A Novel Selected of

PAPER TOWNS
by John Green
Formalism Approach

Melchor D. Ponciano
ABLL 3-1

Central Luzon State University

July 26, 2018
Author:

He was born on August 24, 1977 in Indianapolis, Indiana

Son of Mike and Sydney Green

American Author, Vlogger, Writer, Producer, Actor, Editor and Educator

Alma Mater in Kenyon College (BA) in year 2000

Young Adult Fiction, Bildungsroman, Romance, Radio, Video

Sarah Urist Green

Hank Green

His novel Paper Towns was released on July 24, 2015

- John Michael Green

Notable Works

• Looking for Alaska

• An Abundance of Katherines

• Paper Towns

• Let Snow: Three Holiday Romances

• Will Grayson, Will Grayson

• The Fault in Our Stars

• Turtles All The Way Down

• Vlogbrothers

• Crash Course

• Scishow

Notable Awards

 Michael L. Pritz Award: Looking for Alaska (2006)

 Edgar Award: Paper Towns (2009)
 The Fault in Our Stars (2012)
Characters

 Quentin ‘Q’ Jacobsen – is our narrator and protagonist. He call as a pretty

normal kid.

 Margo Roth Spiegelman – considered to be the antagonist. She is a cool and

adventurous girl.

 Ben Starling – best friend of Quentin for many years.

 Lacey Pamberton – best friend of Margo since childhood.

 Marcus ‘Radar’ Lincoln – one of two school friends of Quentin.

Secondary Characters

 Chuck Parson - an all-time bodied bully.

 Jason Worthington (Jase) – boyfriend of Margo who cheated with her friend
Becca.

 Becca Arrington – Margo’s friend who was actually secretly sleeping with
her boyfriend.

 Mr. and Mrs. Jacobsen – parents of Quentin who both psychologists.

 Mr. and Mrs. Spiegelman – a parents of Margo who tired of her running
away.

 Ruthie – Margo’s sister and partner of crime.

Plot: Exposition

Quentin was presented a chance to rekindle a friendship with his long time
childhood crush Margo and took it. They went on a midnight escapade to avenge
Margo from the betrayal of her boyfriend, Jason. The night went on with a lot of
fun and Q felt like he was beginning to like Margo more and more and that they
were beginning to make a connection. When the night ended, all Q could think of
was how great his tomorrows would be now that they started hanging out again. But
a few days passed and Margo told Q’s family that she went missing. But since she
kept going away all the time leaving undecipherable clues as to where she was, they
decided to give up on her and even change the locks. But Quentin wanted to look for
her and felt like it’s job to get her back. He started investigating about her
appearance and actually found clues that were obviously left for him. But started
getting a feeling that they well all suicide note.
Rising Action

Q finally got a sign that Margo as alive even if the clues felt like suicide
notes. He found her on a page *Omnictionary when he searched for a connection
between the zip code that she left as clues. They were all places in New York but he
only looked for Paper Towns because he knew had a passion for such places and so
he found Agloe. Agloe is a *Paper Towns but an anonymous person built a store
named “The Agloe General Store” right at the intersection the map said it would be.
He read all about Agloe and saw that somebody left a comment on the page with
random capitalization (Margo’s Trademark) saying that Agloe, a paper towns, will
have population of 1 ‘til noon of May 29. So he set out to find her on their very
graduation day and his friends insisted he needed they on 19-hour drive.

Climax

They finally arrive at Agloe and saw Margo’s car parked right outside a
deserted barn so they entered and there they saw her writing. Radar called out to
her but she only looked at them and continued writing so they had no choice but to
wait. Q just stared at her and kept thinking that finally the girl or rather, “this girl
who was an idea that I loved.” was in front of her. Then she smiled at Lacey and
hugged her, then Radar, then Ben and finally Q. He was disappointed because he
expected something more but her greetings were super normal. They started asking
her questions but all she did was insult then and did not attempt to hide that she was
very ungrateful that they found her. So everybody just retaliated with telling her
how much they regret wasting a whole month just to look her. Radar even said “I
like the clues more than I like you.” and that surprised Margo. Apparently, Margo
didn’t want to found and she even hated that Q said. They started screaming at each
other about how Margo has selfish for thinking nobody cared for her and she
shouted about Q only being mad because she turned out to be far from the idea he
had in his head.

Falling Action

Q and Margo finally cooled down and had a confrontation. She told him that she
did think of everyone and everything she left behind but his was something she had
always wanted to do and needed to do for herself. She even told him that her leaving
was actually planned through an adventure story she wrote bas a kid and him being
her partner. And when Jason cheated on her, it felt like all the pieces were falling
and she got to live her fantasy adventure. After that adventure though, she knew she
had nothing else to do there and that’s why she left Q just listened and was very
defeated. He realized he loved another Margo. Sure, he loved the Margo in front of
her. But he admitted that he was imagining a slightly different Margo in his head.
Resolution

Margo being different didn’t hinder them from being friends and from liking
each other. Margo was different from who he imagined while she was with him.
They even admitted that they both like each other and Margo invited Q to join her
in her adventure but Q declined. In the end he convinced her to see him during
holidays and to keep in touch with people she left, especially her sister, Ruth.

Setting

In a fictional subdivision, Located in Suburban Orlando, Florida, called “Jefferson

Park”

Point of View

First Person (Perspective)

Conflict

Man vs Society

Theme

“Chasing after what you want in life, no matter what is left behind”