Paper Towns // Critical Thinking Question RR

Critical Thinking Question: Whose perspective is missing in this text? What would it be like if we put it back?

What isn't is what leads one to wonder. What we don't know turns into what we want to know, thus forcing us to question and think. The novel "Paper Towns" by John Green conceptualizes this idea. The story takes place in Florida, where Quentin Jacobsen has spent his entire life in love with his next door neighbor, the ever-bold and audacious Margo Roth Spiegelman. Then one night, she decides to take him on a rebellious adventure that lasts until sunrise. But when he expects to find her at school that morning, she is nowhere to be found. Soon enough he finds clues that she left for him to find her, but as her disappearance and mystery grows larger, Q wonders whether or not he really does know Margo. With Margo gone, the story lacks her perspective, and we are left with only Quentin's outlook on the situation.

Of course, Margo's absence creates an aura of mystery to the story. We, as readers, are compelled to wonder about her whereabouts and also given questions to ponder. We ask ourselves: Where has she gone? Why has she left? What might she be up to? The questions that we ask draw us into the book and expand our involvement in the story. We become a part of the mystery; we become the detectives. Green doesn't include her thoughts and feelings in the book for just this purpose. He wants us to be involved in the story. He leaves this gap in hopes that we will think upon it, and interact with the book.

And in these gaps there are hidden clues. A bottle of red-black nail polish with blue spray paint smudged onto its side, the holes plotted on a map that form the shape of another map, the peculiar capitalization of certain words. The evidence adds up, and before we know it, we have found ourselves in Margo's mind. We have unlocked her perspective without it being given to us.

However, if Green were to include her perspective in the story, we would lose this sense of mystery. We would become less attentive of the book because all of our questions would already be answered. There would be no room to wonder and form our own ideas, limiting our imagination. The book would be bland and have less to offer. If Margo's perspective were already open, we would already know the reasoning behind all of her clues, and essentially, reading the book would be pointless. It's almost like throwing a surprise birthday party for yourself. There's no surprise.

Given this, I would say that a missing perspective in a book is a great technique to use in a mystery novel. Leaving something out gives the reader a space to fill in; it gives the reader a purpose in the story. Let them question the book. Let them ponder and wonder and think. Involvement in a great way to stimulate a reader's mind. By leaving out Margo's point of view, I was forced to think outside of the box, and reach inside of a mind with only what was outside of it- something a reader couldn't do if the mind, Margo's mind, were already spread out in front of them.