Motif Of Sight In Tangerine

Tangerine, a realistic fiction novel by Edward Bloor, is about a boy who tries to discover his family’s truths and lies about his past. The motif of sight is used repeatedly throughout the book many times. Even though Paul is visually impaired, he shows over and over again that he can see some things that his friends and family can’t. He discovers the truth about his past and shows that the bitterest truth is better than the sweetest lie. Through the motif of sight, Paul, the main character in the novel, has a growing understanding of his friends, family, and himself. The first group Paul experiences a growing understanding of is his friends. One example of how he understood his friends better later on in the story is when Gino congratulates him on helping with the sinkhole. “He said, ‘Mars, my man! Good work out there.’ I know that voice. I said, ‘Thanks, Gino’”(83). Gino is a good friend because he can “see” that Paul isn’t just a kid with thick glasses. Paul realizes this, but not at the beginning of the story. At the …show more content…
Most of Paul’s family doesn’t understand him or value him much, but Grandmom and Grandpop both understood and valued Paul. “That’s one thing about Grandmom and Grandpop- they couldn’t care less about the Erik Fisher football dream. They never, ever mention it”(213). This shows how he sees that Grandmom and Grandpop see the big picture. They know that Paul is valuable too, not just Erik and the dream. Dad didn’t know much about Tangerine when they moved, but he should have found out about where they were going to live. “Fired for what, Dad? For telling the truth? For telling us something that you didn’t know? That you should’ve known?”(23) Dad didn’t take the time to learn about Tangerine, the place they were going to live! He should have looked into weather and natural occurrences, not just high school football. These examples show how Paul comes to understand his family