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“Nature’s creative power is far beyond man’s instinct of destruction,” remarks Jules Verne. Nature’s unpredictable destruction seems to be something man cannot control. The main character, Paul, and his friends put up a constant struggle against Mother Nature, but the latter always wins. In the novel Tangerine, Edward Bloor arrays Mother Nature is stronger than man displayed through Nature’s Power. Throughout Tangerine, Paul and his family and friends consistently fight a disastrous sinkhole, a big freeze, and mysterious disappearance of some expensive koi. At school one day, Joey and Paul return from the office and notice something quite unusual happening to the portables, “Then the walkways started to heave up and down, making terrible
No doubt, his friends make a big impact on Paul’s perspective and the process of understanding. Joey, one of Paul’s good friends at Tangerine, transfers to Tangerine Middle with Paul after the sinkhole at Tangerine. Once joey transfers to Tangerine Middle his attitude changes and he talks to Paul about leaving the soccer team and joining football in high school. “I took the ugliness of Joey’s words,
In the novel “Tangerine” by Edward Bloor, on page 269 he states “The Truth Shall Set You Free”. Some might be wondering “What does this mean?” Or “Why did Edward Bloor write this?”. Edward Bloor wrote this quote because in the novel “Tangerine”, Paul has been keeping lots of secrets in his life about Erik and since he moved to Lake Windsor he’s kept even more. Paul didn’t have the guts to say everything until Antoine Thomas said “The truth shall set you free”.
Tangerine says, “I knelt down on that sideline, took off my sports goggles, and started to cry.” This takes place after Coach Walski kicks Paul off the team because he was visually handicapped. Although, Paul has little meltdowns, he stays calm, unlike Erik who is insane and does truly crazy things.
Everyone has a mentor. Most people look up to their parents, a friend or sibling, but in Paul's case it was a tangerine farmer who was also the brother of his friend his mentor was Luis Cruz. In the novel tangerine Luis Cruz represents the mythological archetype of the mentor by keeping paul motivated, staying positive, and giving advice while acting as Paul's conscience.
Blindness versus Sight In Tangerine, Paul may be physically blind but he can see what his parents’ and the townspeople can’t. Paul, a middle school student and the main character, is physically blind and is looking for answers from the past. Erik, Paul's big brother, is a superstar football kicker and bully who is driven by anger and frustration. Their parents are struggling with the secrets from the past and the effect that they have on the family and the families future. Tangerine County in Florida has the well off town of Lake Windsor, where the Fisher family lives, and the poorer town of Tangerine.
“Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday conveys the inhumane, gory lynchings of African-Americans in the American South, and how this highly unnatural act had entrenched itself into the society and culture of the South, almost as if it were an agricultural crop. Although the song did not originate from Holiday, her first performance of it in 1939 in New York City and successive recording of the song became highly popular for their emotional power (“Strange fruit,” 2017). The lyrics in the song highlight the contrast between the natural beauty and apparent sophistication of the agricultural South with the brutal violence of lynchings. Holiday communicates these rather disturbing lyrics through a peculiarly serene vocal delivery, accompanied by a hymn-like
Throughout the Romanticism period, human’s connection with nature was explored as writers strove to find the benefits that humans receive through such interactions. Without such relationships, these authors found that certain aspects of life were missing or completely different. For example, certain authors found death a very frightening idea, but through the incorporation of man’s relationship with the natural world, readers find the immense utility that nature can potentially provide. Whether it’d be as solace, in the case of death, or as a place where one can find oneself in their own truest form, nature will nevertheless be a place where they themselves were derived from. Nature is where all humans originated,
The notion that men and women should behave according to their gender roles has been ingrained into the subconscious of many. Tangerine defies gender norms through its portrayal of gender fluid characters. A great example of a character who possesses both masculine and feminine character traits is the main character, Sindee. The film begins with Sindee, a transgendered prostitute, getting out of jail and finding out that her pimp boyfriend has been cheating on her. In finding the girl that her boyfriend cheated on her with, Sindee proves to be a strong and independent lead character. This contrasts the typical feminine character as “... femininity is typically defined as small, demure, submissive, and emotionally dependent.” (Wadenius). Sindee
In “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop, the narrator attempts to understand the relationship between humans and nature and finds herself concluding that they are intertwined due to humans’ underlying need to take away from nature, whether through the act of poetic imagination or through the exploitation and contamination of nature. Bishop’s view of nature changes from one where it is an unknown, mysterious, and fearful presence that is antagonistic, to one that characterizes nature as being resilient when faced against harm and often victimized by people. Mary Oliver’s poem also titled “The Fish” offers a response to Bishop’s idea that people are harming nature, by providing another reason as to why people are harming nature, which is due to how people are unable to view nature as something that exists and goes beyond the purpose of serving human needs and offers a different interpretation of the relationship between man and nature. Oliver believes that nature serves as subsidence for humans, both physically and spiritually. Unlike Bishop who finds peace through understanding her role in nature’s plight and acceptance at the merging between the natural and human worlds, Oliver finds that through the literal act of consuming nature can she obtain a form of empowerment that allows her to become one with nature.
The external conflict of nature against man never becomes resolved, as nature ends the man and his goals. For example, the severe cold weather prevented the man fro...
John Bradshaw, an American philosopher, educator, and consular, once said, "The idea of evil is always subject to denial as a coping mechanism." When confronted with evil, many people choose not to accept the reality of the situation and create their own instead, as a way of putting off the truth until one is "strong" enough to accept and confront it. In Tangerine by Edward Bloor, this attempt to reduce grief often just creates more suffering and hurt. Many characters were in denial which prevented them from achieving true and pure happiness.
Never underestimate nature for it is breathtaking, but has a dark perilous side. Nature manages to strike at the most unplanned times, it is deceitful and can cause havoc around the world in the most bizarre ways. One never quite knows when nature might strike. Daphne du Maurier exhibits a concept in her story,“The Birds” of how even the most overlooked objects in nature can cause just as much chaos as something one would expect. Daphne du Maurier uses the imagery from her story, “The Birds” to successfully have the reader foreshadow events, arouse feelings of curiosity, learn about the dangers in nature, and connect to the main character.
Both “The Clan of One-Breasted Women” and “An Entrance to the Woods,” gives a viewpoint on the human relationship with nature. Terry Tempest Williams critizes man for being ruthless when it comes to nature and other humans. Wendell Berry believes similarly the same thing. He believes that man needs nature just as much as they need civilization. However, regardless of the differences, both writers offer an insightful perspective on the forever changing relationship between man and nature. And this relationship is, and always will be, changing.
In almost all cases, the environment does triumph over man in some way or another. “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London is a prime example of this happening to a large extent. A man and his dog are lost in the wilderness at sub-zero temperatures, and he is not only involved in an environmental conflict, but a struggle to live. Eventually the man dies of hypothermia. Again, this is another instance that illustrates the power that nature has over us.
Through the ingenious works of poetry the role of nature has imprinted the 18th and 19th century with a mark of significance. The common terminology ‘nature’ has been reflected by our greatest poets in different meanings and understanding; Alexander Pope believed in reason and moderation, whereas Blake and Wordsworth embraced passion and imagination.