They’re ALIENS! English Prof Explains & Neil Gaiman’s “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” 👽 Analysis

[@clairebug]

Probably one of my favorite stories that we read this semester just because it's so relatable. I can relate to the feeling of wanting to grow up, wanting to be treated like an adult and do adult things -- only to back out at the last second, because I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to have my internal sense of self so radically changed. (Heck, even today, I don't feel like an adult. I just feel like a kid who's trying to figure out everything.) I really like how this story is just very... approachable. No hard-to-decipher layers of symbolism, no archaic writing, no author trying to trick me, no head-scratching metaphors. Just girls, boys, and a party. Breath of fresh air. And I'm addicted to science fiction so I absolutely want to believe that the girls were secretly aliens in disguise, even if it's most likely just a metaphor.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Gaiman is genius. Glad you enjoyed the story!

[@selenalopez2410]

You navigated the story's blend of suburban awkwardness and cosmic mystery with such precision, leaving me both captivated and pondering long after the video ended. I was particularly struck by your analysis of how Gaiman subverts the typical coming-of-age narrative. You highlighted how Enn's initial pursuit of girls at the party transforms into a deeper exploration of the "other" and the unknown.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thanks for sharing.

[@alicabal7203]

I actually found this story quite amusing considering a lot of my friends, both male and female, have gone through stages where they have trouble talking to the opposite gender. Even now, in our early 20s, we still are awkward when talking to someone new or someone we may be attracted to. I think Gailman did a good job at explaining how actual awkwardness can feel and look like in real life and not just a fictional piece. People don't know what to say or how to act once they get that sense of awkwardness. I still struggle with talking to people, and I am the worst at making conversation. I think especially since Enn and Vic had a specific idea of what kind of girls they will meet and how will they act made it worse for them since the girls were way different than what they imagined.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thanks for sharing!

[@kaylaL180]

Thanks for the lecture! I thought this story was very interesting to read! Honestly, I think the girls were human, but I can understand how someone might argue the other side. Considering that the two boys are young teenagers, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to compare the girls to aliens. Like you mentioned in the lecture, aliens are foreign creatures, and to teenage boys, girls may have that similar unknown aspect to them. With that being said, I think this story truly represents process of growing up. Both characters are very young, but Vic in particular, seems like he wants to come off as older and more mature than he really is. I think that acting more mature or grown up at a young age is something that kids do to seem cooler amongst their friends. They try to project a certain confidence that makes their friends look up to them. In Vic’s case, Wain appraised Vic’s charisma. It isn’t until the end of the story that Vic’s facade seems to slip away. We see a transformation of Vic’s character that changes from a “cool” guy to one that is just a kid. I think this story represents how oftentimes as kids we think we are ready to be grown up, but in reality, we need those teenage years to mature and grow into the role of an adult.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Absolutely! Gaiman is extraordinarily accurate in his depiction of this awkward dynamic that we all go through.

[@blixen4652]

omg i really needed this analysis for my assignment TT thank you so much!!

[@drwhitneykosters]

I’m so glad it helped!! I have a lot of other lectures on my channel if you ever need more help! Good luck on the assignment!

[@alyssalopez5823]

In this story, the author makes the assertion that teenage boys have a hard time communicating with teenage girls to the point where they don't realize that the two sexes are different species and that everyone has had communication problems with persons of the other gender occasionally. The narrative creates a lighthearted metaphor for how anxiety and hormones prevent young people from connecting. This story reminded me of middle school when we were all going through an awkward phase and lacked experience of how to interact with people of different genders, although some still do today.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thanks for sharing!

[@mug7546]

What I do think is funny is that before this is pointed out, it might take young boys a couple of times reading this story to realize that anything is even off with the girls at all. The story accurately captured this awkwardness and I feel like a lot of it stil rings true today. People can be clueless and Enn is absolutely relatable because he constantly questions and is frustrated by these interactions and what is happening around him.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Indeed, he is!

