Sixth Blog: X-Ray (Mind Reading) Glasses

Hank was a very simple little boy. He had simple little dreams and a simple little life. Hank was 13 years old when he encountered a very mysterious power. This is a story of how a weird and not-so-normal young kid trying to be normal.

The story began one day after Hank had finished his first Common Test of his secondary school. His friends all decided to eat lunch together after school at a near by mall. There were a total of five people there. Hank were close to his four friends ever since day one of school. However, within his circle of friends, he's the one that alway get to be joked at. Kind as he is, he obliged to all those jokes they had of him.

So there they were, having lunch at a BBQ restaurant, relieving their stress from the previous examination, laughing away. They were all laughing so hard that at one moment, Hank had tears in his eyes. He took off his spectacles, put them on the table and wiped the tears off. Hank's friends had encountered a chance to prank him, so one of them hid his specs and acted normal, as if nothing had happened. Realizing that his specs went missing, he panicked. He searched the table, under the table, in his bag and in his pockets but it was no where to be found. The rest were trying to hold their laughter.

Hank, panicked, stood up from his chair and then bent down to check below the table once again. He found a pair of spectacles just like his under his chair. He took it, wore it and said, "Nice job guys! Now my spec are dirty!".

Surprised, the guys just kept quiet, knowing that Hank took the wrong specs. Everyone was quiet about this and didn't tell Hank about it.

However, Hank had realised something. He knew the spectacles he wore definitely was his as the degree was perfect. But somehow, he could hear the voices of people, their thoughts, even when they're not moving their mouths. Hank had realised that he could hear people's thoughts every time he wore his specs.

With his new found 'power', he tried it on his family first. He found out that his brother had been thinking of his crush all day long, his mother had been thinking of doing house work even during her sleep and his father was thinking of work and watching TV all day long.

Hank wanted more. He wanted to know what people think of him. He tried it on his friends, asking them questions about him. But what he found out wasn't quite what he expected. They were not friendly to him, behind his back and even in front of him.

With this knowledge, he uses them to his advantage. Changing himself to fit in to other's view of him. He talked differently and acted normal from that day onwards. However, his friends were very suspicious of his new behaviour. They felt that Hank wasn't the same and they didn't find a liking to this 'new' Hank.

Hank was having headaches from hearing thoughts all day. He had stopped and took off his specs once in a while but had no reason to stop using it. However, Hank felt that he needed to fit in with his friends.

Hank was slowly wearing out. He felt tired of it and of course he was scared that people will start to be suspicious of this. Hank was feeling down. He did everything he could to please everyone but he wasn't pleased with himself. One day, his friends all confronted him and talked about his behaviour. They told him that he was becoming more of a jerk and not a friends. Hank left his friends without a reply. Mad, he went off by himself.

That night, Hank broke his spectacles and threw it away. He couldn't take it. He's rather be lied to then be told the worst truth. He felt that the worst enemy was he himself and that by trying to fit in, he ended up destroying himself. He gives up his 'power' because he wanted something that he already had in the first place. Friends.

"What a treacherous thing it is to believe that a person is more than a person"

Paper Towns by John Green

I have chosen the main character, the protagonist of the story, Quentin Jacobsen for my character analysis. Quentin Jacobsen, also known as ‘Q’, is a seventeen year old boy who lives next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman, whom he believes is the love of his live. Basically the whole story began when Margo invited Quentin out on an adventure at night, doing stuff so morbid, so unimaginable and even down right gruesome, gruesome to Quentin at least.

Quentin duly obliged. After a night out with Margo, she disappears the next day. Leaving Quentin clues to her whereabouts, and all of this, weeks before their high school graduation. Thus, Quentin was left searching for Margo, and finding clues that were left specifically for him.

Quentin is a very nerdy and quiet young boy with the same problems faced by any young nerdy kids. His parents are both therapist, hence he didn’t seem to care about his problems at all, not to even share it. He has always admired Margo, ever since he was young. However, both of them seem to have different views and personality. When both of them were 9, they found a dead body at a near by park. While Margo questions the situation, taking a step forward, Quentin went to tell the grown ups, taking a step backward (pg 5). Quentin wasn’t the heroic kind of guy. He was the total opposite of that.

