In the book Tangerine by Edward Bloor, a legally blind 7th grader named Paul Fisher, moves to Tangerine County, Florida and has to deal with many new situations. Paul had made some decisions that made a huge impact on his life as a middle schooler. Paul made the choice to defend himself against a soccer defender and stand up to his parents, neighbors, and even local officers. The first decision Paul made was to defend himself from a kid playing fullback from Palmetto Middle School. In Paul’s first soccer game of the season, the Tangerine War Eagles were playing the Palmetto Whippoorwills at Palmetto Middle School.
Paul went into the game playing center forward (playing for Tino who had been throwing punches and had gotten taken out of the game). Paul had found an opening to score, but one palmetto fullback knocked him down, stretched his goggles, and placed a scoopful of mud in Paul’s eyes. Paul was so mad that he started to blindly punch towards the fullback. This action made an impact on Paul’s life because now the players on Paul’s soccer team have more respect for Paul because now they consider Paul to be part of their team, that he’s……. A War Eagle!
The second choice Paul made was to confess that he had saw Arthur and Erik being a part of Luis Cruz murder. At a Lake Windsor Downs homeowners meeting, Paul’s parents revealed that Erik and Arthur were the neighborhood thieves. As the people in their community started to agree in allowing Erik and Arthur to have a second chance, 2 police officers approached the front door asking for Arthur Bauer. They cuffed Arthur for “ having connection with the murder of Luis Cruz”.
When Arthur’s dad tried to talk the Officers out of believing that it was Arthur by stating that Luis Cruz had no reason to be at the football field. But then Paul stated that Luis Cruz had as much of a reason to be there as Arthur did. Then he announced that Arthur had murdered Luis with a blackjack. Then Paul implicated that Erik Fisher (his brother) had told Arthur to take care of his “ easy business”. When the Officers heard this they decided to have Erik placed on house arrest. Paul felt relieved that he had finally been able to get that off his shoulders,
he also feels like he is finally brave enough to speak out to people. Lastly, Paul felt mirthful that he was finally able to prove to his parents that Erik has been atrocious the whole time. Paul made choices not knowing what the consequence would be. Paul’s choices resulted in the Tangerine Middle School soccer team starting to think of Paul as part of their team. Paul proved to his parents that Erik had been the one that was up to no good the whole time. Paul also got over his fear of being too scared to speak up.