[@dianabecerra6433]

I really enjoyed the analysis of this story. I especially liked the interpretation of the girls being sirens. I think this analysis is quite fit for the way that Enn was enchanted by the girls he spoke to especially, Troilet. Enn went to the party believing that girls were otherworldly creatures and he left that party with the same mindset due to how extraordinarily enchanting the girl he spoke to had been. He was astounded by how well spoken she was and he never really got a clue as to how different these girls really were. But it stayed with him 30 years later.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Sometimes people can be so different and we can be so awkward, that we seem alien to one another.

[@Ana-el9eu]

Thank you so much, I struggled so much with this story for the last week. I am having to read this for my literature class. Until I listened to this I don't think I would have really realized the odd dialoged of the girls.

[@drwhitneykosters]

I am so glad this was helpful @Ana-el9eu! Please visit my page for more lectures if you ever need help in the future.

[@huntercoleman460]

As someone who was once a teenage boy, I know what the protagonist is going through. You don’t know your type yet and what kind of girls you really like. Dr. Kosters, as someone who’s a writer that hopes to publish someday, I really enjoy your videos.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thank you, Hunter! This means so much to me. I make these videos to help people and to join/further the discussions that are going on out there about these texts. I’m so glad you have found them useful! Good luck on your writing!

[@torir4058]

I was having trouble wrapping my head around the concept of this for my English class. With your video, I understand a lot more, thank you!!

[@drwhitneykosters]

I’m so glad it helped! I have a lot of other videos of you ever need help in the future!

[@VallerieFlores]

This was quite an amusing story! I think my teenage self could relate to this story a lot because when I was a teen, I struggled to talk to boys my age, and sometimes even other girls. I think even for a lot of people in their 20s, it is still hard to have a conversation with other people. I think this is a really great story that shows readers that it’s actually quite normal for people not to know how to speak to the opposite sex sometimes. Sometimes we may get a bit nervous. Overall, I think Dr. Kosters did a great job in explaining the story to us! It truly is such a great read!

[@drwhitneykosters]

Yes, Gaiman is such a great author!

[@vickyperez3602]

This story was sort of infuriating the main character thinks like a boy and how woman are intimidating to him is just because he is insecure, it has nothing to do on how the girls are acting. It is normal to date around and party but the way he explains it ticks me off because he is not looking for actually intimacy emotionally but physically which is usually what young boys care about to get that experience. Meanwhile for girls finding their prince charming is the dream to find someone to actually love. This really puts into notion how differently men and woman view things such as relationships.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thanks for sharing!

[@danyaslife96]

I think this story is very relevant to present time. Most people struggle to communicate now a days and are very shy when meeting new people. Most suffer from a fear of saying the wrong thing and coming off as weird or awkward. Enn is a great representation of modern day people who struggle to meet new people. I think most boys struggle to truly express their emotions to girls in real life and vice versa too. It is interesting how girls are shown as the siren yet also pretty accurate.

[@drwhitneykosters]

He captures a lot of truth, for sure.

[@elenafarhanifar9841]

I absolutely admire you for how much time and effort you put into these explanations, you capture the essence of the story really well and that is really special. As Dr. Kosters explains, the changes we all feel as teenagers, when we realize the relationships we can have beyond friendships, is truly a weird and awkward part of all of our lives. The feelings teenagers get when they are attracted to each other is very new, therefore a challenge to figure out, which is why you can feel self conscious. Very well portrayed in the story.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thank you so much!

[@XxGibleRSxX]

As many have mentioned, this story is so relatable for those of us who are on the younger side of the current generation. Being only 22 years old myself, I always find it so difficult wrapping my head around the idea of wanting to a grown up and live my own life yet also wanting to stay a 'baby' under the guidance of my mother. It's a constant back and forth I have with myself and it's comparable to the experiences that the protagonist of this story goes through.

[@drwhitneykosters]

It’s a challenging time, for sure!

[@reneemartinez5415]

They push the feelings of awkwardness by having a cringeworthy character. So all girls are alien to him, regardless. That adds a bit of cuteness since it’s actual an alien encounter and it is perhaps even more comfortable than with his own species - which ultimately might have led to him being colonized by them.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Yes! Who knows what would have happened to Enn had he been less awkward. Think about Vic…

[@Joseph66678]

There is a supreme relation to the main character of this story as I found some similarities between us, taking me back to simpler times for me. There is an irony in calling the girls sirens as they are enchanted by them nonetheless, being at an all boy's school.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thanks for sharing!

