In life people share similarities with each other. Both texts “Wonder and “Tangerine” share the same idea of seeing a different world than normal kids. A desire to wanting a better life. We can understand and acknowledge that August and Paul share similarities and conflicts. They are made fun of because of their personality. We can also notice the fact that August and Paul both desperately wish that they were different and had a normal personality. August is made fun of because of his abnormal face and also the fact that he was isolated from the real world. Similarly in Tangerine, Paul is made fun of because of his sight and the fact that he wears thick goggles that people find strange. You can see that both August and Paul want to change the way they look to fit in like the other kids. But they need to learn that changing the way you look and act is not the solution to fit it. It is facing reality and to deal with what you have in your life.
In the beginning of the book, RJ Palacio represents August as a shy and low-spirited character because of the comments that people state. These comments are stated referring to his face. Even Though August has gone through many surgeries to try and fix his facial abnormality people still make fun of him. Similarly Paul started of as a shy boy but he wasn’t as depressed as August. Paul was quite high-spirited when he moved to Florida. Paul has the ability to stay as himself during school unlike August who tries to be different to what he would usually do.
“I’m sorry but there's not way we can justify putting a visually handicapped student in the goal of all places where he could get his head kicked.”(Tangerine) says a boy at football tryouts.
As Paul gets ready for his football tryouts there is a thought at the back of his mind whether he should do it or not and the reason he didn’t want to is that people wouldn’t like him to be on the team as he is visually handicapped. But he didn’t let obstacles stop him from getting on the team. In the end he does get on the team. In Wonder August doesn’t want people to judge him for who he is. So if he has an opportunity to make new friends, he doesn’t take it because he is worried that they won’t like him. On the other hand Paul is open to anyone and doesn’t let people tell him what to do because he is visually handicapped.
When RJ Palacio uses the concept of masks to symbolize that August wants to cover up his face from the real world so people won’t see his face. But Paul doesn’t want to cover up his face because he wants to reveal his true self which ideally is the right thing as you will not be judged because you try and put a mask over your face because you are worried. You shouldn’t be worried of reality, reality should be faced as your trueself. Towards the end of the book Paul ends up making friends and having great success on the football team. All you have to do is face reality for who you are and be who you are. Paul ends up gaining much more confidence than he had at the start of the book. Similarly August also gains his confidence and makes friends because he faced reality and didn’t care about what people think of him he just wanted power like all the other kids. August was always worried that people would look at his face and think that he was an alien from outer space, so he put on an astronaut helmet to cover up his face. Just like how real astronauts need their own space inside their helmet. August is the same, he needs to have his own little space away from all the people who would think August’s face would be similar to an alien's face. In both texts “Wonder” and “Tangerine”, August and Paul are trying to make friends, because they are both different from other kids they have a struggle in trying. For example in Wonder August is finding it hard to find new friends. As being the new kid in school not many people know him for his personality. Everyone knows him because of that boy with an abnormal face. Similarly in Tangerine Paul is the new kid and people don’t want to be friends with him because he is visually handicapped.
“Where I usually walked with my head down trying to avoid being seen. Today I walked with my head up looking around”- August (Wonder)
As August is in his halloween costume and he is walking in school, he feels a different emotion, an emotion that he has never felt before. He felt excited to be in school because no one knew it was him underneath the mask. In school August is known as the freak of school. When August is underneath a mask, people don’t seem to notice that he isn’t at school as August. This clearly shows the lack of respect that a majority of people give to August. But for Paul he is treated equally like all the other kids.
“I wish everyday could be halloween, we could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks.”- August(Wonder)
It is noticeable that August doesn’t want people to look at his face because it is abnormal and he doesn’t like his face himself. This is because he has no confidence in himself. He believes that because his face is abnormal he is different from all the other kids. But in reality August is just like one of the other kids. But in Paul’s case, he does have self confidence because he has a growth mindset so he is open to anything. He doesn’t care about what people have to say about him. He just likes being himself. Being who you are will bring out your true character. Towards the end of the book August does change his mindset from fixed to growth. The result from this change is that this brings out his character and August in general becomes a better person. August also makes more friends as a result of being himself in school. Paul has also developed in a way that he doesn’t see himself as an ordinary boy he thinks himself as an extraordinary boy.
In both “Wonder and “Tangerine”, RJ Palacio and Edward Bloor show how desperate August and Paul would want to change the way they look as they strongly dislike it. But both August and Paul finally stayed themselves, for once they appreciated who they were rather than dislike everything about them. August and Paul share similarities and conflicts but never were they so similar that they are basically like twins. The thing that both August and Paul learned is to be themselves and it will teach them to appreciate them for who they are and as well as other people.
As August is in his halloween costume and he is walking in school, he feels a different emotion, an emotion that he has never felt before. He felt excited to be in school because no one knew it was him underneath the mask. In school August is known as the freak of school. When August is underneath a mask, people don’t seem to notice that he isn’t at school as August. This clearly shows the lack of respect that a majority of people give to August. But for Paul he is treated equally like all the other kids.
“I wish everyday could be halloween, we could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks.”- August(Wonder)
It is noticeable that August doesn’t want people to look at his face because it is abnormal and he doesn’t like his face himself. This is because he has no confidence in himself. He believes that because his face is abnormal he is different from all the other kids. But in reality August is just like one of the other kids. But in Paul’s case, he does have self confidence because he has a growth mindset so he is open to anything. He doesn’t care about what people have to say about him. He just likes being himself. Being who you are will bring out your true character. Towards the end of the book August does change his mindset from fixed to growth. The result from this change is that this brings out his character and August in general becomes a better person. August also makes more friends as a result of being himself in school. Paul has also developed in a way that he doesn’t see himself as an ordinary boy he thinks himself as an extraordinary boy.
In both “Wonder and “Tangerine”, RJ Palacio and Edward Bloor show how desperate August and Paul would want to change the way they look as they strongly dislike it. But both August and Paul finally stayed themselves, for once they appreciated who they were rather than dislike everything about them. August and Paul share similarities and conflicts but never were they so similar that they are basically like twins. The thing that both August and Paul learned is to be themselves and it will teach them to appreciate them for who they are and as well as other people.
I liked how you used various concepts in the story and how you captured and included texts, quotes etc. This can help me in my next essay as I now know that I need more texts and quotes from the book. Great essay!
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