Going into this reading, I expected a mundane coming-of-age story about a youngster forced to adapt to a new town. I was pleased to find that Bloor quickly proved my expectations false once I read the story. The first thing I noticed was how Bloor (1997) used such powerful imagery to paint a picture of the scenery in Florida. When first describing the fields of Tangerines on the trip to Florida, Bloor writes, "They were perfect. Thousands upon thousands of trees in the red glow of the sundown, perfectly shaped and perfectly aligned, vertically and horizontally, like squares in a million-square grid" (Bloor, p. 8). For someone who has very little outside experience in Florida, I was impressed with Bloor's use of words.
The other aspect of Bloor's writing I found well done was his use of characterization. He did a great job breaking down who each character was. Everything from Paul's mother's enthusiastic expectations about what her family's life would be like in an expensive development to Paul's sympathy for Wayne the fireman and defense of the citrus trees he sees burning on the drive to Tangerine County allow us to see who they are as people.
One aspect of reading we have discussed in our class here at St. John Fisher is how reading can connect to our lives. When we can draw on prior knowledge, connect what we are reading to other texts, and when we create our own questions about the text that we read, we become stronger reading.
I could connect emotionally to the subjects in the text even though I have never been anywhere near any housing developments in Florida, surrounded by Citrus fruit trees and muck fires. When Paul is describing the pressures he feels are being placed on his family in their new surrounding, he says, "Dad calls this a 'booming area,' but it's no Houston. It's not even a Huntsville. It's like we're major leaguers who've been sent down to a minor-league city for a while. We're expected to do great things here and then move back up to the big leagues" (Bloor, p. 22). I immediately identified with the Paul's feelings in this paragraph. Having family in New York and having lived both there and here, I can feel the whole small-town complex that is all too easy to develop living in a city like Rochester. I will be interested to hear how others reacted to these passages.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Tangerine Post
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2 comments:
Good point about the "small town" aspect. I'm from Buffalo, somewhat bigger than Rochester in population, but the cultural and socio-economic differences are huge. In this case, Buffalo is Tangerine - blue collar, lower middle class and ethnic, and Rochester is Lake Windsor Downs, white collar, affluent, and mostly white.
I agree that there is a distinct difference in feel between Buffalo and Rochester. Buffalo has traditionally been a more working-class, blue-collar town. However, saying that Rochester is Lake Windsor Downs ignores recent socioeconomic realities in Rochester. Over the last 2 decades, Rochester's professional class has diminished significantly. It is far to say that Rochester's median household is anything but white collar and affluent. Rochester's current median income was only a thousand dollars higher than Buffalo. Also, Rochester's demographics from 2000 indicate that whites are statistically the minority, at least in the city. I could come closer to understanding your statement if you meant the greater Rochester area, as in all of Monroe County. Rochester's suburbs, particularly its southeastern suburbs remain largely "white collar, affluent, and mostly white". However, when you consider Rochester's city and working-class suburbs, Rochester is far from Lake Windsow Downs.
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