[@jennagutierrez6570]

I loved this story and appreciated how you explained it so well! I think reading stories like this one is important because it is based on an experience that many of us can relate to in our early teenage years. It is definitely not easy to talk to everybody you first meet and especially at that age you are only figuring things out which is why the character Enn can be very relatable. Boys are finding out about girls and vice versa, it is an awkward learning experience we have through a given period of time. The way girls are described in this story is interesting considering that our narrator was Enn. Overall this was a great video thank you!

[@drwhitneykosters]

Glad it was helpful!

[@juniorreyes6368]

This story was very interesting because it is reminiscent of teenage flicks and narratives, but also the teenage experience that almost every individual experienced. Having to push boundaries, the idea of social peer pressure, awkwardness, and the interaction between different gender identities. Also, it expresses the mentality of teenage boys when they start going through puberty and realizing their attraction towards the opposite sex. But I think the humorous aspect of the story happens to be the girls being aliens, which is reminiscent of the myth that "boys are from Mars, and girls from Venus" or the idea that both sexes are completely different in nature, despite being the same species (humans).

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thanks for sharing!

[@isabel1679]

This story reminded me of high school experiences I went through. Being a teenager not that long ago made it easy for me to relate to this story. I had guy friends who used to struggle with the same issues Enn was facing. The awkwardness of having to talk to girls at parties and trying to come off as cool was a struggle for them. Enn is relatable because of all of his frustrations he faces going to this party. It’s funny because he’s supposed to be having fun and making memories, but the whole time he’s just in his head. I think this experience can really set in place a young boys interactions with girls for a good majority of his life. If it’s bad he will continue to find it challenging and annoying or if it went good he could find it easy and fun. It all just depends.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Yes, I think Gaiman truly captures the awkwardness we all feel when we're just unsure of how to behave, and this can apply to moments throughout our lives, not just when we're teenagers, I think!

[@Selennetamayo]

I enjoyed this story because I think it clearly depicts the awkwardness and sudden change teens feel when they realize that they may be attracted to each other. When boys and girls are younger they don't think much about that and just want to play together or hangout. However, later on things just feel to change overnight where boys and girls no longer hangout together and usually that's when puberty hits. Bodies start to change and interests change along with it. It is overwhelming and confusing, and I understand why End suddenly feels like he doesn't know how to talk to girl anymore.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Gaiman so accurately captures the awkwardness of how we behave in new situations, for sure!

[@dorynori7040]

I never knew about Magical Realism. That is such a fascinating topic. I also did not connect the beginning line, "they are not from another planet" with the overall concept of the story. Personally, I do think that the girls are just girls, that their odd speech only appears that way because the boys just don't understand them. This is the case even as men. There is a huge difference between the way a woman is wired versus a male. I really did enjoy this story and the commentary you provided on it. You are truly phenomenal at breaking down these stories and explaining it in a way that is not only understandable, but enjoyable too.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thank you!!

[@HovikG.]

Another great lecture Professor Koster’s! The story I would say was very relatable when I first started learning how to talk to girls I felt the same way and I was going through the same scenarios. I don’t think that the girls in this story were actually aliens it was something that was metaphorically said by the author. I also thought that what the scholars thought about the girls was an interesting take, I could see where they were coming from and why they saw them as sirens.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Yes, I think a lot of people can relate to Enn's situation and his feelings! We've all been there.

[@ashleygharbi]

This story was so relatable for me! I remember in my teenage years the awkwardness, the weird feeling, having to talk to the opposite gender. It was as if I lost my ability to speak when I was around boys. Even like Enn he is confused and frustrated while he's at the party. I think the girls at the party are a metaphor for the transformative and weird journey from adolescence to adulthood. This is also something I can relate to as I spent my teenage years waiting to grow up, to become an adult and now as an adult all I want to do is go back to those younger years. This story helps depict the various themes from adolescence to adult hood and even social interactions.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Yes, I think every single person can relate to Enn! Maybe we’ve all been talking to aliens… haha

[@celestepacheco18]

This story was definitely relatable to many of us since we were teenagers not too long ago. Being a teenager, is it definitely hard to talk to people especially at different social events like a party. I know when I was an pre-teen, I was so shy and did not know how to talk to anyone especially boys. I feel that this story was not sop difficult to understand because personally I understand the struggles the Enn is going through. I also loved the way the girls are described in the story. The way Gaiman describes them as aliens can really show how girls were so foreign to Enn. This is a whole new ball game for him which is why the girls seem so weird to him.

