Exploring Society’s flaws through John Green’s Paper Towns If we continue to model ourselves and our lives based on trying to be “normal”, society will eventually collapse into an endless abyss of endlessly growing judgment of others, as more and more people begin to adopt the idea of differences being detrimental to the person. Or, from John Green’s point of view, everything will turn into “Paper towns and paper people,” where everything looks okay from afar, but looking closely allows you to observe the true deprivation and physical strain that these people, who have spent all of their time working hard to try to be normal and successful from society’s eye, really face. John Green reveals the true consequences that a person can face if they …show more content…
Quentin has been worried sick the entire time that he’s been on his journey searching for Margo. He’s also been worried about her security. He was willing to sacrifice his own mental sanity and physical health in order to “save” her and to bring her back home. He came out of his cage and explored the world outside of his familiar neighborhood; he’d experienced real adventure and a new way to live.“You didn’t come here to make sure I was okay. You came here because you wanted to save poor little Margo from her troubled self, so that I’d be o-so-grateful to my Knight in shining armour…” (285). Green is very clever in how he shows that the reality of the situation may be completely reversed, and that Margo may have been sacrificing her well-being and safety so that Quentin can learn that when one capitulates to society and its deceitfulness, they devoid themselves of all the adventure and entertainment in their lives. She is trying to show Quentin that the life he has planned out can very possibly be his own demise. Basing your life on what society expects isn’t always a requisite plan of action. This scene teaches the reader that sometimes, when you try to adhere to these (society’s) expectations, you may very well end up falling into a downward spiral of being …show more content…
Quentin has almost finished Margo’s ten step plan, of the night that she showed up outside of his window. They have gotten past security and into Sea World, sitting and admiring the bright, starry night. “I felt tired for the first time, and we were lying down on some grassy patch of Sea World together, me on my back and she on her side with her arm draped against me, her head on my shoulder, facing me. Not doing anything—just lying there together beneath the sky, the night here so well lit that it drowns out the stars. And maybe I could feel her breathe against my neck, and maybe we could just stay there until morning and then the people would walk past as they came into the park, and they would see us and think that we were tourists, too, and we could just disappear into them,” (76). There are many different ways to describe the symbolism throughout this quote, but one thing that is clearly shown in the text is how they wanted to blend in with the crowd. This means that even though they were different than the tourists, and maybe people didn’t understand why they were this way. Just because someone is different and thinks differently or acts differently than others doesn’t mean that they should be recognized as a strange, naive person. I think that John Green symbolizes society through this bright night, with a big moon drowning out most of the
Brown discusses the pressure to conform to societal norms and the fear
The book that I chose for my book review is titled This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral-Plus Plenty of Valet Parking! - In America’s Gilded Capital by Mark Leibovich. Mark Leibovich, a correspondent for the New York Times, and former Washington Post gives American’s an inside look at the political agendas of individuals who run our nation during the presidential election from the years 2008-2012. His novel provides readers with the shockingly honest and upsetting reality of how and who our government is run by. Leibovich’s title derives from the many numerous names that relay to the “elite” member of D.C’s political system.
There comes a time in everyone's life where an individual has to weed out the positive and negative consequences of each action. With that, each of these individuals go about surviving this thing called life in various ways. With the increasing fluctuation of real life situations, these individuals reflect their actions by reacting and abiding by Elijah Anderson's (1999) Code of the Street. In Elijah Anderson's (1999) book Code of the Street, examples of different individuals and their specific situations are addressed and closely analyzed. In this paper, I will elaborate and further explain Anderson's Code of the Street.
Between historian A and B, historian A had the more realistic viewpoint. Historian A has the argument of how George Pullman only created his “model town” so he could make money and control his employees better. He goes on to say how Pullman was constantly buying things like water and natural gas, but then selling them way past their actual worth. He even rented out out the towns apartments for 15% - 20% higher than the neighboring towns. The town was not nearly worth what the townsfolk were paying too.
