"Kiss and Tell" theis and response

Through the comic telling of a night at the theater in "Kiss and Tell", Alain de Botton uses detailed imagery, first person point of view, and one demensional characterization in order to highlight the awkward encountering of one's parents.  One demensional characterization is a well chosen device in telling this story because it helps highlight certain aspects and traits of a certain characters. The mother, Mrs. Rogers, is a well characterized character because there are many aspects to describe her. She seems to be defensive when her daughter asks what she is doing at the play. She also assumes that she is allowed to go as well, "Why shouldn't I be here? You're not the only one who does fancy things with your evenings."  This proves that she is upset that her daughter is asking her why she is her because she is allowed to do as she pleases. Mrs. Rogers is not only defensive, but overbearing as well. When she comments on her daughter's dress, she is using a somewhat sarcastic tone when saying, "Oh well, it's very nice, pity you don't have more of a cleavage for it, but that's your father's fault." She is hiding her tone by saying it's a nice dress, but there is somewhat of an overbearance.  Mrs. Rogers also has a tendency to find the smallest things and create a problem with them when it really isn't that big of a deal. She gets angry at her husband because he accidentally threw away their parking pass. She snaps at him, " My day would be fine if I wasn't lumbered with someone who kept losing tickets to the car park." This isn't that big of a deal, but Mrs. Roger's thinks it is because that's how her personality is. She seems to have problems with every little thing, and that's why she has a defensive and overbearing personality. All of these examples prove the negativity in her personality and what she does to make an issue out of everything.