The American Man at Age Ten Response

After reading, "The American Man at Age Ten", by Susan Orlean, I was taken back by the central point of this reading. At first, I was unsure of what the writer was trying to get across to her audience, including myself, but after completing the reading and analyzing the research providiedthroughout this piece, I was able to understand the true purpose of this essay. Collin Buffy is the focus of this essay, obviously, but this ten year old boy speaks for many other individuasl in this world. Susan Orlean characterizes Collin's sense of thought as chaotic and intense, "The collision in his mind of what he understands, what he hears, what he figures out, what popular culture pours into him, what he knows, what he pretends to know, and what he imagines, makes an interesting mess"(Orlean 256). Collin Duffy is only ten years old, but he is knowledeable of many aspects of life that children at that age would never think about, such as money. Money was not seen as a problem for Collin's parents, but Collin still knew a lot about money. I do not know for sure if Collin Duffy has any health or pyschological problems, but that is beside the focus of this essay. His imagination is endless and it is very sigificant to what is important and valued to him as an individual; imagination, exploration, and a strong sense of custom/value. This may be a parental influence upon Collin. Susan Orlean is trying to inform the audience that Collin Duffy has the capability to see the world for how it really is, but he is still young, naive, and making his own sense out of the world. Collin sets goals and dreams of what he hopes he will eventually achieve in later life, but he does not have a negative attitude towards these goals even if they may change in the future. He is not worried about the future, he is excited and may be a little obsessive to move forward and live life. Collin Duffy is a very unique individual and he is more than willing to allow himself to unravel positively, without stress, and as the true individual he is.

"The American Man at Age Ten", is obviously a researh essay, based on the observations and lifetyle of Collin Duffy, an extremely different, but unique ten year old boy. Right now we are working on the composition of our own researh essays, so it was very helpful to see how Susan Orlean incorporated her own observaions and question in to the fina product. She approaches this individual, Collin Duffy, very politely and openly, as how it should be done. She does not judge Collin even though he may act differently than other children his age. This is the perfect way to conduct a reseah essay, with an open mind. If you are open and almost absent in their environment, then that will allow you, as the writer, the observer, to uncover exactly what you need/want to understand from that particular community; how and why they act and do the thngs thay do.

I have learned more than I could have ever imagined from this essay as well as the E-text modules. I was not expecting for these examples of research to strick me an stick as hard and long as they did. I am impressed by Susan Orlean and how she conducted her research, in a very respectable way, that every individual being interviewed would value and appreciate. The E-text modules actually provided a perfect example of how an interview should be conducted. It is important to: thoroughly choose the questions you ask, provide feedback, show you are listening and observing their community to reveal their choice of lifestyle/habits. It is also important to write down your observations and analyze what you think about the answers that were given. It is hard to observe a community for how it really is, but if you take the time to get comfortable with that community and be an active, respectable listener while they are revealing their reasons why, you will receive far more out of the interview than you thought.