Realization Actualization

Last week I finished Paper Towns by John Green. In Paper Towns, Quentin and his group of friends try to find their friend Margo Roth Spiegleman after she leaves their town of Orlando, Florida leaving behind a series of clues in poems. *Spoilers*, they find her at the end of the book.

Paper Towns is a good example of a coming of age book, though only the first part. When Margo and Quentin were little they found a man dead in the park. Not long after this scene is a jump in time where Margo and Quentin are now older and go on a night long excursion to take revenge on the people in Margo's life who have hurt her. When reading this, I saw immediately how Margo had changed from the beginning of the book in her state of innocence to her new, matured self. I saw Margo's immediate thrust into realization turn her into a much more adult like character. I think Margo's coming of age was much more noticeable, and therefore seemed much more drastic versus Quentin who became an adult much quieter. Quentin throughout the entire book has been much quieter and more reserved in contrast to Margo, who grew up much faster and louder, versus Quentin who didn't have a major personality change or a sudden realization like Margo did when they stumbled upon the dead man in the park (who's name I forgot since I don't have the book with me anymore). I think Margo felt like the world was a mean place where people die which explains her massive one night revenge strike on all of the people at school who had hurt her. I think after Margo's realization, all of her accumulated anger towards the world and its cruelty built up until her and Quentin went out all night seeking revenge. I think the realization that people can really die started the accumulation of anger inside of Margo and over time this could only build if not vented, and all of Margo's anger was vented in one long night with Quentin. Quentin though didn't change externally. Quentin became different in his thoughts, and even though throughout the book I was unable to tell what Quentin was thinking, by seeing how he responded to Margo's actions and what he thought about her revenge. I think Quentin knew too that the world can be a bad place, but learned to accept it. Quentin went from action, and loving the world, to apathy, just accepting the world for what it is, whereas margo went from apathy, and just being a kid, to taking action against those she believed had wronged her.

I think that in the real world, people change, like Margo and Quentin. A lot the kids at 51 who went to my elementary school have changed since 5th grade and we aren't really friends any more. I think a lot of these friendships aren't still active not because we've grown up, but just from natural personality changes and the new opinions about life that people discover as they grow up. In Paper Towns, the realizations that Margo and Quentin have initially change their personalities and bring them together, though later Margo's personality takes her away from Quentin, who's personality brings him back to Margo.

Inanimacy

In Act 1 Scene 4 of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Mercutio tells Romeo how to handle love. He gives Romeo advice on dealing with, and moving on, after love ends. I saw Mercutio treating love like it was a person, and as he goes back and forth becomes less literal and more figurative with who love is.

In Act 1 Scene 4 line 17/18 Mercutio says "You are a lover. Borrow Cupid's wings // And soar with them above a common bound." In this quote Mercutio doesn't directly address love as an animate object but speaks of it more inanimately, and says that Romeo is part of it by being a lover. I thought Mercutio telling Romeo to "borrow Cupid's wings" was saying that Romeo is entitled to love, and should be able to just take Cupid's wings and find love. I saw "Cupid's wings" as a metaphor for love. Because Mercutio says to "soar with them above a common bound" I felt like he was telling Romeo to take love, and take love somewhere great. In line 27 Mercutio says "If love be rough with you, be rough with love". In this quote Mercutio makes love seem like it's a person who Romeo can interact with, and in this case, be rough with. I think Mercutio gives Romeo enough advice that he can literally use, and can just keep in mind to inspire him when he's not feeling too hopeful.

I think advice can be important for inspiring people, and these little things can really make someone more hopeful, like Mercutio telling Romeo to fly with Cupid's wings. I think these little bits of advice have the one purpose of just helping people get through difficult days and sad times. I've never been given actual advice of this type but I could see how a figurative piece of advice might help more because it's easier to interpret in your own way and really let it work in almost any situation, whereas literal advice might actually just be for one specific event and would only work then. I think Mercutio gives Romeo different kinds of advice so he can continuously use his advice and be able to carry on and not be sad.