“If people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricane.” This quote from John Green's Looking for Alaska perfectly describes the relationship between the main characters in Paper Towns. After spending many years loving his childhood friend and neighbor Margo, Q realizes that she isn’t who he thought she was. On an intense hunt to find Margo and her truth, Q learns that people aren't fake and fragile like paper. Stimulating and relatable messages, wonderfully free-spirited characters, and an intensely deep and intriguing plot makes John Green's Paper Towns a thought-provoking, wild, and moving novel about the complexity and perception of humans.
Green's characters spend their lives a bit lost and misunderstood, but through hardships, their intertwined souls learn realistic and crucial lessons. Q realizes that people aren't made of paper, having more than one dimension. His love, Margo, may seem fake and fragile, but she's only a layered, complicated girl who hid herself. Many (especially teens and young adults) can relate to this. People can always have different personas and attitudes. In Margo's case, she hid herself hence she was misunderstood and called a “paper girl”. Also, we are only human, therefore how we perceive people is not always accurate and/or how they want to be seen. On page 185, Q realizes how wrong everyone was: “'. . . I thought of my Margo, and Lacey’s Margo, and Mrs. Spiegelman’s Margo, and all of us looking at her reflection in different fun house mirrors.”. This quote shows everyone has been misjudging Margo; each seeing a different, distorted reflection. No one even knows how she wanted to be seen. Then on page 266 during the road trip, ...
... middle of paper ...
...way to Agloe, a paper town and Q is determined to find her at all costs. It's later shown that Margo disappeared to reveal her true soul to everyone, but Q is torn as the girl he loves tugs at the strings in his heart, whether they're next door or a thousand miles apart. The intriguing plot will have you turning the pages and grabbing tissues for more suspense, mysteries, twists and turns.
In the upshot of it all, John Green's Paper Towns is a great and touching novel about the relatable life story with captivating characters, meaningful texts, and a wild, suspenseful plot that gracefully displays our complexity and perception of life and humans. After reading Paper Towns, you may look at your world in a different light and realize people are not how we idealized them to be. This fascinating novel is a must-read for people of all ages!
Have you ever loved a place as a child, but as you got older you realized how sugar coated it really was? Well, that is how Jacqueline Woodson felt about her mother’s hometown and where she went every summer for vacation. The story, When A Southern Town Broke A Heart, starts off with the author feeling as if Greenville is her home. But one year when she has 9 she saw it as the racist place it really is. This causes her to feel betrayed, but also as if she isn't the naive little girl she once was. By observing this change, you can conclude that the theme she is trying to convey is that as you get older, you also get wiser.
As a child you do many things that are horrible but you do them because you either do not care or do not know the consequences to their actions. Percy was a teen who lived in Bend, Oregon and he was happy to live there. He started to see people from California, Seattle, and Portland come to his town which he felt they were invading his territory. Percy and his friends would do many bad things to the rich people because they hated them and wanted them out. Bend was a place where there was a lot of empty land usually grass field. “ When I go back to Bend now, I don't recognize it. I get lost driving around. There are roads where there were none before. There are roundabouts where there were once intersections. Acres of sagebrush have given way to big box stores”. Percy left Oregon for a long time, but when he came back he saw something he had never expected to occur. As he drove around Percy got lost because this was a new...
One of the first things Q notices when entering Margo’s room is her music collection; Q was surprised by the fact that Margo was interested in music and different interests. Q viewed Margo as an object not as a real person that would have emotions and feelings, nevertheless having her own hopes, dreams, and interests. 8. Leaves of Grass is the poetry book that Margo left highlighted quotes (clues) for Q to find.
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is a work of “sentimental fiction” because it connects all the people living in the small town of Grover’s Corners. In a small town like Grover’s Corners everybody knows each other within the town, so there is a deeper connection of companionship, friendship, and love within the town. The residents of Grover’s Corners constantly take time out of their days to connect with each other, whether through idle chat with the milkman or small talk with a neighbor. So when love and marriage or death happens in the town, it will affect the majority Grover’s Corners residents. The most prominent interpersonal relationship in the play is a romance—the courtship and marriage of George Gibbs and Emily Webb. Wilder suggests that
Green uses various literary elements, a few symbolic scenes, constant visual action along with the clever use of “action-reaction” format to let the text flow hence creating potential tension to make sure that the story isn’t dead at any point. The action is mentioned and the protagonist’s immediate reaction keeps the reader involved and complements each other heavily. Green drags the reader right into the text from the very beginning, and very skilfully keeps the reader engaged to the end of the introduction. With varied techniques to convey his message, Green is able to summarize the novel and grab attention in the few opening pages itself.
Paper Towns is about a boy named Quentin Jacobsen and his childhood friend Margo Roth Spiegelman. When they were kids, they spent a lot of time together, but as they grew up, they also grew apart. Then, one day, Margo shows up at Quentin’s window, asking him to help her. They then spend the night seeking revenge on Margo’s high school friends who she says have wronged her. The next day, Margo disappears, which isn’t uncommon for Margo. But this time, Quentin gets involved in the mystery until, eventually, he’s the only one still looking. Quentin believes Margo wants to be found and has left a trail of clues for him. After searching for a while, Quentin finds the clue that leads him to Agloe, New York, where Margo is. Quentin and his friends take a road trip there, to find out that Margo isn’t what Quentin expected at all.
