Paper Towns by John Green

Jess Parrott, 812

29 September 2013

Reading Response Blog Post:

Paper Towns by John Green

            I have a weak ankle; meaning it gets hurt often. And when I sprained it at sleep away camp last summer, I had to go on crutches. But for that long week and a half, my best friend, Noga, always stood with me. She sacrificed many of her free times to help me to the infirmary and help me get around camp. Everywhere you go; it’s kind of rooty. My camp is spanned over acres of hills and uneven ground; and it’s by a big, open lake. Naturally, constant slopes and roots are a bit of a struggle. Noga helped me in small ways; like getting me food at meals so I didn’t have to wait in the buffet lines, and in big ways, like making me glittery cards and complicated friendship bracelets in arts and crafts. Noga was always at my side to help me with anything and everything, doing what any best friend would do and more. And in Paper Towns, by John Green, friendship is one of the deepest roots that ties all of the characters together.

            The way John Green treated Q’s friendship with Ben and Radar during their search for their missing friend, Margo, helped me learn a lot more about Ben and Radar’s personalities. After knowing each other for so long, I think having a real motive and drive to accomplish something that mattered to all of them in different ways awakened different people in all of them. During the race to find Margo, Q and Ben and Radar all opened up and changed visibly. This is important because in that time in their lives, everything around them was changing. When they graduated, Q had all these complicated inner thoughts about leaving that helped him understand Margo and her drive. In order to keep up with the world around them, it was important that they changed, too. It affected not only their friendship but the people around them.

            During the quest to find Margo, a more adventurous side of Q opens up. Pranking so many people in unthinkably odd and clever ways with Margo changed something inside of him. The sense of danger made him more outgoing. This “new” Q is greeted wearily by Ben and Radar. Ben and Radar were so used to a mellow, average-high-school-student Q that this new and devoted Q took them by surprise. During the time Margo’s missing, Ben seems to find his “inner top dog”. When one of my friends undergoes a big personality change, I try my best to adapt. But when this happened to Ben at Q at the same time, neither or them were ready. Ben becomes more superficial and him and Q become ore hostile. Yet during this, Radar stays sane. When things between Ben and Q go awry, Radar seems to manage Q’s Margo obsession and his newfound love life. Radar evens things out by talking to Q about his friendship philosophies. I think that having Radar talk to Q seriously about friendship brought Q back to reality after being sucked into the search; and helped him salvage his friendship with Ben. I think that this is how they balance each other out. When two of them fight, the other solves the problem. This connects to a lot of Q’s inner thoughts and realizations about friendship. He becomes aware of the checks-and-balances system that is their friendship. It’s just how their bond works. I’ve been in Radar’s position before. Many of my friends come to me for friendship advice and most of

 the time, thankfully, it works. I think in order for their relationship to balance out and remain intact, Q needs to lean into his friends and depend on them a little more.

            Going on such a big and unexpected journey changed all of their lives. Ben and Radar and Q’s friendships were tested; but somehow they just grew stronger. I think this test proved that they not only could tolerate each other for a 24 hour road trip, but could maintain a strong and faithful connection. When one of my friends has a dire and important goal, it is important to help them. Real friends, however cheesy, know when one another need help. And sticking with them is key. When friends make sacrifices for friends then it proves something to all of them. Somehow, that chase changed all of their lives. But it also changed Ben, Radar and Q as people. They all learned, in depth, the true values of friendship and what it means to stay loyal to one another.