Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Paper Towns, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Perception vs. Reality
Authenticity and Artificiality
Human Connection
Leaving Home and Growing Up
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Quentin and his friends begin playing a variation on I Spy, in which they are only allowed to “spy” abstract concepts, rather than physical objects. Radar spies something “tragically hip.” Quentin suggests a road trip in a minivan would fit the description. The correct answer turns out to be “failing to turn in your rented graduation robes on time.” Quentin speeds past a cop, and feels grateful when the cop doesn’t pull him over.
That Quentin defies an authority figure with impunity — when, just a few weeks ago, he slowed for a stop sign while fleeing Jase’s house — shows his changed relationship with fear. Whereas he used to fear the consequences of breaking even minor rules, he now feels empowered to assert his own priorities when necessary.
Themes
