Anaylsis on Puffed Rice and Meatballs

From the beginning Katya’s character in “Puffed Rice and Meatballs” shares her stories from childhood regarding her first sexual encounter, to the first signs of having breasts. All of these share a common theme, the feeling of being alone and ignored. Katya learns that she faces the feeling of unimportance and turmoil throughout her life while she tells her stories.

The story starts with Katya’s unnamed American suitor asking about her childhood and her encounters of Communism. He acts as if he is interested in her past, but is really just looking for a story to pass the time and to cut the tension in the room. When she starts telling her story not of Communism, but of her first sexual encounter her lover becomes impassioned. He gets the feeling that she is unintentionally delaying to tell her story. Throughout her telling the story, her admirer tries to unclasp her bra while idling listening. It is easy to tell that he is not interested in this story from this point. He just wants to try to distract her so he can have sex with her again. On her walk home she realizes that her lover was not interested in her past. She feels shameful for the way she had to lie to make the story sound better than what it really was. What she really wanted was for someone to listen to her real stories.

One of those stories was her experience with her first sexual encounter. However, the way she tells it is with less affection and tone then the way it actually happens. The experience was

short and brief. It was just a simple exchanging of looks and other body parts between her and a boy who napped next to her. Once her mother finds out she goes berserk. Katya’s mother lectures her to the point where the mother ends up locking herself into ...

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...she runs home crying. When Katya gets home she throws all of her clothes away. Again Katya feels no longer beautiful but worthless in the fact that she was being used as a battling ram.

Finally, Katya’s story ends with the same way that it begins. With Katya dissatisfied with her situation and feeling alone. Her American lover never cared for her past but only wanted to her an entertaining time wasting story. Her first sexual encounter ends with her mother locking herself in the bathroom wallowing in her own self-pity instead of focusing on how to deal with Katya. Her mother needs to try to help support Katya instead of thinking about how this is going to hurt herself. Then when she finally feels beautiful and begins to show signs of having some self-confidence and feeling beautiful, she is not looked upon as gorgeous but instead as a tool.