[@drwhitneykosters]

I think this story is applicable to many people, not just teens!

[@meganalcaraz6187]

I enjoyed this lecture it was very in depth and informative. From listening to this lecture I feel that the theme to this story could have been both puberty of the young man and also gender relation. I can see why he thought of the girls as siren as you mentioned sirens lure men to their death, but I feel in this story it can be seen as how these girls that he speaks to at the party "lure" him in. We see this when mentioned in the lecture that something profund happened to the young boy when the girl was speaking to him and he says "her words washed through me perfect"

[@drwhitneykosters]

Yes, and you have to wonder if they lure him in or if Enn is just so vulnerable and willing to do anything just to be around the girls.

[@CindyLanyon]

This is adults too, not just teens.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Absolutely!! It’s all humans!

[@ashleymelero2721]

I thought this story was a fun and an interesting read. I feel that it's a story that captures this award phase that young teenage boys have when they're at an age where girls are no longer "just girls". It reminded me of this time when a guy in high school wan interested in me and had texted one of my closest friends about them liking me. I'm guessing he wanted to make it known, but he never went up to me or talked to me about it, even though he was in my class and had me on social media. I would say a year later, he told me he never said anything because he was insecure, shy, and didn't know how to talk to me.

[@drwhitneykosters]

This is everyone at some point or another, right? And, it doesn’t just stop after the teen years.

[@Elk1112]

Thank you for this lecture. When reading the story, I was confused as to what the girls were or signified. They seemed kind of mysterious and confusing. This lecture helped me to realize it’s more about a boy finding love and how girls have much more visible changes in puberty. I also wonder what happened towards the end with, as you said Dr. Kosters, to Vic in that room and what lesson he may have taken from it if there was one to be learned, such as to make sure your partner is also ready. In simple terms, maybe he learned about consent and how important it is.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Let’s hope he did!

[@Kiskitaa]

I believe the girls in this story were not really aliens but were definitely ''alien-like" to any 15 year old boy. These are times of puberty and intense hormonal changes all while trying to seem cool and collective. For a teenage boy, there are lots of pressures to know certain things and be more experienced sexually (generally speaking) than girls. I believe what happened between Vic and Stella was something that made him realize he is not the type of person he thought he was or wanted to pretend to be. I believe it was a sort of realization and disgust that he found within himself; whatever that might have been.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Yes! Absolutely! Gaiman is playing on that idea of just how alien boys and girls and men and women and humans in general can be to one another!

[@patrickdejesus97]

I just saw the movie and heard your analyzation of the book and now I’m much more interested so thank you.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Love hearing this! Thanks for sharing! How did you feel the film compared to the short story?

[@chelseytorres4214]

This story was very different from most of the stories we read this semester! It was definitely a good read, but a very confusing one. Its, ironic how the title of the story is how to talk to girls, but in the story its mostly girls talking not the guys. What is the author trying to say? Do girls tend to talk to much? Does this story actually portray the way young boys feel talking to a girl for the first time?

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thanks for sharing!

[@priyaldesai3620]

thankyou so much helped me a lot

[@drwhitneykosters]

Glad it helped!

[@adrianmontes132]

I really think this story is interesting, because growing up, and even as adults, it seems both boys and girls seem to have misconceptions of the other party. I have friends who have never had experience talking to girls, but claim that girls are one way or the other. They claim girls like this and not this, but also have little experience talking to girls. These misconceptions are most likely the reason that people think one way about girls, and that causes girls not to want to talk to someone. Certain attitudes can also cause people to be disrespectful to the opposite gender, and people gain pride in being this way. There are also many ways to oppose this affect, by just being normal, many guys try and act a certain way to appear attractive to girls or even be friends with girls, but most of the time just being a normal respectful human being, can help someone be friends with others.

[@drwhitneykosters]

Thanks for sharing!