The real story began when Quentin started his search for Margo. Margo, being in the whole book for around 2-3 chapters, left little clues for Quentin. Quentin felt that she wanted him to know of this. Quentin showed the amount of admiration he had for Margo by not giving up on his search. An example would be a clue Margo had left him. A poem entitled, ‘Song of Myself’ taken from a book called, “Leaves of Grass” written by Walt Whitman. Quentin had read this poem over and over again, countless times, trying to catch anything that Margo would have wanted him to know.

Quentin even pulled his two best friends along with him on the search, Ben and Radar. One clue Margo had left Quentin was that she would be staying in a ‘Paper Town’. A so-called ‘town’ that only exists on the maps. Quentin searched and went to every pseudo vision, or ‘paper town’ there is in America. He would ‘borrow’ his parents’ minivan for his journey.

Quentin would sometimes stop his search to save her and start living a normal life, for the sake of his friends, but only for a little while. This on and off search kept on going until he made a breakthrough. Some clues, not even clues, it’s the traces that Margo left behind, for example the pins she would place to hang a map on the wall would show the locations she was heading or had past. These small little traces Quentin had believed to be clues for him to find her.

However, during this ‘journey’ to find her, and reading ‘Song of Myself’ over and over again, Quentin had realized that Margo wasn’t the girl he thought he’d knew. He had only admired the idea of her. He not only realized this but he slowly began to learn about himself too.

“…you listen to people so that you can imagine them, and you hear all the terrible and wonderful things people do to themselves and to one another, but in the end the listening exposes you even more than it exposes the people you’re trying to listen to,” (pg 216).

In this poem, Quentin also learns that one cannot become another. Or a better way to phrase it, he could not have known who or what Margo is. He could not have a slightest clue to where or who she is because he could not become her. Because he is not her.

Quentin then went on a 22 hour-long journey, skipping his graduation and bringing along his friends including Lacey, who (was) a good friend of Margo. He had found the location she would be in and had hoped she’ll actually be there. But when he got there and found her, things weren’t exactly how he wanted them to turn out. It turns out Margo didn’t want to be found, even though she left clues and only little clues. It was Quentin’s love for Margo than made the search possible and successful.

“There is that in me… I don’t know what it is… but I know it is in me…”- A line taken from ‘Song of Myself’, it shows how human we are.

This I believe is a mistake or something Quentin has taken granted for. He has put not only Margo but also everyone he knows on a pedestal.

“What a treacherous thing it is to believe that a person is more than a person,” (pg 282).

Quentin always had an idea of a person, thinking of them being more human than human. And when that person is Margo, he’ll even worship her. Quentin sees that seeing someone as more than a person is actually a terrible thing.

In the end, Margo shared Quentin her true self, that she too was admiring Quentin and that she had to leave home to live her life. They both shared their love, something Quentin and Margo had dreamt of since young but Quentin can’t be with her, and she couldn’t possibly go back home.

“I hope this is the hero’s errand, because not following her is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” (pg 304)

And Quentin has to let it go. Quentin, who had thought of Margo every single day, every single night looking at her window would have to let her go. I honestly think that this is the hardest part for anyone in general.

Quentin had shown his maturity throughout this whole story. I believed this book shows how human we are and that we should stay that way. Imperfect. Quentin showed that quality. Quentin had the readers (me), wishing that Margo was a goddess, a girl whom he puts up so high, a girl he respects so much but in finding her and her true self, Quentin found himself, and I found myself. I feel that there is a connection between Quentin and me. The way Quentin talks about the people and his friends in almost every single sentence. Judging them.

The whole story doesn’t really show what happens after that, nor does it show whether or not Quentin and Margo get to be together. What I find interesting about this book is that, the character did not gain anything much like other literature books. He learnt about himself, he did gain knowledge and Margo’s love in the end but it was more of a learning experience then an actual ending. But I guess to Quentin, Margo’s love is worth more than the paper towns he searched. They’re even worth more then the poems in ‘Song of Myself’.

Quentin is a character that is so simple at first sight but when he is put in these situations, he’s more than just a character. He is more that just the protagonist. He is the main character, he is the hero, he is the antagonist, he is reader, he is the author and last of all he is simply Quentin.

