Quentin In John Green's Paper Towns

Gogol is able to temporarily separate himself by accepting a job in New York City as an architect and by moving in with his American girlfriend named Maxime. Because of Maxime and her family, Gogol is able to experience a form of intimacy and acceptance that he has never before experienced (Lahiri 132). However, as much as Gogol tries to detach himself from his Indian roots and expectations, he soon realizes that he is unable to completely dismiss his past. Gogol ends up marrying an old Bengali friend of his mother’s named Moushumi and starts to accept some aspects of his culture (Lahiri 219). However, Gogol still struggles with finding balance between what elements of his being he should refuse or accept. After his father dies and his marriage falls through with Moushumi, Gogol realizes that can never fully accept or fully deny his true identity. As seen in the last few pages of the novel, Gogol sits down to finally read the book that he was named after (Lahiri 291). This symbolizes Gogol’s attempts to accept all aspects of his identity; American, Russian, and Indian included. Through this act, Gogol is able to grasp the idea that he can find satisfaction in knowing that his identity is not have to be one element, but instead is multivariable and a reflection of the journey he endured to find his true

In the book, Paper Towns, there are many people that cause conflict like Chuck Parson, Jase Worthington, and Margo's parents. Throughout the story, these people cause small conflicts. The real person who is always in the center of conflict is Margo. Even though Margo isn't really a "villain", she is the main person that causes all of the conflict in this book. She is very well-known at her school, and she is dating the popular jock, Jase Worthington. Everyone knows Margo Roth Spiegelman.

My graphic representation shows the east coast states and a red line going through those states. That line is how Quentin and his friends got to Margo. That is the link between them. The red line is not just a route that he needed to follow. He had to figure out the final destination of this red line. Spending hours upon hours of trying to find Margo, he finally pinpoints her location to Agloe, New York. His biggest clue was the quote "fyi, whoever Edits this—the Population of agloe Will actually be One until may 29th at Noon." It wasn't the quote itself, but the way it was capitalized. Margo capitalizes randomly, and that is how Quentin knew it was her. The destination on the graphic representation is Roscoe, not Agloe. That is because Agloe is only a paper town.

Yet Moushumi is the only one who is involved with his family and can fully understand Gogol. He looks for ways to escape the pieces in his life that he dislikes which makes him seem eccentric to the rest of the society he lives in. While Moushumis relationship is imperative with Gogol, Maxine gives him closure, the ability to experience the life he may actually have wanted to grow up in America, while it lasts, ”Quickly, he falls in love with Maxine, the house, and Gerald and Lydia's manner of living, for to know her and love her is to know and love all these things. He loves the mess that surrounds her Maxine, her hundreds of things always covering her floor and her bedside table, her habit when they are alone on the fifth floor, of not shutting the door when she goes to the bathroom. Her unkempt ways, a challenge to his increasingly minimalist taste, charm him”(137). The author utilizes an ample amount of detail in this passage to describe what he loves about his relationship and what lured him to Maxine even more; however, I feel Gogol admires this part about his relationship with Maxine because her lifestyle is not as strict as his or Moushumi’s. This girl had a great amount of freedom and he embraced what he didn’t and couldn’t like he does with her and her family have in his

Moreover, the dialogue in the story is also helpful in demonstrating the mental and physical damage Dulce underwent. Allende writes that Céspedes had a, “hangover from all the killing and euphoria from the rape…” The reader can see through the use of internal dialogue that Céspedes was a very malicious man. Instead of feeling remorse or sympathy, Céspedes felt utter happiness and delight. Consequently, the girl he assaults is constantly harrowed by the memory of him, growing a ball of hatred in her heart for thirty years. After mulling it over for three decades, Céspedes still does not feel any guilt, but rather he falls absolutely head-over-heels in love with the girl he had raped. Shockingly, the statement that he made that he was going to the Santa Teresa Town Hall to, “’Repair some ancient damage,’” turned out to be a quest to find the love of his life. In the story, the reader is given specific dialogue in which Céspedes confesses his love where the character says, “In my whole life I’ve never been able to love anyone but you.” Sickeningly, the character of Dulce Rosa accepts his confession and has a sudden epiphany that she loves him back. Therefore, the dialogue, in addition to the characterization, show how the characters have changed overtime mentally.

