PaperTowns by John Green Essay free essay sample

Life is very complex and often hard to define. However, this challenge does not stop people from trying to sum up the meaning of life in one word. In Paper Towns by John Green, the three metaphors the strings, the grass, and the vessel are used throughout the book to chronicle the protagonist’s, Quentin, experiences. The novel revolves around Quentin Jacobsen, a high school senior. When his former best friend and long time crush, Margo Roth Spiegelman, comes back into his life and then suddenly disappears, Q attempts to piece together the clues he believes Margo left behind for him. Each of these three metaphors represent what Q is feeling and allow him to view life from different perspectives. As he moves throughout his journey in the book, Q analyzes and assesses each other these three metaphors, casting aside the ones he does not agree with as he develops his own. As the reader, one naturally also considers and interprets each metaphor as it arises. One applies it to their own life to better understand it. After doing so, the real question for the reader becomes clear: which metaphor, the strings, the grass, or the vessel, best represents life? â€Å"If you choose strings, then you’re imagining world in which you can become irreparably broken. †(301) The metaphor for life â€Å"strings† was first used by Margo in response to the suicide of Robert Joyner. When Q and herself were discussing what would cause someone to take their own life, she suggests that perhaps all of his strings broke. This metaphor implies that all the hardships, obstacles, adversity, basicly anything that cause us pain, is irreversible damage. In this sense, life is more fatal than death, every obstacle we face slowly clipping away at our soul; never to be repaired. In a way, the strings metaphor makes sense; we all have a finite amount of strings and every hardship we take affects our mortality. These events sever our string, one by one, until we have none left, which we call death. This notion makes sense as traumatic, painful experiences will always be sometime that we carry with us. We never fully heal from these events and they affect our lives from that point on. However, I think the strings metaphor makes life sound more fragile than it actually is. Failures, hardships, obstacles are not fatal. Though they do affect us, they also provide a choice: to either allow these events to lead to instability or work to strengthen the strings we have left. Yes, eventually, all of our strings are cut; the battle is over. We spend our entire lives in combat and the end is inevitable. Life is just a constant battle to continue to exist. Though we may repair and grow as people, our days are numbered. Strings make life sound like a countdown to death; â€Å"Four strings to go, now three, two, one†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In the book, Q reflects on the dual implications of this metaphor, â€Å"I like strings. I always have. Because that’s how it feels. But the strings make pain seem more fatal than it is†¦ we are not as frail as the strings would make us believe. †(302) Though there is some truth in this metaphor, I believe that it focuses too much on the futility of our existence; that no matter how valiantly we fight, we will someday cease to exist. â€Å"If you choose grass, you’re saying we are all infinitely interconnected, that we can use these root systems not only to understand one another but to become one another. †(301) This metaphor states that we all share a common root system and are infinitely connected. Though this it ia good thing as it allows us to understand others, it is also a bad thing as it gives people the outlet to become one another. This is a dangerous metaphor as it is implied that the success of another is also the success of yourself. We cannot not live out our dreams through other people. Doing so is neither satisfying nor healthy. Experiencing life solely through another is not a life worth living. However, the grass metaphor does serve some purpose. Q uses it to truly understand the real Margo, rather than the person he has been imagining since childhood, â€Å"The grass got me to you, helped me imagine you as an actual person. The grass allows us to sympathize with one another. Though we may not always be bounded to this universal entity, we are still one race and are connected simply by that and, therefore should support each other as much as possible. The grass allows us the possibility to be happy for someone’s success without becoming that person. The happiness of others is significant in the personal pursuit of happiness. Though we rely on others to make up the background of our existence, as Q puts it, â€Å"We are not different sprouts from the same plant. I can’t be you. You can’t be me.   Well, this metaphor hold some merit, it does not coincide with my vision of life and its purpose. The Vessel metaphor, offers the a different not, so black and white view of life. Nothing in this life is absolute and things and people are ever changing. People project certain images, whether it is who they want to be or as a defense mechanism to hide their true self. Others perceive and internalize those projections and make judgements based on that. These are largely stereotypical and one-dimensional, rarely showing the true person. This is similar to Q false imagine of Margo throughout most of the book. Throughout life, we see people succeed and struggle. Whether we realize it or not, we are actually witnessing the deterioration of their vessel. As mistakes and pain cut away at the exterior of the vessel, we are further able to see a honest view of the person within. This deterioration may have consequences as others may see what you or they don’t want to see. However, this deterioration is a part of life’s journey to discover yourself and to let others see what you find because â€Å"it is the only time we can see each other because we see out of ourselves through our cracks and into others through theirs†¦ the light get in. The light can get out. †(302) The vessel allows death to seem less harsh. We deteriorate slowly, crack by crack, bit by bit. As we encounter hardships that shape who we are, our cracks can be mended. Though we won’t exactly be the same, we can still recover, repair, and grow. However, eventually, this deterioration becomes too great to bare. We can repair but not indefinitely. I believe this metaphor holds the most truth. We aren’t definable in a single glance and adversity doesn’t cause us irreversible damage. At no point in life is there a point of no return; there is always hope for ourselves and others. No mistakes or failures we make define us. We are forever changing and this metaphor reflects that. Metaphors allow us to make sense of life in ways that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to. In the novel, the strings, the grass, and the vessel do just that. They embody what Q feels and how he sees the world at different points throughout the book. Each metaphor allow Q to move throughout the book and grow. Though all of these metaphors hold some merit to describe life, I believe that the vessel is the most effective. The vessel shows that while we can be damaged by pain or trauma, we are not broken beyond repair. It proves that things can get better and the battle is never completely lost. Unlike the strings, the vessel tells us that life is not so fragile and that failures and mistakes do not chip away at our whole person. Unlike the grass, the vessel allows to be our own person and not to live through the life and success of another. The vessel proves that, in fact, pain and hurt can actually improve us, allowing others to see other true self in ways that they would not otherwise be able to. The vessel shows that life is not so black and white and encompasses the inevitable complexities of life.