Tangerine Luis Cruz Character Analysis

Everyone needs help in their life at some point in time. A person who helps another out is a mentor. A mentor tries to do all they can to help others out. In Edward Bloor’s novel Tangerine, Luis Cruz is the mentor because he gives advice, aids, and is a positive figure towards Paul. First, being the mentor, gives advice to Paul. For instance, when Paul told Luis that he saw what he had done, stood up to Erik, Luis gave advice that he should do the same, too. “You seem kinda scared of Erik and Arthur Bauer....I wouldn’t be. They’re punks...And you shouldn’t be either” (Bloor 229). Although this doesn’t seem like much, it helps Paul realize that Luis is right; he shouldn't be scared. When Luis says that Arthur and Erik are “punks,” we often

As an example, when Henry and Paul just arrived at the groves to work on their project. Bloor wrote, “Luis smiled...Good to see you guys. His voice was soft and seemed more accented than Tino’s or Theresa’s” (163). In this case, we can infer that Luis is a very friendly person, who is nice to everyone. We can imagine what Luis sounds like with his accent. Adding on, we can infer that Luis might be the friendliest in his family. In addition, Luis is very smart. For instance, when they were walking through the groves. The novel states, “He pointed out different types of citrus trees, including some Frankenstein experiments of his own. He answered questions for our report” (165). Luis being able to create his own type of citrus really shows us that he really knows what he is doing in the groves. Similarly, by showing them around and helping them out we can infer that Luis enjoys helping others. The word choice Bloor uses is quite odd though, because when we think “Frankenstein experiments,” we think monsters not plants. Furthermore, Luis will help whomever he can because he is a smart, generous, and caring person. In particular, he becomes a great mentor to