Thesis and Paragraph on Kiss and Tell

Balancing point of view of one character to describe another in "Kiss and Tell", Alain de Botton utilizes comparative characterization in order to display to the reader that even if the moment seems extreme at that moment in time, it happens to almost every young adult in life.
Both the girl on the date and her parents are characterized through the eyes of the boy on the date. The girl is clearly upset that he parents are in the same theatre as her at the same time. She doesn't get along with her mother and it's evident when she insults her by saying, "'And what's that dress? It looks like a willow tree.'" Her mother is then characterized very well. She almost alludes to the fact that she thinks that other people don't enjoy her daughter's company. She automatically assumes that the boy will not like her daughter and won't think that "'she's a lovely girl really'". The dad is characterized as a clumsy nerd who doesn't pay much mind to his daughter's love life and his wife's bickering. This is clear when he isn't paying attention to his daughter's date, but the "'new tungsten bulbs'". All of the characters are fixaded on how different they are from eachother, that they don't realize the similarity they share of wanting to see the same play on the same night.