Revised Blog Post | Theme tracking Paper Towns by John Green

The book Paper towns by John Green is about a boy named Q who is an outcast by some terms who has a major crush on the beautiful and popular Margot. One night Margot shows up at Q's window seal asking for a favor. They then go on a revenge seeking journey to get back at her horribly unreliable best friend, cheating boyfriend and a few others along the way. In the beginning of the story it starts off with young Margot and Q biking to the park when they come across a man bleeding leaning against a tree with a gun in his hand. Quentin (Q) was very scared and asked why he would do that and Margot responded "Maybe all the strings inside him broke.” And they biked away. Another theme I noticed was that in the beginning of the story Q thinks that Margo is perfect but as time gos on it’s revealed she isn’t.

I chose to talk about this part of the story because later on in the story Q and Margot are talking and Margot says all the strings inside her broke, and now the next day she is missing. I think that her saying that had something to do with why she’s missing. Margot tried very hard to be mysterious to everyone to the point that she's alienated her family and pushed away her friends and boyfriend. She realized that she has pushed everyone away and they are beginning to not care as much about her. For example her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend, and her family don’t really mind that she is gone.

Another theme I noticed in the book is the image of Margo slowly changing. In the beginning of the book it describes her pretty and smart with a boyfriend and loads of friends and a perfect family. And then as time progresses it shows she really isn’t perfect. For example she pushed away her family so much they don’t mind she’s missing, her boyfriend and best friend cheated on her and she’s a bit nuts. But the more and more Margo is shown as her true self the more Quentin likes her. Margo was the same person throughout the story but the image of her progressively changed.

In conclusion the strings breaking metaphor has something to do with why Margot is missing and Q’s perception of Margot isn’t correct but is revealed throughout the book,  Margot’s life isn’t as perfect as it seems.