The Vicious Deep

            The book The Vicious Deep is about a boy named Tristan who behaves in both obvious and subtle ways.   Tristan is a high school boy who lives in Brooklyn with his mom and dad. Then one day Tristan goes into the ocean to save a girl when he gets sucked under water and turns up three days later. After that Tristan learned that his mom is a mermaid and Tristan turns into a merman himself.  Tristan’s obvious behavior is that he acts funny when he is nervous but the more subtle trait is Tristan is private with his feelings

 I think Tristan behaves in obvious ways when he is in an awkward situation he uses his humor to ignore the tension. For example, on page 77, right after Tristan figured out he was a merman and is learning little details about merpeople he uses his humor by saying, “My fingers hover over the trident, stopping short of touching it. ‘What does it mean?’ ‘It is the symbol of the sea court,’ (Kurt says) ‘Okay, so a tattoo. I can deal with that. At least I don’t have to get my lip pierced or have a stick driven through my nose.’ I emphasize, ‘Right’” This example shows that Tristan is using his humor to try and break the tension and unnerving discovery that he is a merman.   Another example of how Tristan uses his humor in tension filled situations is on page 19. This scene takes place right after they found Tristan washed up on a shore after being gone for three days.“ ‘So, Nurse Christine’– I take a deep breath and put on my best grave face- ‘am I terminal?’  It takes her a few seconds to register that I’m just kidding.” This excerpt from the text shows how Tristan is being funny after he just mysteriously disappeared for three days. Tristan used his humor there to break the tension of his disappearance. These examples from the book show how Tristan is using his character trait of being funny to get around tension filled and awkward situations.

             I think Tristan behaves in subtle ways that aren’t so obvious because he is private with his feelings. An example how Tristan doesn’t share his feelings is on page 196 when the Sea King is introducing the champions in a fight over the throne. “I’m up. But I don’t have an entourage. I don’t have my dad or a fiancée to walk me in front of the court to show my goods. What am I thinking; I can hold my own if a fight against some jerk at school but I’m not at Thorne Hill anymore. Elias could crack my skull open and use it as a serving bowl if he wanted to.” This example explains how Tristan doesn’t share his feelings because he keeps his thoughts to himself. Another example how Tristan is private with his feelings is on page 186 when Tristan is in his bed reflecting on his life as a merman and thinking about how his life would be as a king. It says “I can’t exactly go back to the way everything was. Now that I know what I am. How do I just sit in class and joke with the boys? How am I supposed to be a champion? The only time I’ve ever fought is when Angelo and Jerry wanted to reenact WWF. ” This piece of text shows that Tristan has all of these feelings bottled inside but he doesn’t share them with anyone. These examples express how Tristan is very private with his feelings and does not share his feelings.

            In conclusion, Tristan behaves in obvious and subtle ways. For example Tristan behaves in obvious ways by using his humor to break a tension filled or nervous situation. How Tristan behaves in subtle ways is he doesn’t share his feelings with anyone and lets them bottle up inside of himself. All in all Tristan is a very unpredictable character, he acts one way but he’s really is something else.