Miss Tarango Character Analysis

Miss Tarango is a brand-new English teacher at St. Daniel’s Boys School. At first, Ishmael is certain she won’t last a term or a week, because Miss Tarango is young and beautiful and seems very nice. But she soon shows that she’s not afraid of any of her students, especially Barry Bagsley, and has her class under control in her first period with them. She does this by demonstrating the “power of language,” challenging Barry to sit in her chair until she circles him three times—but she doesn’t specify when she’ll finish her third circle, and refuses to do so before class breaks for lunch. This embarrasses Barry and immediately makes Miss Tarango Ishmael’s favorite and teacher. Later, Miss Tarango channels her belief in the power of language into helping Scobie start debating teams. Ishmael admires Miss Tarango greatly and is excited to come back to school the following year in part because of her.