Juggling with mandarins - Theme

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The V.M Jones novel, Juggling With Mandarins follows the development of a teenager named Philip during the transition from childhood into puberty. Philip faces several conflicts of which he must “juggle” or balance during the period. The main conflicts of Philips are against himself, his family and society. These conflicts affect events during his development. The conflict between Philip and himself occurs as a large part of his transition into puberty. Philip encounters new emotions for his friend Katie. In the early stages, Philip “... couldn’t outrun that strange, terrifying new feeling.” As Philip cannot channel this feeling, Philip “bottles” this emotion, which leads to stress. Another internal conflict happens between Philip as a child and Philip as a teenager. The “older” Philip is attempting to be more rebellious and risk-taking but is restrained by his fear of the possible consequences from his parents. Philip’s father tells Philip “It’s up to you what you make of your life.” This gives Philip mixed ideas as he feels like his father is controlling his life. Later on, this leads Philip to think – “I was using climbing to get away from something?” These conflicts affect Philips decisions during crucial moments of his evolution. Philip also has conflict with his family but mainly with his father and brother. In the first chapter of the novel Philip is playing in a soccer match. Philip’s father causes a commotion and this embarrasses Philip. When another player on the opposite team asks who the person is, Philip pretends not to know his father and says that he is “Just...some guy,” Because this causes embarrassment to Philip, he tries to explain to father that his father is embarrassing but his father does not understand and has interpreted the wrong message. Philip also competes with his older brother, Nick, as they compete for their father’s affection

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