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 wakes up to find Radar and Ben evaluating possible names for the minivan. Ben wants to name it Muhammad Ali, and Radar wants to name it Lurlene. Lacey informs Quentin that they are in New York. Quentin tells Lacey he is scared. She admits to being scared as well, and tells Quentin that she hopes they will stay friends over the summer. Quentin finds this comforting. He leans forward and suggests a winning name for the minivan: The Dreidel, after the spinning top used for children’s games at Hanukkah, in honor of its excellent performance while spinning them away from the cow.
Lacey provides Quentin with a reminder of all the fulfilling connections he has made and will make as his life goes on, regardless of whether things in Agloe end up the way he hopes they will. The disappointments of his search, combined with his growing humility with regard to his understanding of Margo, make it impossible for Quentin to put his faith in the idea of Margo as fully as he has in the past. But this search for Margo has also given him a broader base of friends, including Lacey with whom he can now talk about serious things such as their mutual anxieties about their upcoming meeting with Margo.
Themes
