stop them from sticking knives into our backs
And yet, the people watching the speaker and others eat did not do this. I wonder here what the author's point is about the "them" who are watching? Also, this is another reference of over-the-top violence in an otherwise pretty peaceful story in a beautiful setting.
as it happened
This feels very flippant...like if they wasn't any food left than that. wouldn't be a problem for the speaker either.
I was tempted to offer them some food. But how could I? Where would I start?
This moment reminds me of the Bystander Effect or Conformity experiments (and again "the Lottery").
‘The first person who offers us some food will receive...’
This sentence of dialogue is intriguing...did the person with the low voice drop off? Did the speaker not hear them? Is what the people will receive simply not important?
Our host did nothing, and said nothing. No one was sure what to do
I think here Okri is commenting on how quickly social graces/humanity (?) can fall apart when those in a position of power don't follow "the status quo" and the masses are left to their own devices or decision-making.
In a way there were too many of us for the food served, or it felt like that
Okri's first paragraph of the story reminds me of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" where the reader is introduced to a rich and beautiful setting with an undercurrent of suspense and anxiety.