Susan Orlean takes, to some, a very serious subject and brings a dual sense of comedy and serious narrative journalism. She employs a variety of stylistic tactics to create a sense of the characters and make this seemingly boring story very interesting to read. I personal haven’t much experience with profile writing, so I was shocked to see the piece in more of a narrative and set as a “traditional story” than an expose type of style. Less like news, more like literature. This style not only makes it more readable, it can paint a superior picture for the reader.

She starts off by using the dog as the main character, which is very useful, to detail the life of a show dog, instead of profiling the owners/handlers. By creating a “person” out of Bff, we see him less as an object, and more as the actual main character. Her descriptions of him. Were simple, yet disguised so it keeps her intentions for the direction of the story hidden until she wishes to use them. This goes back to the Kathryn Roethel article, “Magazines are like a strip tease” Even the line “He like food and sex” is tricky to take apart.  This make sense when you think it’s a dog or a man (especially one named Biff) but it isn’t painfully obvious until she mentioned the bars of soap. , but the story is set up to make you think that he himself is the complete center, everyone else taking a back seat.

If there is anything I could learn from her, it would be to treat the magazine profile with more of a literary hand and slowly reveal my details in a story-like manner. Also, to do thorough research.