Tangerine Character Analysis

According to Stephan R. Covey “while we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose our consequences of our actions.” Tangerine by: Edward Bloor was about this boy name Paul Fisher moving to Tangerine, Florida where he learned to face his fears about his brother Erik. The character in the story that had the biggest impact on Paul was Erik. First of all, Erik knocked out Tino, Erik and Arthur killed Luis, and finally he was the reason for Paul’s eye problems. First, Erik got into a fight with Tino and knocked him out. On page 205, paragraph 6, it states “Erik lashed out smashing the back of his hand across Tino’s face, smashing him so hard that Tino spun half way around in the air and landed on the grass.” What’s important here
is that Paul thought Tino was pretty tough. Although seeing Tino get knocked out by Erik made Paul even more scared of his brother. My evidence is on page 207, paragraph 2 “I was on the verge of asking him, ‘Dad, did you see Erik hit Tino in the face so hard that he nearly knocked him out?’… I sat there agonizing about it. Why couldn’t I tell? I ratted out Tino at the carnival. Why couldn’t I tell my own parents on Erik?” This is explaining how Paul didn’t have the courage to tell on Erik because he was so scared. Secondly, Erik and Arthur killed Luis with a blackjack. On page 211 paragraph 9 it states “Arthur reached Luis, turned, and whipped the blackjack around with a loud whack against the side of Luis’ head.” This choice impacted Paul because when Paul had told the deputy sheriff that Arthur and Erik had killed Luis it made him braver. My evidence is on page 285, paragraph 4 “No sir. Then I felt compelled, to add, I wasn’t brave enough to give my statement”. He eyeballed me, “are you willing to give a statement if called upon?” “Yes, sir” said Paul. This evidence is saying that Paul didn’t listen to himself and made himself confident and assured the sheriff that he would give a statement. Finally, Erik painted Paul’s eyes which caused him to go part blind.
On page 263, paragraph 7, it states, “I turned around and saw Vincent Castor. He was holding a can of spray paint. Then I felt Erik grab me from behind, easily pinning both of my arms with just one of his. I could hear my voice crying, “I didn’t tell! I didn’t tell!” And I remember Erik’s finger prying my eyelids open while Vincent Castor sprayed white paint into them…” when Paul spoke up to mom and dad about Erik spray painting Paul’s eyes he became brave. It made him confident, enough so he could have the courage to tell about Erik’s wrong doings. My evidence is on page 284, paragraph 2, it states “I couldn’t listen to anymore of this. I shouted, “he belonged up there!’ Arthur’s father turned to see who had said this. I went on, “he belonged up there as much as you and your stupid kid do.” I looked at the blond deputy. “The weapon that he used to kill Luis Cruz was a blackjack.” What this evidence explains is that Paul took charge to say that Erik and Arthur had killed Luis. As a result we can tell that Erik made the biggest choice that impacted Paul the most. In the beginning of the story Paul was dead afraid of Erik and his harmful violence. Erik’s violence caused a lot of damage to loved ones and relationships that were very important to Paul. What important here is that Paul overcame his fear about his brother and was brave enough to tell the truth about Erik so nobody else would get hurt. To conclude, we may never be able to control the choices of others, but we can always choose our own choices- avoiding
violence.