John Green is known as the king of metaphors and symbols. Between his famous cigarette quote, “It’s a metaphor, Hazel Grace,” and quote summarizing humanity, “We don’t suffer from a shortage of metaphors,” he proves that teenagers truly do understand a deeper meaning of life and existence. In Paper Towns, John Green takes his metaphor talents to a whole new level and uses a wide variety of symbolism to convey this understanding to his readers. His recurring technique keeps the attention of his audience and prevents the repetitive monotony of “just another teen love story”. Paper Towns is divided into three parts, each part named after a symbol that best encompasses that part of the story. And at the end of the story, all three parts seamlessly come together to…show more content… The first part of the novel is entitled The Strings. In this section, the exposition of the story is revealed as well as the major conflict and characters. One of the major events that happens in the first part is Margo’s disappearance. When Margo goes missing, she seems to leave a series of clues for Quentin, alluding that she wants him to find her. Quentin’s fierce determination makes him a force to be reckoned when he says, “I will play out the string. I will not betray your trust. I will find you,” (Green 155). The metaphor of the strings begins from the very beginning of the book. In the prologue, the setting flashes back to when Margo and Quentin were kids and were exploring a nearby park when they come across a dead man who appears to have shot himself. Margo seems intrigued as she uses one of the most famous quotes from the book and says, “Maybe the strings
