Tangerine Choice Essay

Did you read an awesome book called Tangerine? This book has many plot twists and it made me want to never put the book down. Along with plot twists, Tangerine has a lot of choices to be made. If Paul changed any of his choices, the whole plot would’ve been different. Paul Fisher makes a lot of crucial decisions that impact the whole story. Those crucial choices include moving to Tangerine, Florida in Part 1, going to Tangerine Middle School instead of Lake Windsor in Part 2, and jumping on Coach Warner’s back to let Tino escape (bringing shame to his whole family) in Part 3.

First of all, the most vital choice Paul’s family made is moving to Tangerine. This affected the story a lot because Tangerine is the main setting. The characters and setting won’t be the same without them moving there. Pg 7 states, “For Mom the move from Texas to Florida was…” This quote proves that they moved to Tangerine, Florida. It affected many characters; for some, like Paul and Erik, a significant amount. If they hadn’t moved to Florida, Erik’s mistakes would not have been uncovered and Paul would’ve still lived in a lie. He would have never known about how he got blind. Moving to Florida and witnessing Erik do unacceptable things like killing Luis, hitting Tino in the head, and rejoicing when Mike Costello died and not getting in trouble for it is just some of the things that Paul had to see. Also, their parents wouldn’t have believed that Erik ever did anything to hurt Paul. Pg 4, states, “ Then she said, “Honey, you know how it is with your eyesight. You know you can’t see very well.” And that was that.” That was when Erik tried to kill Paul by swinging a baseball bat at his head and his parents thought that he was hallucinating. When Paul told his parents, they didn’t believe him and his mom blamed it on his horrid eyesight. This proves that Paul’s parents didn’t believe him about something bad that Erik did to him. His parents think that Erik is a sweet little angel even when he’s not. Erik is a rotten, spoiled brat who manipulates everyone he meets into thinking that he is nice and would never do anything to hurt people even though he made his brother blind by spraying paint in his eyes. Paul’s family moving to Tangerine is the most important choice made in Part 1.

To continue, the most significant decision in Part 2 is Paul going to Tangerine Middle School. Paul wouldn’t have been able to play on the soccer team if he still stayed at Lake Windsor Middle. Also, no one knew about his horrible eyesight so that he would have a fresh start at a new school. He got to play on the soccer team and win all the tournaments he played. Paul finally got recognized by his family because of that. Paul was the sibling that Mr. Donnely was interested in more, but that doesn’t happen very often. Paul’s family was surprised that Mr. Donnoly wanted to see Paul again to talk about soccer when usually everyone the family meets seems to like Erik more and wants to spend more time with him. The text states, “As we U-turned in front of the school, she added, very carefully, ‘Your IEP form disappeared somewhere between Lake Windsor and here. It’s the kind of thing we should probably never mention again.’” This proves that when he went to Tangerine Middle, his IEP won’t be in his records. So, none of his schools, colleges, or jobs will ever know that he has a disability unless he adds it to his resume, which I think he won’t. In addition, going to Tangerine Middle School helped him make a lot of good friends. Without his friends, he would never have had the guts to stand up to his brother and prove he’s a jerk to his parents. Watching Tino, Luis, and Antoine stand up to Erik gave Paul the audacity to do so himself. The author states, “I stepped forward and faced them, just as I had seen Luis do. I held my hands out, as he had done, and said, ‘I’m not afraid of you, Erik. Come on.’” Without meeting Luis and watching him stand in front of Erik with courage, Paul would never be able to stand up to him. Luis was the one who helped him get over his fear of Erik. This also gave him the courage to tell the police about how Erik and Arthur murdered Luis and all the other things that he witnessed. Like spray-painting Paul’s eyes while pinning him to the wall. Almost hitting him with a blackjack and threatening him. Paul would never have met Luis and his other friends if he didn’t go to Tangerine Middle. Going to Tangerine Middle School is the most essential choice made in this part.

Last but not least, the most crucial decision made in Part 3 is Paul jumping on Coach Warner’s back. It’s important because this had a lot of negative effects. For example, the text states, “…This is the most serious level of infraction. The penalty for this and for any other Level Four Infraction is expulsion.’” Paul got expelled from Tangerine Middle and all of the other public schools in Tangerine County. This will be on his permanent record, making it hard for him to get a job in the future. No one wants an employee who jumps on their boss. Now, Paul has to go to St. Anthony’s, a Christian private school. He feels really excited to go there, mostly because he won’t be a nerd. Instead, he’ll be the bad guy, the one who got in trouble with the whole school district. Paul thinks that it’d be very different because he never got to be anything but a nerd every time he joined a new school. Furthermore, jumping on Coach Warner’s back not only impacted Paul’s school, it also impacted how his parents feel about him. “And then Dad himself was in my face, grabbing me by my shirt and screaming, ‘I oughta kill you for that! Are you crazy?’” Paul’s dad seems furious at Paul for doing that, especially since he’s one of the “football dads” and his name might get ruined because of Paul’s irresponsible actions. He’s saying that he’s going to kill his own son, that just proves that he’s really angry at Paul. Paul’s mom however seems to be more worried about his safety. He could’ve gotten hurt when the football players yanked him off of Coach Warner and threw him on the ground. His parents must have felt hurt too because both of their sons got publicly humiliated in less than a week. They must feel really embarrassed because they’re really used to their people liking their children and it’ll be really weird if Paul and Erik do something really bad to ruin it. Now everyone thinks that Erik is a bully who put paint in his brother’s eyes, a sneaky thief, and a racist murderer and Paul is a hot-tempered, violence-loving 7th grader who got expelled from the school district until the next year.

The characters in Tangerine make a lot of important choices. Some of those include moving to Florida in Part 1, going to Tangerine Middle School in Part 2, and jumping on Coach Warner’s back in Part 3. Finishing the book was heartbreaking for me, I wanted the story of Paul Fisher to go on forever. The detail in Tangerine was endless, I could picture every scene, comprehend every emotion, and understand why he was making the choices like it was my own. The next time you read a book, think about the important choices each character made and their consequences.