Phenomenon In Tangerine

Have you ever witnessed natural phenomenon? A sinkhole, maybe a termite infestation, rain even? If you have, you know you can’t stop any of this from happening. The main character Paul in the book Tangerine, by Edward bloor, has things going on in his life that he can’t control. I think that in the novel, Bloor uses natural phenomenon to represent the problems in Paul’s life and his memories.

For example, on page sixteen the firefighter explains to Mrs. Fisher, “Muck fires don’t go out. They’re burning all the time…” Although the literal meaning of what he’s saying is that the muck fire doesn’t go out, the author means much more. When the author says muck fires don’t go out I think he’s talking Paul’s memories. His memories are always there

I think bloor put this in the book to symbolize Paul having more problems with Erik. I think this because, before the lighting the only difficulty for him was the move to Tangerine and minor things Erik did. But now, Erik is starting to mess with Paul more often and Paul is starting to get into more drama.

For my final example, on page 9 Paul sees the Tangerine tree bonfire as he enters Tangerine county “The black smoke was pouring out of a huge bonfire of trees. Citrus trees.” The author means more than what is just in the text. This represents the disaster that is going to happen with Paul in Tangerine. I think this because during the time the Fisher’s are in Tangerine many problems occur, that would most likely never have happened if they didn’t move.

From this analysis, we can see that the author uses natural phenomenon to represent Paul’s memories and the problems going on in his life. As a result to the use of these literary elements, Bloor, can use natural phenomenon to show a different figurative meaning. By reading Tangerine, I have realized how authors can creatively use language to have entirely different