"Dressed fine? Goddamn it, you were not dressed fine. Open the window more. You looked like a retard. A little more. That's good. You cannot dress like that to an open house. This is what people wear. This is special occasion rules, my man. This is like, give me a break, you know? This is obvious stuff. This is just common sense."
Eggers characterizes himself in this passage. He uses that parent-to-child scolding tone, and this only makes him look bad because Toph is not his child, and his dressing improperly was not that big a deal. The syntactical structure of the sentences are short and simple. This is fitting for his curt reprimanding and impatient state. Eggers also uses anaphora and begins the last four lines with the the words, "This is." This is condescending to Toph. Eggers is overdoing the parent part, belittling Toph by insincerely simplifying his sentences, and rubbing it in his face by repeating it four times.
Eggers also throws in references to Toph's lowering the windows. These lines are so inappropriate that they are humorous. They disrupt the angry mood, and deconstruct Eggers' authoritative persona. Because Eggers is a character, the narrator, and the author of this book, the reader questions why he would include lines that make the reader unable to take him seriously. Why would he not represent himself in the best light? The reader realizes that Eggers' is not so concerned with preserving his image that with accurately representing himself. The "Open the window" lines are his way acknowledging his being an ass, and poking fun at himself. This perspective is of the all-grown-up Eggers looking back. There is a difference.
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