Response to The American Male at Age Ten

In Susan Orlean's "The American Male at Age Ten," the ongoing description of Colin goes deeper than just his favorite superhero and physical features. "With that, he dropped the spool, skipped up the stairs of the deck, threw open the screen door, and then bounded into the house, leaving me and Sally the dog trapped in his web," Orlean says of Colin, and I think this sentence truly exemplifies Colin's description in a subtle way. Colin is described as skipping up the deck stairs, still giving him the appearance of a child, somebody with most likely few worries. At the same time, however, he had trapped a grown woman and a dog in a web of his own creation, showing how even if Colin is a child, he is still a growing human capable of many of things and shouldn't be taken too lightly only because he is young. That description by Orlean touches on the double edged sword of children; how they are carefree and innocent, yet still able to do many things that adults can, such as trapping people and keeping them captivated.