The novel takes its name from Tangerine County, the once famed “tangerine capital of the world” (148), and, as the reader would expect, tangerines are a potent symbol for various issues throughout the book. While Mom warns Paul that the citrus groves are mostly gone, as soon as they reach Tangerine county, “we did start to see groves of citrus trees, and they were an amazing sight” (8). Immediately, Paul feels refreshed by the sight of the groves, as he will later be revived by their smell; tangerines have the whiff of a fresh start.

Bloor highlights that tangerines symbolize a fresh start through Luis’s innovative hybrid tangerine, called the Golden Dawn. Resistant to the cold, and bred for flavor, this tangerine represents survival and continuity. The Golden Dawn will be Luis’s legacy: “Luis has been advertising the Golden Dawns in all the trade papers. There’s a big response, just like he said there would be. He’s got orders from growers all over Florida, from Texas, from California, even from down in Mexico” (291). Not only will Luis live on through his creation, but his integrity—the soil in which he plants his dreams—triumphs over the fraudulence of the suburban developments built atop the razed groves.