What Does Paul Symbolize In Tangerine

Tangerine is a realistic fiction novel by Edward Bloor about a visually impaired boy named Paul, his move to Tangerine County, Florida, and coming to reality with the grim secrets that his family has been hiding from him for his entire life. The repeated symbolism, or motif, in the book has to with sight. Though Paul, has literal poor vision, he can still ‘see’ the other side of people, whilst others might not ‘see’ or even choose not to. Through the motif of sight, Paul, the main character in the novel, experiences a growing understanding of his friends, family, and himself. The first group Paul experiences a growing understanding of is his friends. Evidence supporting the claim is expressed by Joey, a few days after attending Tangerine Middle School, saying some very harsh things …show more content…
He criticized, “‘I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,’ and he gestured around the room. ‘I let you talk me into coming to this dump.’ I suddenly became aware of the other kids as he went on ‘This place is like darkest Africa. Like the Amazon Jungle. Like we’re learning to live among the natives here’” (150). As Paul takes in this nasty remark, it pushes him away from Joey, and makes him think of all their differences. This severs the relationship that the two had maintained after Mike’s death, and Erik’s carelessness to the tragedy. Joey doesn’t ‘see’ the opportunity and beauty at the school, and simply can’t fit in there. This affects Paul greatly, as he sacrifices what he thought was a great friend, who was kind and non judgemental, for Tangerine Middle School. However, much later in the book Joey finally views Paul in a different light, when the two are cleaning up the dirt in the gym he