I like the things that friends said after the party:
"I was so touched when you offered her champagne! Yes! The presentation, the pleasure in the look of it, the bubbles – and then she couldn’t hold the glass and soon forgot it. But she had that joy at the time …"
"I suppose there is no way to describe Anna's predicament that you haven't thought of already. She seemed so bewildered at her bewilderment, humiliated by flashes of lucidity that seemed somehow pointless, dismay and rage at something, everything. I was reminded of being taken to a classy restaurant in Moscow. It had a clouded glass floor, and in the lit space underneath were lots of huge fish swimming around. I was terrified to take a step onto the glass, not sure whether I would be held up, not sure whether I was going to eat or be eaten by the creatures down there, which may or may not have been as big as they seemed. I was so angry at being taken there as a treat and being laughed at for owning up to being scared, outraged that there was this mix-up of entertainment and sustenance, that I was meant to eat these things that both scared me and made me sorry that they were trapped down there. I also felt trapped. It was a totally impossible situation. This may be the closest I can get to how Anna feels.
What did cheer me, though, was that Anna really wanted a cherry tomato that was on someone else's plate, all slippery with dressing. Several people closed in offering her a nice clean tomato from a nice little bowl. But she got the one she wanted, and I thought it tasted very good, all the better for defeating the know-allers and the salad dressing."