Analysis of “The American Male at Age Ten” by Susan Orlean

            “The American Male at Age Ten” by Susan Orlean examines the life of a male at age ten by the name of Colin Duffy. My attention was immediately drawn in the introductory paragraph. Orlean states her many reasons as to why she is so incredibly infatuated with this young boy, Duffy.

I find it amusing because Orlean’s feelings seen throughout the piece are relatable. Everyone goes through a time period when they are younger when they develop strong feelings for someone else. The tone of innocence throughout the paragraph is refreshingly endearing. The simplicity of Orlean’s requested desires to perform with Duffy is amusing and relatable to read about. Instantly after the first sentence “if Colin Duffy and I were to get married, we would have matching superhero notebooks” the reader’s attention is grasped because one can expect by this sentence that the rest of the piece is going to be sweet and adorable.

Orlean goes highly in depth to describe each desire she wishes to perform with Duffy. Each request is simple yet different, which makes the piece entertaining and even at some parts comical. For example, “we would cure AIDs and the garbage problem and everything that hurts animals”, “for fun, we would load a slighshot with dog food and shoot it at my butt”, and “we wouldn't have sex, but we would have crushes on each other and, magically, babies would appear in our home.” These outrageous requests that Orlean makes throughout the piece make for a cutely innocent funny read. Since the requests are so outrageous it makes the story more interesting. This definitely maintains a readers attention throughout the piece.

You can tell through Orlean’s tone of voice and use of language throughout the piece that she is absolutely infatuated with Duffy’s character. Orlean makes this clear to the reader when she uses words like “we” instead of “I”. This makes the piece stronger because she is automatically developing an image of her and Duffy in the reader’s head by using the word “we” so often. This is an important style to learn from as a writer because it gives the reader the exact perception you want them to receive from a short story in an easy way. By using “we” the reader associates Orlean and Duffy together as a couple therefore the author makes it very clear to the reader what her desires are.