Hello, I am Professor Cuz I. Sedso. My colleagues and I have recently finished the wonderful book,
Paper Towns by John Green. Upon our collaborative final analysis of the book, we have found that we don't agree on much of anything. The literary devices that our views vary on most drastically are symbols and motifs. No two of us can seem to agree upon the meaning of any single symbol or motif in the book. Here are but a few, that in our humble opinions are the most pivotal ones:
Symbols & Motifs:
- Minivan - faithfulness, a journey, hard work
- Paper Towns - a town that exists on paper and nowhere else
- Maps - plotting out a journey
- Q's affection for Margo - what motivates him to find her
- The concept of "Paper" anything – not a physical
representation, but merely an idea; something intangible; an enigma
- Prom - end of school, beginning of adulthood, maturity, end of one part or your life and opening of another
Hello, I am Professor Hugh Kant Seemi. I think that the real meaning behind the, “Paper Anything” motif can also be referred too as a “second person” in one body, a simple form of schizophrenia, if you will. For example, when a person displays a certain attitude around one person and a completely different attitude around someone else, they start to create a pseudo – war inside of themselves, often tumultuously, driving them to do something that they haven’t done before. A perfect example from the book, Paper Towns, is Margo. This eighteen year – old – girl is the ninja/mystery girl Quentin has known for most of his life, as well as the well - liked, effervescent girl, with the popular boyfriend at school. When forced to confront her two conflicting identities, she has no choice but to run away from both of them, and attempt to rediscover her true self.
ReplyDeleteHello all! It is Professor Liss N. Toomey from the World Language Department. I would like to comment on the “Paper Towns” Symbol/Motif. I believe that that definition shown on this page is partially incorrect. After reading this marvelous story, I have come to the conclusion that the term “Paper Towns” means that something doesn’t exist at all or something that is masquerading as something else, (a nonentity/fake). My point is, that it is a type of mask, empty shell, or facade, if you will. For example, the paper towns that Margo wanted Q to visit were just empty shells, plans on paper. Their construction had barely been started. They had been splendid ideas, on paper. But in real life they were just “empty fields” that hadn’t been developed yet. They didn’t exist, they were like masks concealing the fact that nothing was actually there. The properties had no substance to them. They were merely undisturbed grass and trees.
ReplyDeleteBonjour, I am Professor Chechk Mi Owht coming to comment on, what else, the minivan motif. The minivan symbolizes journeys, both a physical and emotional one. The physical journey is obvious; after all, the four friends did take the van on a 23 hour road trip to an, almost, “Paper Town”, Algoe, New York. The emotional journey is a little more complex. As a result of their 23 hour odyssey Quentin is finally able to reconcile his true feelings for Margo, which had been a journey long in the making. The minivan also symbolizes hard work because Q had to work towards his goal of graduating high school to receive this gift, which was given to him as a graduation present from his parents. Had he not persevered in school and graduated, he never would have had the means he needed to pursue Margo and ultimately tell her how he truly felt.
ReplyDeleteHello I am Professor I. M. Wize . I completely agree with the stated definition of what prom means in the story. I have a teenage daughter, who is now in college, and I noticed a distinct sense of maturity that wasn’t exactly evident in her untill after her prom. I do believe that since prom is at the end of high school, it is the perfect time for an individual to reflect on where they have come from and where they are going. This is the time when many students are heading off to college, ready to become adults, or so they think. As I think back to that time in my own life, I can remember thinking how smart I was, how I had all the answers. Now I realize how wrong I was; I actually have fewer answers today than I did then. My apologies, I digress. Quentin shows maturity by driving intoxicated people home from the prom, even though he didn’t attend. He acted responsibly and maturely when called upon by his friends in need.
ReplyDeleteThe second to last person to be on this blog is me. I feel compelled to say something about… the maps in the story. This has to be the hardest symbol to describe, but I am an experienced professor so I am prepared to handle the challenge. The maps were Margo’s first method of telling Q where she was going. They tie into the paper towns motif because the map that Margo focused on was very old. It had, what are now called paper towns (empty lots), shown on it. Margo left several clues for Quentin. Q used these clues to formulate a map to help him find her. He found one clue she left him in the door hinge of his room, pointing him to an abandoned mini mall in the middle of nowhere. When he got there, he looked around inside for a little bit. This was where he stumbled across Margo’s old hideout, in the souvenir store. There was a blank wall with five tack marks in it. One of the maps that they had found in a milk crate had pinholes matching the ones in the wall. One pinhole was located near the paper town called Algoe, New York. After further research Q deduced that Algoe wasn’t an actual town until someone had built a general store there in the 1950’s . He unearthed this information on the Algoe, New York Omnictionary page. Margo told him in a mysterious comment on that same Omnictionary page that the population, which was originally zero, would be one at noon on the day of his graduation. This “ map” of clues was how the four friends started their 23 hour long road trip and found Margo in the process. Professor Khan U. Seemi
ReplyDeleteAh, at last I am the last person to comment on this lovely blog and I guess I must explain my opinion on, what else? The motif of Q’s long term affection for Margo that runs throughout the story and seems to be his constant motivation and, no pun intended, his driving force. Their relationship seems to have started as a normal, innocent friendship between neighbors. Over the years their relationship evolved and turned out to be more than just a simple friendship. It was more complex than that, especially to Quentin, who stated, “she loved mysteries so much that she became one.” He loved her so much that he spent the last few weeks of high school looking for her all over Florida and eventually traversed the east coast to get to Algoe, New York. Their relationship grew as they did, into adulthood. Professor Ima Jean Yus
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