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Tangerine Literary Analysis Essay

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Tangerine Literary Analysis In the novel Tangerine, by Edward Bloor, the main character Paul Fisher has been affected by his brother Erik Fisher in many ways. When Paul and his family moved to Tangerine, he got strange flashbacks and came closer to the truth of why he went blind. He faces bullying, death, and tragic things at Tangerine because of his brother Erik. Nevertheless Erik moved the plot forward while making Paul grow as a person. Erik hurts, mutilates, and disgusts Paul all through a series of poor choices that influenced Paul. In the beginning of the story, Erik disgusted Paul in many ways. For example, Erik chose to make fun of a dead person and a former teammate: “I looked through the patio doors and saw Erik and Arthur. They were laughing, I stepped closer to the …show more content…

Erik and his friend even spray painted Paul’s eyes so that he couldn’t see anymore. Paul was mortified, “I turned around and saw Vincent Castor. He was holding a can of spray paint. Then I felt Erik grab me from behind, easily pinning both of my arms with just one of his. I could hear my voice crying, ‘I didn’t tell! I didn’t tell!’” (263). Erik actually helped Vincent spray paint his little brother’s eyelids, his peripheral vision will never be the same again.Because of this, Erik couldn’t play soccer at Lake Windsor Downs and he will forever be disabled. Nevertheless, Erik chose this bad decision because he cares more about his friend then his own family, or at least Paul. he is a perfect example of bad parenting, he doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong. Ultimately, Erik’s decisions to mock a dead person, kill Luis, and mutilate his brother all came back to put Erik in jail. All of Erik’s bad choices have had a huge effect on Paul and pushing the plot forward. Paul has learned to grow from these events and stop living in denial. Now, Paul will be a stronger and more able to face down any obstacle that stands in his

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In the novel Tangerine by Edward Bloor, Erik Fisher is introduced as the football star and golden boy. Though later in the story, his callous and manipulative personality is uncovered. For example, Erik's bad behavior began around elementary school when he pinned down his brother Paul while his friend Vincent Castor spray painted his eyes. In addition, it seems that Erik's bad behavior started when he was a child and grew for the worse as he became older. Erik also has been using other people to do his dirty work since he was young.

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Erik does this in many different vicious ways, like calling him mean names for wearing those big old glasses. Erik does all these things throughout the story to make sure paul thinks lesser of himself, this is so paul would never stand up to him for all the deceiving things Erik did. Paul always accepted the way he treated him. He never tried to put a stop to him or get him in trouble, this was until the voice of Luiz Cruz got into his head and told him to make a difference. Shortly after, he talked to the police and spilt all the info he knew about the situation, and so this finally put an end to all Erik’s scheming

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“Decisions we make are the hardest thing when to make, especially when it is a choice between where you should be and where you want to be-Unknown” Erik is always choosing to be where he wants to be rather than choosing where he should be. Erik Fisher’s choices impact Paul by spray painting Paul 's eyes, hitting Tino, and killing Luis. A choice made by Erik Fisher affects paul by impairing Paul’s vision. Erik spray painted Paul 's eyes because Erik and his friend Vencent Caster were spray painting the walls of the neighborhood and they had thought paul had told on them, so they wanted revenge on Paul.

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Erik's choice to blind his brother has caused emotional damage and physical damage to Paul. 4444 Choices made by Erik in Tangerine by Edward Bloor can significantly impact Paul and other people. We see this in the second choice Erik made when he ordered Arthur Baeur to hit Luis with a blackjack. “Arthur reached Luis, turned, and whipped the blackjack around with a loud whack against the side of Luis's head. ”(Bloor 211)When

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Tangerine by Edward Bloor, has shown the reader many complicated real life scenarios or issues that people may and commonly face in real life. Will Erik ever realize how good of a kid Paul is? Will he decide to take after him? Or will he stay the same and continue to cause trouble for not only himself but others too? These are all questions us readers will never know but can picture solutions to

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He will probably never set foot again. But mom would never understand that. For Joey, our house may as well be covered with canvas and bound by ropes, because it’s filled with poison.” (Bloor 145) Erik’s choice has obviously made some impact on Paul’s friendship with

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The first big choice that Erik made that affected Paul was when he hit Tino in the face.(205) “Immediately, faster than I thought he could, faster than Tino thought he could, Erik lashed out, smashing the back of his hand across Tino’s face, smashing him so hard that Tino spun halfway around in the air and landed on the grass. Erik did this because Tino made fun of him and he got angry. This affected Paul because he didn't do anything, it made him feel small. Paul says, “ I just stared back at her, paralyzed with fear, while the scene rolled on.”(204) This shows that Paul knew Erik was going to do something bad, he did nothing.

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The most important way Erik impacts Paul is he causes Paul’s life to become full of constant fear and anxiety. This is proven by Bloor when his character Paul states, “I have always been afraid of Erik” (42). Paul has been afraid of Erik his entire life, as Bloor indicates by this quote. The quote also gives the reason why Paul tries to avoid Erik, and sets up the

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But Paul had a reason to think that Erik might try to kill him. At the end of the novel though Paul stood up to Erik and told the truth to his parent’s the police and everyone else that Erik killed Luis

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I didn’t know how to describe the harm he would do to me.” (38). If I was ever threatened like Erik does to Paul, I wouldn’t have the guts to say anything either.

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On the other hand, Paul, is a generous kid who cares about other people in the world too, not just himself. An example from the novel is when during the freeze Paul helped Luis grow and keep the Tangerines alive. In contrast to Paul, Erik is worse than a villain. He is the true antagonist in this

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Imagine trying to live in a town with muck fires, lightning strikes, sinkholes and constant bullying. This is what Paul Fisher has to endure every day with his classmates and his dissolute brother in a novel titled Tangerine by Edward Bloor. Paul Fisher and his family move to an erratic town called Tangerine County, Florida. Natural disasters strike there everyday, but Paul’s dad doesn’t care he cares about one thing and one thing only, Erik Fisher and the “Erik Fisher football dream.” Paul Fisher is a loving and kind person with an enormous heart.

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This quote from the text is clarifying how Paul told Sergeant Rojas everything he saw and heard from Erik and Arthur. He told Sergeant Rojas about the incident that involved Erik and Arthur killing Luis with a spine-chilling blackjack. Sergeant Rojas brought Arthur to jail, and told Erik to stay in the house so if he was to come back, Erik will be in the house. Revealing Erik and Arthur’s secrets with Sergeant Rojas lifts a weight off of Paul’s shoulders, and finally puts an end to the Erik Fisher Football Dream. To conclude, The decisions Paul had to make not only affected him, but it also affected his friends, family, and enemies.

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Erik is very rude, disrespectful, dissolute, sneaky, and egocentric, versus his brother being very kind and caring to others. Erik’s actions of evil traits are ongoing, but definitely more pronounced by his actions after Mike Costello’s death. “I carried my bags of groceries on into the kitchen and set them down. Then I heard a strange sound. It was the sound of voices in the backyard.

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Around the same section, Erik says the name “Castor” which triggers a memory Paul had blocked for a long time, the truth behind his visual impairment and that Erik was at fault for it. This led to Paul accepting it was not his fault and he finally stopped blaming himself for it. In conclusion, Paul started off as a wimpy, fearful kid who ended up finding a lot about himself and turned out a strong, independent young man. He had an incredible arch of character development throughout the entire novel, with changes in himself and the outside of him.

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