Sample Essay On Observational Paper

I am patiently waiting at the mall and expecting my girlfriend to show up any second. The time that we decided to meet was 6:00pm, and right now it is 6:05pm. Since I am aware of how she and most girls customarily take it longer to prepare for this “momentous” occasion and stereotypically tend to arrive later, I am using this as my opportunity to construct my paper. Although, I am not aware of the outcome yet, I can predict that the coming 30-40 minutes will be a catalyst in my judgment of a typical American society, both as in reality and as presented in media.
As I sit on a bench in the center of the mall, I notice several people of various cultures walking by, with diverse motives. First group of people I watch are the classic loud and obnoxious American high school teenage girls, walking around as if they own the place, and have something to prove. The only motivation for their conventional flashy attitude would be to flamboyantly show off their relatively average new shoes or shirt they just bought, in the hopes that some guys might walk up to them. Only, if by the uncommon case a guy does happen to walk up to them, girls can ultimately reject him. Next, I witness the American high school teenage boys. They are despicably rowdy and deafening, however, the motives are naturally poles apart. The intention behind their unbearably annoying behavior is to somehow impress these correspondingly nauseating female counterparts. Ironically, most of these teenage boys on the journey to make an impression on their matching opposites, will never work up the courage to approach any of the girls that they are working so hard to impress. For my intently watching eye, this whole process seems senseless, since I am a mature American male, who has already turned his back on the struggling adolescent phase.
I, then, spot a mother and father walking with their one-year-old child. This mother is visibly forcing her husband to transport bags of equipment that they bought for their baby and must have summed up to 3-4 thousand dollars. You can tell that the mother is not yet finished with her expedition at the mall, searching for more money to squander on this baby, who has absolutely no idea of what is going on. The baby has this ridiculous baby leash on, which is similar to what would be used with a dog. This oblivious baby is also wearing a complete outfit that is priced more than the majority of outfits most adults at the mall are wearing, with an unreasonable bowler hat that was bought from Nordstrom, an outfit bought from Neiman Marcus, and shoes that have got to be priced around 2-3 hundred dollars. The father clearly wants this mission to be over but he is hanging tough, as he knows it is next to impossible to stop a woman from buying what she wants, when she is given the opportunity.
The next few people that I noticed were sitting right in front of me this whole time, but I did not become aware of their presence for full 35 minutes! It is a typical American couple. A man is wearing a colored polo shirt with classic jeans and plain sneakers, and a woman a stylish suit and heels. Apparently, both of them are working and are quite wealthy. As I listen in to their conversation, I notice that the man in this relationship seems nervous. The more I eavesdrop, I realize that the reason he seems anxious is because this is the day that he meets his girlfriend’s parents. You can tell that this man and woman have been in a relationship for some time now and this day is a big day for him. I felt so fortunate because I actually got the coincidental opportunity to witness the meeting between this man and his girlfriend’s parents. When they greeted each other, I observed how hard this man was working to impress his girlfriend’s parents. Virtually every word the parents uttered seemed to be the most fascinating thing this man has ever heard, and every joke the parents made caused the most simulated laugh this man could make. The father seemed to be the old fashioned type, so I could imagine that this meeting was rather testing for him to bear. This was one of those moments, where you just felt the tension and fakeness in the air. I could feel empathy for this man, because a few months prior to this I met my girlfriend’s parents and I recalled how hard I strained to act like a perfect person and attempted to do whatever it took to impress and astound her parents with my fabricated perfection to just crave their acceptance. I obviously was not going to follow them around the whole night, so unfortunately I did not see how the night turned out for this man and his girlfriend, but I could imagine it most likely continued to be somewhat awkward.
As I am looking over my notes on all of the observations that I made during this hour, I feel irritated and terrified. I realize that the people I have observed all fit into their own certain stereotype. I feel as if the things I have just witnessed were derived straight from a television show. But television shows are supposed to be parodies about some real life situation, meaning that these parodies should not be taken seriously. However, I feel the majority of the public are unconsciously becoming similar to what is portrayed in the media and television. This demonstrates that the media has so much power over the public, and this is a very scary thing. In my opinion, the media is mainly negative for our society, as a whole, and this negativity is only becoming worse, as the time goes by. When I am forced to watch shows like “Keeping up with the Kardashians,” I feel that same fear and discomfort, due to the enormous stupidity displayed in the show. However, I always had the comforting feeling that it is just a show, and the stupidity exhibited could not possibly exist in real life. When I see those typical American teenagers playing with their phones and instinctively trying to be exactly like Kim Kardashian or Justin Bieber, or the typical rich mother spending unnecessary money on her child, I feel déjà vu, as if I have seen this exact thing before on television. I recognize how much the public is affected by the shows like this, and I realize that people are slowly turning into this image from the television, and that is what seriously scares me.
The clock hits 6:55, and I lastly see my girlfriend, with absolutely no urgency, heading towards my direction. I greet her and, of course, she briefly apologizes and enlightens to me how sorry she is and how there was a crisis at home. Although I know she is clearly making up the fact that there was an emergency at home, and most likely she just spent an extra 40 minutes re-doing her hair, I tell her that it is ok, because at least I got the chance to finish my observational paper. Now, I am familiar with the veracity facing our society, and this revelation tells me of the direction, in which we are heading to.