So basically, Quentin is a quiet teenage boy who keeps most things to himself, especially his thoughts of others. Since his parents are both therapist, he doesn’t quite have a normal teenage life as he had to survive many countless remarks and observations of his life. Thus, he frequently questions everything and even questions his own self. He doesn’t share much and also doesn’t express his feelings well. He is a boy with low self-esteem and doesn’t think he could do much in his life. He loves Margo and will do absolutely anything for her and this shows how true and romantic he can be.

However his friends see him as a kind and humble guy. They think of him as a respectful and responsible person who is very shy but also funny in certain ways. Especially to Margo, Quentin is a hero at heart. He shows himself to those important to him and lets himself out to those whom meant more to him, that being Margo. He is a good friend to them and they would do anything to help him, especially in finding Margo for him.

Weirdly, I feel like I am Quentin, not in the story but just him himself. His character is relatable and the way the author created this character is so realistic. Realistic in such a way that the character speaks to himself the same way I would. So before I start to argue with myself, like what Quentin would normally do, I’ll end this essay with a quote from the book, not one of my favourites but it fits in with the whole story and Quentin’s love for Margo.

“The town was paper, but the memories were not.”

Fifth Blog: "Johnny and the Three Bars"

The city was filled with shining bright lights and many wild attractions. There were a number of strip clubs within 2 kilometer radius, and there were countless of bars there too. But Johnny was already sick of it. He was in the back alley, sitting down and leaning against the wall. He was so drunk that he couldn't even straightened his legs to see his feet. Looking back at the memories, Johnny had a smirk on his face, a self-satisfied smirk.

Johnny left home that late afternoon to meet his friends in the city. Knowing that tomorrow was a Sunday, he planned on getting back as late as possible. He meet Will and Tim at the train stations. The three of them knew each other from work and had these nights out together to relief their stress, and they really needed to relieve the stress they had after months on working on a project.

So Johnny and the gang were set and walked to the first bar from the train station. The first bar they went to was called the 'Eski Bar'. Having a their first drink of the night, the three friends toasted to a night of fun and adventure.

However, they only had a few drinks there and even though they were craving for just a drink and a night of relaxation, the extreme sweetness of the drinks there were not fit for their liking. So Johnny put down his second glass of beer of the night, with only three quarter of the glass empty.

All three of them headed towards the dance floor. This time again, the mood of the bar wasn't to their liking. Only a few people were on the dance floor, so few that they could even count. 15 people there, standing, some dancing and others walking by to get to the bar. Unsatisfied with this, Johnny and the guys exited the bar and went on to find another near by.

So they went on and entered a bar a few shop houses away. The bar was called, "The Green Light". However the queue to get in to the bar was quite long. They had to wait approximately 15 minutes to get in. So after waiting, the guys entered and ordered drinks and sat at the balcony. The gang then toasted to a night of fun and relaxation.

After a few drinks and laughs, the bar was getting a bit too crowded. The drinks too were a bit too sour. Johnny just kept this to himself as he tried to focus on enjoying the night. Ten minutes later, the bar was packed. So packed that when someone wants to get drinks, they have to wait a while, and if they wanted to go to the washroom, they had to wait even longer.

The three of them looked at their watches, and then each other. Johnny nodded and pointed to the door with his eyes. They knew what he was trying to say and headed towards the exit. Sure enough, it was hard passing through a room full of people.

Finally they were out of the bar. Johnny was starting to get pissed off as they only wanted to have a night of fun but got held up due to the bad drinks and small and big crowds. Not giving up, the three of them went on to the nearest bar which was actually quite a distance between the second one.

The third bar they went to was called 'Start the Machine'. They had doubts about the bar as the experience they had with the previous one and the one before that did not go well. However, optimistic about it, Johnny and his friends went in. At first sight, the bar was pretty decent. It was not empty like the first one and definitely not crowded like the second. And the drinks too was a surprise. It wasn't too sweet like the first bar nor was it too sour like the second.

So finally Johnny and his friends were enjoying the night. The had laughs here and there. Talked about works and family. It wasn't until late at night when they were drunk. Johnny and Tim were too drunk to even order anymore drinks. Somehow, Johnny and Tim were so drunk that they started a fight with a group of men.

They and thrown a few punches here and there and had a huge argument. In the end of it all, the three of them got kicked out of the bar and was not allowed back in. Johnny and his friends were left out in the back alley, with a bottle of beer in his hands. However they were quite satisfied as they had a fun night. Johnny leaned his back against the wall and sat down. He had his last sip and was knocked out.