Gisele Bundchen once said “I feel like when people judge me they're not judging me, because they don't know who I am.” This quote means, to not judge a book by its cover. In Shusterman’s dystopian novel, Downsiders both the Topsiders and the Downsiders both judge each other based on unrealistic claims. The Downsiders think that the Topsiders have stupid beliefs and, do stupid things. However, once learning of the Downsiders’ the Topsider’s views on the Downsiders are not much better.
Well-known American author Ayn Rand in her short novel, Anthem, describes a post-apocalyptic world where individualism has vanished. Rand’s purpose is to inspire non-conformity and boldness while educating her readers about the dangers and horrific effects of communism. Rand describes the people she considers ideal in this society and those who are considered anything but idolized. Rand’s tone towards the people who do not fit the mold described is that she feels pity for most of them, but has the utmost respect towards the two main characters, Equality-7521 (Prometheus) and The Golden One (Gaea), the two that have the courage to think differently. Rand wrote this novel in English to emphasize to her probably American audience the reality of communism and why it causes more harm than it could ever help.
In the personal essay “Ethnic Hash” by Patricia Williams, the speaker expresses how her ethnicity forces her into racial stereotypes. When Williams’ family did fit into the stereotype, they would feel “guilty, even shameful” (Williams, 8) about hiding it. Being ashamed of fitting into a stereotype illustrates how she was forced into parts of her culture, even if she didn’t want to be. It makes her feel bad to be part of a culture that she was born in. In addition, in the movie The Truman Show, Truman Burbank has been selected even before he is born to live in his own bubble, separate from the world.
“Those who don’t” discusses the outcome of living in
The other point of this paper is how society changes you. If you are rich and you don’t look like it you wear off brand clothes then society will change you when you get with the right group. If you stay with the group of friends that you have been with then you will be fine. If you want to let society change you then go ahead but always remember if you judge someone without getting to know them then you are dead to
Marquez’s deliberate attempt to create confusion convey that there is not always a solution to rid a community of differences. The differences in individuals in a community create diversity. Marquez’s short story is an example of how society discriminates differences of individuals instead of accepting
It feels good to know that I have not fully limited myself and my thinking to that of a trapped person. According to Mills (2000), a trapped mind does not have the quality of mind essential to grasp the exchange of man and society, nor the biography and history of one’s self or the world. Writing this essay was great for me internally and was needed for me understand that social imagination is an important to personal growth. I now understand that one must have a social imagination to evolve with the changing times of this world; to understand structures of society, to deal with personal troubles, but more importantly, to break the cycle of disadvantage. For me, this means breaking the cycle of poor mindsets and lifestyles within my
Differences are the state in which factors between two or more objects are dissimilar. Differences within societies are examined in the following categories of dissimilarity: the individual’s social environment, social status and systems, change and continuity within society, and of gender, ethnicity and race. From examining the stories of individuals living in City Road, differences occur from these factors and the individual experiences of these differences both have a positive and negative view. In the accounts of the men at the Municipal club and the young woman at the pool hall who originally resides in Nottingham, both express the differences they experience from the change of the place and time they were accustomed to (Open University
Much of the harm caused in this book is the result of the characters attempting to act in a way society
On the third page second paragraph it says ,If i tried to get away with it said George then other people gets away with it and then pretty soon we will be in the dark ages again with everybody competing against everybody. This is basically talking about how people might go to the “dark ages” for doing what 's comfortable for them. Also on page three paragraph 7 it says , Harrison Bergeron age fourteen she said in a grackle squawk has just escaped from jail , where we watched in suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete he is underweighted and would be regarded as very dangerous. They are basically sounds to me that their reality just punished for thinking of what they want and believe and when you 're under handicapped you are considered “dangerous for speaking your mind.
Paper Towns is set in a modern day setting, if it was set in the past if would drastically change the whole storyline. If it was set in the future it would change up the story but not as much as if it were in the past. If the novel was modified for a younger audience to read, it would pretty much change the whole entire plot, since the book would be made for a child to understand. The book being set in daytime, during Quentin and Margo’s adventure, rather than at night would also change the storyline, since they’re both more likely to get caught during the day while sneaking into people’s houses and vandalizing people's stuff. Any of these different scenarios would change the storyline in some way.