Friendship Theme Analysis

Friendships are the central relationships in Paper Towns, and are often more intimate than either family relationships or romantic ones. However, both Quentin and Margo fail to appreciate their friends, and both are forced to consider the people they have taken for granted in a new light. Before leaving Orlando, Margo cuts ties with three of her closest friends. This includes Lacey, whom Margo dismisses as spiteful and disloyal. However, Lacey proves herself to be both a good-hearted person and genuinely invested in Margo, and when the two meet again at the end of the novel, Margo is forced to acknowledge her own self-centeredness in leaving her friend behind without a word.

The relationship between Margo and Lacey has parallels with Quentin’s relationship with Ben, who is eager to enjoy his final weeks of high school to the fullest and constantly urges Quentin to ease up on his investigation and devote more attention to his friends. Quentin finds the things that interest Ben to be both boring and unimportant, and he makes fun of Ben for devoting so much energy to prom and his girlfriend, but Ben proves his loyalty again and again by indulging Quentin’s obsession even when he finds it absurd. Though he is one of the least serious characters in the novel, Ben exemplifies the constancy and sincerity that Quentin and Margo believe are missing in the “paper people” around them. Radar encourages Quentin to be more forgiving of Ben’s shortcomings, and to remember the things he likes and appreciates about his friends before dismissing them for their flaws. Quentin put this advice into practice during the twenty-one hour road trip that he takes with Radar, Ben, and Lacey to find Margo, an experience that he realizes is richer because he shares it with people about whom he cares deeply. These developments are part of the novel’s larger ethical code, which holds that all people are complex and deserving of compassion, but learning to recognize the value of his friends is also a critical part of Quentin’s journey out of the narcissism of adolescence and into a more nuanced and adult relationship with the world around him.