American man at age ten

In the article “The American Man at Age Ten”, author Susan Orlean presents a delightful ethnography of a young man and the struggles of his demographic.  In the article she gently asserts that Colin, the subject, is indeed a man.  Even though he is young and the context of his trials differs from our own, he suffers through trials of a similar nature.  From choosing a career in the class (258), working through conflicts with others (259), to woman troubles (260), Orlean describes Colin’s life, which seems to be a wonderful parody of my own.

While her argument is on behalf of Colin, I would say that this story functions as a strong example for incorporating interviews and observation into a well developed essay.  Her introduction was also wonderfully clever, I enjoy how she uses the full gamut of quotes describe to us what Colin’s life would look like if was an adult with his current values.  She then explains to us who  the main character is and how this initial story was derived from her various interactions with him.

This essay works as a wonderful example for how to incorporate interviews and observation into our own paper.  She also utilizes a unique style of interview, by allowing Colin and his friend to dialog with each other, Orlean is given access to inner working of a ten year old boy.  I feel like because she has detached herself from the “interview” she is able to observe Colin in a more natural state, and attain an Emic perspective.

The quality of content that Orlean was able to observe came not only from her preparation, but also from her willingness to allow situations to unfold naturally and her skill at writing down each detail of event and conversation.  It is my assumption that this process is then more enjoyable for both the interviewer as well as the one being interviewed.