The 1946 novel, “The Street” by Ann Petry establishes a struggling relationship between the main character; Lutie Johnson, and her new surroundings. Lutie seeks, her overall objective in finding a safe refuge to live, however; the description of 116th street seems less than an ideal home. Petry uses decrepit imagery and forceful personification showing a battle between Lutie, the town, and the wind. The combination of the destructive town, and the winds haunting figure creates an overall feeling of caution within this gloomy road, making the goal seem near impossible.
Richard Brautigan’s short fiction stories incorporate protagonists that are recognizably fictionalized versions of the author himself. He writes in order to extract his own struggles of the past and the difficulties of discovering himself in the present. Through the characters in The Weather in San Francisco and Corporal, the portrayal of his optimistic view of life as a consequence of the rigors of daily life, and the use of symbols, Brautigan presents his personal story through the words on the paper.
Thirdly, the setting of the story is set in Salinas, California. Ironically, the author was born in Salinas. It is the time of the Great Depression and middle-class has been hit hard. The story begins in Weed, a California mining town.
One of the most misunderstood characters in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea is Christophine. Christophine was a wedding present to Antoinette’s mother, and she was a slave in their family since then. The reason that she comes off as so misunderstood is because it is never revealed explicitly in the text whether she is “good” or “bad”. Her involvement in the practice of obeah adds to the mysterious air about her in the novel. Obeah is a practice that is not an official religion, but there is a community who are involved in the practice that has “a wide variety and range of beliefs and practices related to the control or channeling of supernatural/spiritual forces” (Bilby 153). The practices are done “by particular individuals or groups for their own needs, or on behalf of clients who come for help” (Bilby 154). The practice has gone from having an acceptable reputation to a negative one. As the years went on in times of slavery, and especially during post-emancipation times, obeah gained more of a reputation as witchcraft or sorcery and it was said that it was used to bring harm to people (Bilby 153). The positive aspects of obeah were soon paid minimal attention, and the negative aspects and disapproving stereotypes were on the rise. The negativity was so prevalent and contagious that some West Indians who were involved in the practice began to have a pessimistic view as well (Bilby 153). This negative view followed obeah into the novel Wide Sargasso Sea. The practice was shown in a very negative light in the novel, especially through Christophine. Christophine is a representation of obeah in the novel. Throughout many points in the story, the fact that Christophine is involved with obeah practices is portrayed as the m...
Growing up in a small community can be hard, I won’t be the only on to tell you that, but living in one in the 1800’s was tougher. This is especially true when there’s a murdering robber who wants revenge lurking about. But it’s got its good qualities too, I mean, there’s the picnics and the adventures and everybody knows everybody so no ones threatening anybody with their strange presence. This is why The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain display such a realistic life; it portrays both the Good and Evil in a little society.
...readers on their toes from what was going to happen next. When Colin was depressed that he had lost yet another girl he loved, Katherine nineteen, Hassan showed up to commiserate with him. However, Hassan was not there simply to sympathize with Colin, he was there on a mission. “You have a very complicated problem with a very simple solution” Hassan said (Green 11). The reader had to keep reading to see what Hassan meant about the solution to Colin’s problem. The solution ended up being a road trip.
Looking for Alaska is a book ,written by John Green. The main theme of the book is “Looking for the Great Perhaps.” In the first three chapters of the book, the main characters, Miles “Pudge” Halter, Chip “Colonel” Martin, and Alaska Young are introduced. Looking for Alaska is a story about a guy named Miles Halter who recently switched to a boarding in school in Alabama in order to find out who he really is as a person. At the boarding school, Miles becomes very close friends with his roommate, The Colonel, and a girl named Alaska Young. The Colonel is a very confident guy who’s pretty poor in money, but he’s rich in love and appreciation for people. Alaska is a very beautiful, yet strange girl who is fascinated with death and isn't afraid
One may wonder whether they make as great as an impact on others as they may think. “Do I really matter that much? Who would notice if I’m gone? Will others be upset if I leave unexpectedly?”- These are common questions asked by one. Paper Towns, by John Green involves a plotline where Margo Roth Spiegelman is missing after a most adventurous night with Quentin Jacobson. Margo has obviously deployed a large scheme of where she has gone and where she is going. Decipher if one may be able to subtly, or largely connect to Margo’s much detailed description, evaluate her finale of a night, or predict how the long line of hints Margo left for Q, will conclude.
Two Rivers is a town were the pace of life doesn’t get any slower. Its slow paced atmosphere and friendly townspeople make you feel like you are in the South. Trees line the quiet streets of the all American city. In the center of town are gracious old buildings that frame Central Park. Young and old gather here for festivals, or just to sit and talk. Band Concerts are also held in Central Park on a regular basis. Tourists shop at all the well-kept stores and are often greeted with a friendly smile. Two Rivers is a town were every body knows your name.