Choices And Consequences In Edward Bloor's Tangerine

Words: 546
Pages: 3

Choices and Consequences
“Life is about choices. Some we regret, some we’re proud of. Some will haunt us forever. We are what we chose to be.” (Graham Brown). This is what Edward Bloor’s novel Tangerine is all about: the choices that characters make, and how the consequences affect others. Some consequences are good, and others can be bad, but they are all the results of choices we make. In the book, Paul Fisher is a visually impaired middle-schooler that is overshadowed by his older brother, Erik. His family moves from Houston, Texas, to Tangerine County, Florida to advance Erik’s football dream. This new strange town is where Paul meets Joey Costello, a young boy the same age as Paul. The boys’ rollercoaster friendship will be immensely shaped by the choices of Joey, the consequences of his actions, and the reactions to those consequences from Paul.
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Paul and Joey meet at a soccer field during Erik’s football practice, which blossoms their friendship and causes Joey to encourage Paul to try out for the soccer team at their school. After this they become close friends, practice for soccer together at night, and they even survived a sinkhole at their own school together. Joey is the first real friend Paul makes at Lake Windsor Middle School, so he spends every second he can with Joey, and their similar interests help grow this friendship. To bring Joey even closer, he didn’t care about the “The Erik Fisher Football Dream,” like everyone else in Paul's life. This allows Paul to step out of his brother’s shadow, or at least when he is in school. Joey’s decisions allow Paul to be a little more outgoing, and Paul gets a real friend as