False Perceptions In Paper Towns By John Green

The theme of the book “Paper Towns” is False Perceptions, false perceptions are people who aren’t always who they appear to be or who you expect them to be.

Intro:
Almost everyone is trying to satisfy society’s standards of excellence but they lose themselves on the way. Following and maintaining a perfect status or wanting to have a faultless outfit every day or dating the captain of the football team for popularity is all categorized under a false perception that is shown to people to judge upon. Happiness doesn’t come from all the compliments that are given to someone; to be truly in a state of happiness, one must find themselves aside from people’s criteria’s. In the book Paper Towns, by John Green, the main characters judge each other based on what they expected the other to be. Margo Roth Speignleman and Quintin Jacobsen (Q) were both judged based on what people see or have heard about them.
Argument 1:
Context:
Margo was known to be a very adventurous girl; in the beginning of the book, Margo was planning an adventure and Q joined in. Margo and Q stopped at a local Wal-Mart to gather
groceries for their planned adventure. As they were driving, they noticed the beauty of the sky and Q described it with a T.S. Eliot quote and Margo found that very interesting. Quentin talked about his breakup with Suzie when Margo brought up the topic of pleasing Q’s lady friend with that quote. The conversation escalated to Margo telling him about her boyfriend, Jase, hooking up with her best friend Becca because she was physically and aesthetically pleasing.

Quote:
"That’s always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people would want to be around someone because they’re pretty. It’s like picking your breakfast cereals based on colour instead of taste." (Green, 37)
Analysis:
Just because someone looks pretty, doesn’t mean they have a beautiful personality. Growing up, Margo had always been told that she was very pretty and she thought it was ironic that people wanted to be with a certain individual because of their physical appearances. The quote describes that people are liked and wanted to be with based on their looks (color) and not their personality (taste). It is ironic how Margo herself states that it’s “ridiculous to want to be with someone based on his or her [looks]”. This is ludicrous because that’s what her relationship with her boyfriend was based on. Her boyfriend, Jase had near to no clue about her true personality and was dating her due to a false perception, her social standings and her looks. Jase only knew the things that she had shown herself to be. Margo was presenting herself as the definition of perfect because that’s what society expected from her.

Argument 2:
Context:
Margo disappeared the night after her adventures with Q. Q, Radar, Ben and Lacey found many clues from an abandoned mall and Margo’s room that they thought would lead them to where she had gone. The crew decided to travel to Algoe to look for her. While driving, they played games to entertain themselves. Radar and Q played a game called “That Guy is a Gigolo” where they made assumptions about a particular person that they chose or saw. The game is basically an example of a Sonder.

Quote:
“It is easy to forget how full the world is of people, full to bursting, and each of them imaginable and consistently misimagined.” (Green, 257)

Analysis:
People everyday are arbitrated upon their looks, clothes, hair and anything that is visible. The judgements derive from what someone’s sees in an individual what is exactly what that individual is trying to display. The quote means that it is easy for everyone in the world to be imagined or judged, but they are always misimagined or misjudged. They are always being judged, based on what people see which often is a false representation. Quentin and Radar collectively realize that while the game is fun, it has a big meaning behind it. This correlates to the theme because the game really is a reflection of what people expect others to be. It is entertaining to assume and see different people showing their different selves through an outer representation but the sad truth about it all being a false depiction relates to the reality of many people’s lives.
Argument 3:
Context
People aren’t always who they appear to be because they are always trying to mold themselves to fit who they want to be which is different from who they truly are. Margo was one of those people. When Quentin reached Algoe, he found Margo easily because he saw her car parked in front of a shop. Margo greeted her friends and then Margo and Q walked away and lied down. They talked about many different topics, one being the idea of a papergirl. Margo and Q both realized that Margo isn’t the pretty, or the adventurous one, she is just Margo. She is just a girl and not a customizable piece of matter.

Quote:
“The truth is that whenever I went up to the top of the SunTrust building—including that last time with you—I didn’t really look down and think about how everything was made of paper. I looked down and thought about how I was made of paper. I was the flimsy-foldable person, not everyone else. And here’s the thing about it. People love the idea of a papergirl. They always have. And the worst thing is that I loved it, too.” (Green, 293)

Analysis:
A papergirl is someone who is expected and pretends to be one way but is exactly the opposite internally. In the quote, Margo admits “how [she] was made of paper” and how she considered herself to be a “flimsy foldable person.” This shows what she thought of herself all along whereas in other people’s perspectives she was perfect. Margo compared herself to paper, which is very thin, flimsy and easily destroyed and she also admits that “[she] loved the idea of being a papergirl”. Margo’s character to others was always a perfect girl because that’s what they expected her to be. She was very well known because of her social status in the community of high school due to her constantly disappearing and her dramatic adventures which all eventually proclaimed to be an act.

Argument 4:
Context:
Margo and Quentin talked about many things when they were in Algoe. By the end of the book, Q finds out the truth about that adventure night, he was always a part of Margo’s escape plan. She wanted to leave the paper town she was living in and needed a way to get out. Margo also admits to Q about how she always thought of him as a paperboy. She always believed that he was really quiet and very focused towards his academics until they went on that adventure.

Quote:
“’And then you surprise me,’ she says. ‘You had been a paper boy to me all these years –two dimensions as a character on the page and two different, but still flat, dimensions as a person. But that night you turned out to be real’” (Green, 292)
Analysis:
A paperboy is someone who has the same routine everyday and never does anything exciting.
She assumed that he was a boring two-dimensional static individual. She thought he was flat; this was an assumption that she made based on what she had expected him to be like. Margo was surprised by the end of the night where he proved her wrong and went on the adventure and did bold things. He did all the daring things and he “turned out to be real.” That night, she realized that Q wasn’t a paperboy, he wasn’t a thin piece of materials packed together, he had a soul and he had his own place in life. This quote correlates to the theme because Margo had judged him based on what she saw not what she knew. Our world is full of false perceptions about everyone and everything and an always individual believes what him or her may see or want to see until they are shown the actual
truth.