The narrator’s intense yearn for acknowledgement and attention
leads him to catch up with some old classmates in this section, and I now
realize why has has no friends in the first place. He complains about having no human
interaction and being ignored by his peers, but when he pushes himself into a
social situation with them, he further isolates himself. Rather than trying to get on their good side
and earn their respect and companionship, he insults them and evokes his
negative qualities, reminding them of why they were never friends with him
during school.
The narrator mentioned something interesting: that when he
did have a friend back in school all he wanted was to “win a victory over him,
to subjugate him, and nothing else”.
This is analogous with the situation he is having with the men he meets
for dinner. He hates them and considers
them unworthy of being in his presence due to their lack of intelligence, but
yet he wants to befriend them and earn their respect. I believe that, even if
he was able to befriend them, he would not be satisfied and would dump them
almost immediately; for him, the chase is more compelling than the actual
catch. His desire is to prove that he is
more worthy than everyone else, but naturally, no one gives him enough time to
prove this. His attitude becomes evident
within the first conversation, as seen in the dinner party.
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