Poem Analysis: Tangerine

The poem sets the tone at the second line with “I could feel the devil's handprints around my neck” indicating the tone would be dismal and satanic from the beginning. The theme is how fear can torment someone and feel as if someone is trapped in an inescapable, infinite loop of despair. I picked the tone and theme of this poem because Paul goes through many internal struggles within Tangerine. I personally have somewhat of a connection to the poem, when I was still in elementary school I was hurt by my two older brothers by playing games such as “red dots”. I felt like I would be tortured to no end especially when my parents failed to help me. The theme relates to Paul when he was bullied by Erick and his friends and trying to cope with the
death of Luis. The tone affected the descriptive language, the tone was very dreary and the poems descriptive language reflects that by the use of words such as “Its ghoulish expression burrowing itself into my thoughts”, or “Lost within the devil’s labyrinth” can paint the picture of an unfathomable and endless desperation.