"The American Man"

The paragraph from Susan Orlean’s “The American Man at Age 10” that caught my attention was the second one on the third page, starting with “It happened to be Colin’s first day in fifth grade.” It first introduces an interesting and unappealing topic that is being discussed by a fifth grade class. This just goes to show how kids will just bond over whatever they’re hearing about in the media and make a conversation about it. In this case, Magic Johnson having aids or hiv. It also shows how even though kids that age can be immature and goofy, they can also take an interest to serious topics. That point is made very nicely by her sentence “these jolts of sobriety in the midst of rank goofiness are a ten year old’s specialty.” She says it in such a fun and intellectual way with combinations such as “jolts of sobriety” that you don’t hear often. Especially with her simile in the next sentence “finding a razor blade in a candy apple.” What a fun way of saying that even something so sweet could have a sharp edge to it. She keeps readers attention by spending a sentence or two talking about one thing that happens in the life of Colin to the next. She focuses on two questions he asks her: one about dumping garbage in the land or the ocean, and the next about wanting children. The paragraph ends on a strong note with a surprising question from a ten year old “will you have an abortion if you find out you’re having a boy?”