The Highest Tide Analysis

Teen Angst and the Essence of Adolescence The Highest Tide has two prominent themes, exploration of marine life and teen angst. The main character, Miles along with his other adolescent friends and foes (A.K.A., Frankie Marx) perfectly exhibit the symptoms of the phenomena that is teen angst. Symptoms such as defiance of authority figures, self-centered tendencies, emotional turmoil and adventures of sexuality both fit under the category of teen angst/adolescence and are examples presented in the book by the characters of teen age. The first and most repeated “symptom” seen in the book is defiance of authority figures. In fact, it is shown within the first chapter, page three to be exact; wherein Miles sneaks out of his room
It is no secret that Miles has a crush on Angie. No, the word, “crush” is an understatement. A better word to describe Miles’s feelings towards Angie is utter infatuation. Miles expresses, to say the least, his fascination towards Angie quite brazenly in the story, but on a large spectrum ranging between emotion and pure physicality. On the emotional side of the spectrum, Miles inadvertently states in chapter eight, page fifty-four that he would do anything for Angie even though he never expects anything in return when he was describing his definition of love. Phelps on the other hand did not care for this notion of love and stated that he was purely interested in the physical part of a relationship. Miles seems to flip-flop in between morals regarding what love is. Also, regarding the emotional side of the spectrum, in chapter twenty-six, page two-hundred nine, Miles tells Angie that he can take care of her, no matter how ridiculous it sounded, to paraphrase. As previously mentioned, Miles flip-flops in between his fluctuating definition of love and being a curious teen boy, he explores the more physical side of the spectrum. He fantasizes, such as in chapter twelve, page seventy-seven and makes certain phone calls with his fellow comrades such as in chapter twenty-three, page one hundred seventy-five, and borrowed a book on the subject from Florence (whether she knew it or not) and shared the knowledge he gained from it with Phelps (in chapter nineteen, pages 144-145). Miles is just a curious teen trying to determine his standpoints on love and relationships, and that sometimes entails rather graphic details, but it is a fundamental factor to his maturity as a person and character in the