Narrative Journalism Questions

1. The writer paints Colin to be the typical, or at least ideal, American boy. He's smart, popular, and upper middle-class, and his behavior is typical of that of a boy his age. The most obvious instance of the connections the writer makes between Colin and other boys his age is when Colin and his best friend talk about girls. The writer includes statistics about adolescent boys and how they percieve gender and sex.

2. Colin often interacts with the writer, informing her of the going ons in his life, what's hip and what's not (the writer uses the phrase "he tells me"), and asks her what job her husband has. The writer also inserts her own questions that she asks Colin into the story, as if it is dialogue. The writer also opens the article with a description of what her life would be like if she married Colin. The effect of this is that the article comes off more as a field journal than a short story. It makes Colin seem more real, not just a character but something being observed and reported on.

3. The writer inserts herself into the story more than you would in a regular news story. In particular, the way she opens the article deviates from traditional news writing, with a description of what married life would be like with Colin, a ten year old boy.

4. The majority of the article seems to be the reporter interviewing and observing Colin at home and at school but I imagine that she also interviewed Colin's parents, his teacher, and his best friend alongside him. It probably only took a few days at the most.

5. "When he dreams, he dreams about moving to Wyoming which he has visited with his family. His plan is to buy land there and have some sort of ranch that will definitely include horses." The reporter probably asked Colin what he would like to do when he's older or where his favorite place was or a trip he took to see his family.

'That's the point!" he said. 'You could do it with thread, but the fishing line is invisible. Now I have this perfect thing and the only one who knows about it is me." The reporter probably pointed out how you couldn't see the fishing line unless it caught the light.

'The most beautiful woman in the world is not Madonna! Only Wayne and Garth think that! She looks like maybe a . . . a ... slut or something. Cindy Crawford looks like she would look good, but if you see her on an awards program on TV she doesn't look that good. I think the most beautiful woman in the world probably is my mom." The reporter might of asked him who he thought the most beautiful woman in the world was or what he thought of Madonna or even what he thought of Wayne's World.