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
As they prepare to make their first gas station stop, Lacey choreographs an elaborate scheme to ensure that they will be able to get everything they need — food, gas, and clothes for Ben and Radar, among other things — in the six minutes Radar has allotted for the stop. When they reach the station, all four of them fly out of the minivan. Radar fills the gas tank while the others race through the store collecting provisions. As they run back to the car with their arms full, Quentin feels elated: young, goofy, and infinite. They high five one another as they merge back onto the interstate, four seconds ahead of schedule.
Though the process of losing and searching for Margo has forced Quentin to mature in a number of ways, he and his friends are still young, and most of the major challenges and pleasures of their lives are still ahead of them. Given that, the most telling sign of how Quentin has matured may be his willingness to embrace the goofiness of this moment and simply appreciate being young. He has gained humility that allows him to take himself less seriously. He and these friends have connected in a way that has let them all be their goofy selves with each other.
Themes
