"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.”