Antoine lives in Tangerine, not Lake Windsor, and plays football at Lake Windsor High School with the full knowledge of the staff. One way Antoine hurts Erik is by telling the truth about his eligibility to play at Lake Windsor to Bill Donnelly. This act eventually causes Luis’s death, but not before Antoine and a few other football players vow to help Luis get back at Erik and Arthur. Like Paul, Antoine witnesses Erik order Arthur to use a blackjack on Luis Cruz when he confronts Erik and Arthur about hitting his younger brother, Tino, at the Fisher house. Erik puts on a similar front whenever adults are around, but reveals his true mean-spirited nature when alone with his peers or those younger than him.Īntoine is one peer who does not respect Erik because he, like Paul, knows that Erik does not respect or care about the truth. For example, Paul witnesses how Erik and Arthur make fun of Mike Costello’s death and Joey’s immediate reaction to it in front of him and Joey yet Erik and Arthur act respectfully in front of Erik and Paul’s mother. Although Paul does not know that they robbed houses in the neighborhood until his mother reveals that painful truth in a meeting at the Fisher home, he knows other truths about them. For example, Paul can see that Erik and Arthur are destructive and only care about their own personal gain, because the truth does not matter to them. Paul gradually remembers more and more about his personal truth as he observes or helps uncover other characters’ truths. Fisher have let the truth become unimportant in their lives-to their own detriment. Such lies have eaten away at the family’s interpersonal relationships and perhaps allowed Paul’s parents to rationalize not dealing with Erik’s problems. Paul’s parents have not told the truth to him about what happened to him and allowed Erik’s lie about Paul staring at a solar eclipse to become the accepted truth. He does not remember until the end of the novel that his older brother Erik held him down and convinced his friend Vincent Castor to force spray paint into five-year-old Paul’s eyes. As a result, he must resign.įor Paul, the truth about what happened to make him legally blind is very important.
Because of Burns, a sinkhole develops that engulfs the junior high school portable classrooms.
Old Charley Burns, for example, takes bribes and does not find out the truth about the poor quality of most of the construction projects in the area. The truth shall set you free.’’ Paul responds, ‘‘Yes! Yes!’’ Truths and falsehoods are important to nearly every plot in Tangerine, even secondary ones. As star football player Antoine Thomas advises Paul toward the end of the novel, ‘‘Don’t spend your life hiding under the bleachers, little brother. One of the primary themes in Tangerine is the importance of telling the truth and living the truth as well as the consequences of lies.
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