want to eat the last three pieces. I kept telling her to have them, they were hers, but she wouldn’t, so I went ahead and overate one more bite out of one and then dropped in the box.” (Gilb 99) This very situation didn’t happen to me, but something similar. My friend invited me to her birthday party. It was just a small gathering with other friends and her family. It was quite awkward because she invited aunts and uncles that I’ve never met before. If it wasn’t awkward enough just eating around friends, it’s even more awkward eating around strangers. Her party was at Gilroy’s Home Town Buffet. You know when people go to a buffet, it’s not just to have one plate of food. She paid for everyone’s meal and was telling everyone to eat because she spent a lot of money for people not to eat. I wasn’t comfortable eating like a savage so I just got one plate and that was it. Later one of our friends brought a plate of gelatin squares, and she offered us some, and I got like three squares because it was really good. I remember that I took forever to finish that one plate I got, I don’t remember very well what it was that I got to eat, but I wanted to show some manners, and not go back for seconds. To this day, we still talk about that day. Looking back at it, it was funny because we we’re quite nervous and none of us ate like we normally eat when we go to the buffet. I think we all act differently when we want to impress someone or when we’re just not “that comfortable” with people.

The author wrote this scene to show the readers that Sonny genuinely likes Nica. Throughout the novel, Sonny talks about how he thinks she’s so beautiful and when the author writes this scene, we see that Sonny has butterflies when she’s with her. He bought the pizza because he wanted Nica to accompany him. I think it also shows that Nica feels something for him too. This is the second time that she lets him come inside her apartment. I don’t think you would let a stranger come into your apartment and have dinner with him. She made lemonade for Sonny with “real lemons and sugar” as he says in the novel, rather than the instant lemonade we get at Costco. I think this is foreshadowing that something will happen with Sonny and Nica and maybe they’ll end up together like Sonny wants.

My situation was similar to Sonny in that fact that we both wanted to make a good impression, but his situation was more intimate and more of a “date” because he wanted to show Nica a good time. He wanted to please her and show her that he cares about her. He didn’t pressure her to go outside, instead he brought the pizza to her and enjoyed a simple dinner. In the end, he offered her to bring her pizza when she starts babysitting. So they will have more intimate scenes in the novel. My situation was just at an awkward dinner party.