Paper Towns By John Green Essay

“People say friends don’t destroy one another. What do they know about friends?” - The Mountain Goats. In Paper Towns by John Green, Quentin, or Q, as his friends call him, sacrifices the majority of his senior year in search of Margo Roth Spiegelman, the wild girl he claims to be in love with after years of their distant friendship. In doing so, Q risks friendships, the safety of himself and others, and his clean route to college. When Margo goes missing, Quentin drops everything and begins the arduous search for Margo with the help of his long-time friends; thus, displaying that he values loyalty and illuminating his underlying bravery. The fight for Margo begins the night that she knocks on Q’s window after years of an abandoned friendship

After speaking to a detective, Quentin discovers that Margo always leaves a string of clues so that she can be found. Quentin believes that since she spent her last night with him, that she wants him to find her, so he begins the search for Margo (117). Quentin displays not only courage, but also dedication as he relentlessly follows the sketchy trail to Margo. At this point, the search has become an obsession for Q, and he recruits the help of Margo’s former best friend, Lacey, and his best friends, Ben and Radar to assist the journey. Quentin and his friends surrender their perfect attendance record in order to break into an abandoned mini-mall where one of Margo’s clues leads them (135). Although Q’s obsession has made him bitter towards his friends, they continue to sacrifice their time and safety to help Q pursue Margo. Subsequently, Quentin expects his friends to keep him as a priority by giving up things that are important to them in order to find Margo. Therefore, while his friends are at the prom, Quentin spends the night immured in the mini-mall, awaiting Margo (168). Essentially, one can conclude that Q’s sacrifices have changed him from a loyal companion to an obsessed aficionado of Margo, which almost causes him to push away his

Therefore, Q and his friends altogether decide to forfeit graduation in order to roadtrip to New York and bring back Margo (238). The whole group uses this trip as a last-ditch effort to not only retrieve Margo, but also spend time together before college. Thus, the group conveys how close they have come together despite the hardships encountered during the latter half of their senior year. On the way to Agloe, a cow on the highway causes Q and his friends to wreck, but they only take a few minutes to recuperate before continuing with the journey (268). That being, they literally almost sacrificed their lives for someone who may not even be alive, which indicates loyalty from not only Quentin, but also Lacey, Radar, and Ben. At last, the ensemble arrives at Agloe and find Margo; however, she is not any of the individual Margos that they created in her absence. Margo is startled by their unannounced appearance and is generally irritable and cold towards them, claiming that she never wanted Quentin to come find her. In return, Q releases his anger as well, and tries to understand why Margo is not appreciative of all his unrequested sacrifices (283-4). One can conclude that Margo succeeded in encouraging Q’s adventurous side, but she did not anticipate his