Paper Towns

Character Archetype

"the explorer" (Margo)

• Wants freedom more than anything else
• Fears not being true to herself
• Wanders aimlessly in search of something more
• Becomes a misfit trying to find herself

Situation archetype

"the task" (solving Margo's clues)

• "Hero performing some superhuman deed"
• Margo leaves behind a bunch of clues
• Q is expected to notice them 
• He does the impossible and follows them 
• He succeeds even though no one had before

Theme archetype

"Loss of innocence"

• Q starts out quite innocent in the novel
• Through the story he gets close to Margo
• He spends more and more time with her 
• With each adventure he looses a bit more innocence
• His last adventure is as an adult with no restrictions

symbolic archetype

strings

• Margo mentions in the book that people are held together by strings
• The strings represent different things that are part of people's lives:
• People, relationships, events, emotions etc...
• Margo implies that when a person chooses to take their own life it is 
• because they don't have any of these things or a reason to live anymore