Tangerine is a book that explores many aspects of Paul Fisher’s life. Paul Fisher moves to Tangerine, Florida, along with his family, which includes his brother and bully, Erik Fisher. Paul’s new life in Tangerine, Florida is very different and strange; there is a field that is constantly ablaze, lighting that strikes the same location repeatedly, and a sinkhole that pops up at their elementary school. Although Paul is often living in Erik’s football dream shadow, he is a talented soccer player and makes new friends because of his talent as an amazing goalie. Throughout the story, Paul struggles to remember what happened to his eyesight and wants to find the true cause of his “coke-bottle” glasses. Paul is a unique kid who sees things that…show more content… In the novel Tangerine, by Edward Bloor, the novel utilized foreshadowing and flashbacks to develop the theme of growth and change.
To begin with, Bloor uses foreshadowing in Tangerine to develop the theme of growth and change. One piece of evidence the supports this literary device is shown on page 12. The quote is, “I started thinking about our old house. Then I started thinking about a zombie, a pissed off zombie. Dragging one foot behind him. Keeping to the right. Taking his time. Slowly, surely, stalking his way down Interstate 10.” This quote is foreshadowing that there is something in Paul’s past that is affecting his current life. Later in the book, we learn that it is his older brother Erik, and how he bullied Paul in the past. This conveys the theme of growth and change because the “zombie” that he imagines is his past, and it is going to change him in the future. Paul’s past changes him because it shapes him to be stronger and to learn to stand…show more content… On page 263, there is an example of a quote that shows this theme. It states, “And I remembered Erik’s fingers prying my eyelids open while Vincent Castor sprayed white paint into them.” This is referring to when Paul has a flashback and remembers how he lost his vision, which was because Vincent Castor sprayed paint into Paul’s eyes. This scene was important because it had the answer to the main question in Tangerine, which was how Paul lost his vision. After remembering this memory, Paul confronts his parents about the secret that they had been keeping from him. This conveys the theme of growth and change because it shows that Paul changed from being too scared to stand up for himself, to someone who confronted his parents about his “accident.” Another example of flashbacks was on page 35. It says, “So I sat there on that yellow bus—Erik Fisher’s younger brother, Eclipse Boy, visually impaired and totally incapable of following in his brother’s footsteps.” This quote infers that Paul blames himself for the bullying caused by his vision problem, and all the other problems that his vision created, such as the IEP Paul has to get. This quote enhances the story because it encourages the readers to be suspicious of his vision loss since we don’t have any proof that he lost his vision during the eclipse. The quote conveys the theme because it shows how he grew from someone who people thought could do
