Paper Towns John Green Essay

In life, there is always that one person who is two faced and acts different around every person, and their best friend sees who they actually are on all sides. In Paper Towns by John Green, Q is the best friend of Margo and he sees who Margo really is, this causes Q to change and become fearless and brave in his relationship with Margo.

Lacey, the last main character in Paper Towns, is a kind-hearted person who helped Quentin during his road trip to Agloe. In the book, Lacey describes Margo, “‘I honestly never thought of her as anything but my crazy beautiful friend who does all the crazy beautiful things,’” (Green 185). In the quote, Lacey talks about Margo, like she was her friend and cared about her, even though Margo

In a society where young adults are consumed by superficial appearances, the desire to understand others and conceptualize life is neglected. In the novel, Paper Towns, John Green challenges young adults to consider different perspectives through relatable characters and their experiences. At the beginning of the novel, Margo and Quentin do not recognize each other’s existence. Then, one night, Margo enters Q’s room through the window, and they go on an epic adventure of revenge. The next morning, Margo is gone.

The name of the novel, Paper Towns, in fact could be used to explain one of the reasons Margo left Orlando. From the outside it seems that Margo has the perfect life with numerous friends, a popular boyfriend, and a nice house. However Margo doesn’t feel like her life is as flawless as it seems. As Quentin and Margo look over the city on the night of their heist, Margo says, “It’s a paper town … I’ve lived here for eighteen years and I have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters”(Green 55).

When Quentin finally finds Margo, she acts cold and indifferent toward him. He gets her to open up about why she left, and she explains how she couldn’t stay in Orlando anymore and live a “paper life.” She explains, “A paper town for a paper girl….I didn’t really look down and think about how everything was made of paper. I looked down and thought about how I was made of paper. I was the flimsy-foldable person, not everyone else.

After realizing that reality does not always reflect one's perception, the characters in the book mature fully into adults. The theme of false identities is strong throughout Paper Towns. At the end when Quentin finally realizes who Margo truly is, he finds himself, realizing this demonstrates he has matured. The help and friendships of others assist in the characters transition to adulthood. With the help of friends and family Quentin can mature as a person and realize who he truly is not just Margo.

At the beginning of the story, Quentin spends most of his time obsessing over Margo. He views Margo as a ‘flawless, beautiful object to be sought after.’ (“Paper Towns Themes”). However, later in the story, Quentin realizes that “Margo was not a miracle. She was not an adventure.

Throughout the entire novel, John Green uses ‘cool’ and ‘hipster’ schemes, creating a cloud of smoke between the reader and the characters. Both Margo and Quentin, the two main characters, are given characteristics that don’t allow the reader to strongly connect with the book, leaving the reader just glancing and skimming instead of strongly engaging. For instance, Quentin says he “likes being bored, (89)” but boring isn’t fun or desired or liked. Also, Margo runs away to a paper town, a fake town placed on maps by cartographers in order to be able to recognize if another cartographer plagiarized their own map, in New York, and while speaking of her, Quentin hypothesizes that Margo “loved mysteries so much she became one. (10)”

She very easily and often points out the imperfections of society. Her tendency to find flaws in today’s society doesn’t give her the opportunity to look at herself and realize how much of a one dimensional “paper” figure she has become in front of society. Margo shows a false personality to society, she doesn’t show her true self. This shows how unreal Quentin’s love for Margo really is, he falls in love with whats on the outside, what she projects out to society. Margo says she finds judging people off their looks “ridiculous[...]”(41), but she still falsely portrays herself to society. Society has no other option than to judge her based on what she shows them, which is a very one dimensional image of herself. All in all, Margo is definitely not the typical antagonist in a teen drama, although she might project herself as the typical popular girl who has the good looks and a popular boyfriend. Under the fake image that is shown to society, Margo Roth Spiegelmans character in Paper Towns contradicts many stereotypes for the antagonist in a teen

Did she ever talk about a specific place? Was there a subdivision somewhere that meant something to her?”(158). Quentin was acting frantic asking one of Margo’s friends if she or any of her friends had any idea on Margo’s whereabouts. Quentin then finds clues left behind by Margo that was in the form of a poem, which leads him and his two friends to a mini mall in the middle of nowhere, “I stared at the empty asphalt, the heat distorting my vision. Ahead, I saw a strip mall wavering in the bright distance” (139).

In Paper Towns by John Green, I read about the life of a few high school seniors’ last months of high school. Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman have been childhood friends forever because they are next-door neighbors. They were neighbors since the age of two. As they entered high school their friendship dwindled down. They still acknowledged one another, but they did not hang out together.

The main character of Paper towns is Quentin Jacobsen. He is 18 years old, lives in Orlando, Florida, and is a senior about to graduate high school. He is a regular person in the beginning of the book with fears and isn't special in any way and he lives a very normal life, except for that he is madly obsessed about his lifetime neighbor, his childhood friend, and his lifelong crush, Margo Roth Spiegelman. Margo unlike Quentin, lives a very not normal life and her personality is the complete opposite of Quentin’s. Margo is brave, curious, confident, and is downright awesome. These attributes make Quentin feel like Margo is amazing and make him want to be with her. Nine years ago at the age of nine, Quentin and Margo find a dead body in Jefferson park, Quentin is scared of it and backs away while Margo on the other hand is curious and approaches it. Margo says that she can see that all the strings inside of the dead guy are broken. Then Quentin grabs her and they run home away from it. This shows that Quentin is a person that is easily scared and afraid of things, but he also really cares about the people he love. Then nine years later, Quentin Jacobsen is an average, unpopular student that is still afraid of things, while Margo Roth Spiegelman is one of the most popular girls in the whole school and is still courageous and brave. Quentin and Margo now hardly even talk to each other now until, One night, Margo goes to Quentin’s room and asks him if he wants to

There are five main characters in Paper Towns. Quentin Jacobson or “Q” is the narrator of this book telling us his story from his point of view ready to graduate and head off to Duke for college. Q grew up with Margo but now is known as the “nerd” hanging with all the band geeks. Margo Spiegelman Q’s next-door neighbor and Quentin’s forever crush. Margo is described as the “cool girl” and somewhat of a rebel child. Always ready for an adventure but once she’s mad she definitely holds it to you. Ben Starling Quentin Jacobson’s best friend there both rather nerdy and that’s how they came to one another Ben really worries about his appearance and social looks rather than Q who could care less. Radar or Marcus Quentin and Ben’s next best friend whose parents have the largest collection of Black Santa figures you could ever lay eyes on. Radar is a web smart dude with a girlfriend named Angela. Lastly, Lacey Pemberton one of Margo’s closer friends and a popular girl at school Lacey want’s to always help Margo in any way she can until Margo gets mad at Lacey.

In order for Quentin to find margo, he has to follow the clues until it leads him to a “paper town” which Margo referred to the night before she left, even though it didn’t seem like an actual place. Margo even said, “It’s a paper town...all those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the furniture to stay warm...Everyone demented with the mania of owning things...I’ve lived here for eighteen years and I have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters.” However, what Margo is saying here is more figurative than literal. For instance, when she goes to the “paper town” she isn't actually going to a town made of paper, she is

In Paper Towns, the setting sets the scene for the decisions the characters make and later regret. Jefferson Park was an element of Margo’s and Quentin’s childhood that they connected with happiness and freedom until Robert Joyner. As they stroll