Paper Towns by John green
Focus 1: Characters
The book I chose to read over the summer was Paper Towns by John Green. This book is about a boy named Quentin Jacobsen and his childhood friend, Margo Roth Spiegelman. The last time they spoke was when they were nine years old, so it surprised Quentin when she climbed through his window for help. He agrees to her all-night adventure, but the next day Margo disappeared. Quentin finds clues that help find her. It seems though as if she does not want to be found. Quentin sets off on an adventure to find Margo, but is it worth the struggle?
The main characters of the story are Quentin and Margo. Both are portrayed as something they are not. Deep down they are hiding who they truly are. The way John Green portrays Quentin is that Green makes him have a laid back and chill personality. Quentin acts laid back but he is also hiding a part of him, he never knew he had; an adventurous side. On page 73, Quentin states, “I’m a ninja,” Him and Margo had snuck into SeaWorld and was worried they’ll get caught. After a while he got used to it and thought it was fun. By saying that hes is a ninja means that he enjoys the feeling of having a once in a lifetime adventure with Margo. Throughout the rest of the book, Quentin starts to break into other places. Margo has influenced Quentin to take risks. Another example is that on page 239 Quentin tells his parents that he has to skip graduation to go find Margo. That right there shows his carefree side.
Margo however, is portrayed as a popular adventurous girl. Margo is an adventurous girl but she secretly loves poetry and listens to old records. On page 112 it states, “... bookcases as tall as me and twice as long, filled with vinyl records.” Quentin, Ben, and Radar were all surprised because they never thought that she liked music. Ben found a poetry book in one of her shelves. On page 115 it states, “I went over to where he had knelt by the bookshelves… Walt Whitman, ‘ Leaves of Grass’ “ Margo acted differently at school than how she is at home or with Quentin.
Quentin treats people differently than how Margo treats people. Quentin is friendly with peoples ple whether he likes them or not. On page 17 it states, “ ‘Chuck’ I answered as friendly as I could muster. Chuck hadn’t given us any serious trouble…” This shows how Quentin can handle being friendly with a vulgar person like Chuck. Even though Chuck had insulted him, Quentin managed to keep cool.
Margo on the other hand, likes to get back at people. On page 30 Margo explains to Quentin the plan of their road trip. Margo says, “Tonight darling, we are going to right a lot of wrongs. And we are going to wrong some rights…” This means that she wants to make sure everyone who did her wrong knows not to mess with her. The only two people Margo cares about very much are Ruthie, Margo’s little sister, and Quentin. Margo treats them as if they are the only people in the world. On page 296, Margo calls her little sister and says, “... it was a mistake and I’ll call now. I may not call mom, but I’ll call you…” On page 304 Margo tells Quentin how she’ll always write him and will miss him. She states, “You have my word. And I’ll see you. We’re not done seeing each other.” This means that she still has that special connection with him from when they were nine.
All in all, I think that the author John Green described Quentin and Margo differently because he wanted to show character development. This story really shows how Quentin and Margo changed their personalities at the end. Quentin learned to live life to the fullest. Margo learned to express herself.
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