This leads into a quartet involving Marzelline, Fidelio, Rocco, and Jaquino. The plot thickens as Marzelline thinks to herself of her imagined love and future happiness with Fidelio. Fidelio thinks of the danger of Marzelline’s crush on her

Q begins searching for Margo once he notices the first clue she left, a poster in her window. During the search, Q discovers Margo’s love for Walt Whitman and her introversion. When Q finds Margo, he finally understands how the view he had of her is incorrect and that he can only truly see her now. Throughout Q’s journey, the reader is introduced to metaphors that help Q

He first clings to enchanting white women, hoping to adopt their identities so he can escape the perplexity of his own, but the cultural clashes pervade both relationships. While dating Maxine, a wealthy New Yorker, Gogol notes, “She has the gift of accepting her life…he realizes that she never wished she were anyone other than her herself…This, in his opinion, is the biggest difference between them,” highlighting his personal struggle with accepting his heritage (138). Gogol’s glamorous romance with Maxine is juxtaposed to the humiliation he feels for his family to stress his longing to cast-off his Bengali identity. Judith Ceaser observes, “[Gogol and Maxine’s relationship] is a lovely, expensive, comfortable identity, given to him as a love-token…to him it seems a rejection of [his parents] …He hasn’t yet realized that instead of being an identity imposed on him from outside, they are a part of the pattern of key relationships in his life through which he can define himself,” provoking the idea that Gogol’s stubborn naïveté is the source of his unhappiness (Ceasar). When Maxine’s unwillingness to adapt to Bengali culture drives them apart, Gogol searches for a more ordinary love. Moushimi, the daughter of Bengali family friends, should be mundane and comfortable to Gogol, yet their relationship is plagued by complexities. Both view each other as

"'It's beautiful,' I said. Margo scoffed. 'Really? You seriously think so?'" Quentin replies, "'I mean, well, maybe not,' I said, although it was.'" (Green 57). Quentin is keen on Margo’s approval and willing to change his opinions and beliefs to agree with hers, which determines the weak sense of self-essential to his personality. Margo glorifies his confidence when he flirts with her, but it is clear Quentin still lacks the confidence to defend his views and opinions. If Quentin does not become more confident in himself, he will always second guess himself and he will not be happy with

Sometimes you just need to jump of for a moment, a foot above the earth. And sometime you need to jump very far. It is as if there are thin slats, footholds, from here to the sun”. From this, Margit started rising out of her body in different situations she recount for the reader. Later on, Margit takes us to the time in her life

Life is very complex and often hard to define. However, this challenge does not stop people from trying to sum up the meaning of life in one word. In Paper Towns by John Green, the three metaphors the strings, the grass, and the vessel are used throughout the book to chronicle the protagonist’s, Quentin, experiences. The novel revolves around Quentin Jacobsen, a high school senior. When his former best friend and long time crush, Margo Roth Spiegelman, comes back into his life and then suddenly disappears, Q attempts to piece together the clues he believes Margo left behind for him. Each of these three metaphors represent what Q is feeling and allow him to view life from different perspectives. As

In addition, one can also argue about Paulina’s love-hate relationship with Gerardo, as she is clearly very emotionally attached to him, yet seems as though she treats him with a sort of disrespect or harsh manner. Paulina’s strange relationship also brings the audience to question this woman’s sense of judgment, and maybe even her past. Ironically, later she refers to him as ‘my little man’, contrasting with how he called her, and making sure that Gerardo knows that he is her husband, and she’s in charge.

. The relationship between Moushumi and Gogol is driven by Moushumi’s desire which is greater even than Gogol’s own, to confirm to a certain image of a modern American. She and Gogol never seem to relax into the idea that they might find their identity in one another and visit to dinner parties with her friends in Brooklyn where Gogol feels awkward and uncomfortable. And this signal a division between them. Moushomi’s dissatisfaction with the marriage eventually leads to her unfaithfulness towards her husband which later leads to divorce and separation between them. Their need of independence and satisfaction is much greater than their sense of loyalty or commitment to each other and find their identity.

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

The main goal of the protagonist (Quentin) is to find his childhood best friend, Margo after she “goes missing”. However, Quentin hasn’t spoken to Margo in over nine years, until she shows up at his window for the first time since they were kids. Margo takes him on a crazy adventure, but little did Quentin know that she was going to leave after that. He ends up being the last person to see her, so he feels like it is his obligation to find her. Margo loved leaving clues, so when quentin starts finding “clues” around her house and the town, he starts to believe that the clues were left for him. Quentin even said it himself, “i don’t know who she is anymore or who she was, but i need to find her”(pg.141) this shows how determined he was to find her, despite how much he even knows about her.