In the novel, "Tangerine," Paul's life is not entirely his own. Others have made many of the major decisions concerning his life. Choices have affected Paul all his life. Most of the major events in his life have been instigated by someone else's choices. Out of love, his parents have made choices to not only protect Paul but to keep him shielded from decision-making knowledge of events, and subject that they didn't want him to be exposed to. While his parents may have thought their decisions were more positive than negative they showed their lack of faith in Paul. They were shielding him from adult information and decisions. They were ultimately limiting his ability to grow-up. Mom made the first choice. She chose to fill out and IEP form for Paul like the author Bloor shows here, "Mrs. Fisher, I'd like to get you to fill out and IEP for Paul" (27). The choice is made because Paul's mom thinks it is important for the school to know about Paul's situation, so they can note any specific need he might have and to set specific goals for Paul. Later in this book Paul gets kicked off the Lake Windsor soccer team, and Bloor shows this when he says, "Paul, you have an IEPYou can't play soccer for Lake Windsor Middle School" (62). By filling out the IEP for Paul, Paul's mom thinks she is protecting him but she is also limiting his choices at school.
Both Paul's mom and dad made the second choice together. They chose to let Paul move to Tangerine to start over. His parents let him do this, because Paul really wanted to go to Tangerine to have a chance at playing soccer. Bloor showed the main reason Paul wanted to transfer to Tangerine was, to play soccer. Bloor illustrated in this quote, "Just let me go to Tangerine Middle. Do you understand? I wouldn't be water boy there. I'd be the goalie'' (94). When he transferred to Tangerine his parents had to sign forms, but they but chose not to sign the IEP form again.