The Common Themes Found in The Writings of John Green
John Green. If you’ve heard of the guy, he’s the brilliant author who wrote The Fault In Our Stars. If you’ve only seen a picture of him, you’d probably think he’s just a very old hipster. Whatever your thoughts on him, he’s become one of the major writers of the modern era, and his works are extremely popular with young teens. Green has written a number of other works including Paper Towns, Looking For Alaska, and An Abundance of Katherines. These works over the years have garnered a good amount of attention from readers and critics alike. Green’s works have been gone over with a metaphorical microscope; examining every inch of his pieces in order to break his works down into their base components. This literary dissection has produced some themes and ideas that seem to be present in all of Green’s pieces. Here I’m going to take the time and examine some of the key elements in his works.
TEENS
Right off the bat, one of the major things seen in John Green’s novels is that most of the characters are teens. Green explicitly writes for a teen audience but doesn’t try to simplify it as he feels it insulting to treat teens like they can’t think critically. His writing sees teens as having deeper thoughts and ideas such as Colin from An abundance of Katherines making a search to do something great in his life and having a “Eureka!” moment ala Archimedes or Hazel and Augustus from The Fault In Our Stars dealing with the realistic pain and anguish of their cancer.
BITTERSWEET ENDINGS
Green’s works are known for not having “happy endings.” That’s not to say that the characters don’t ever have anything good happen to them by the end of the book or that there’s no good to be seen once the book ends, but most of Green’s endings tend to fall on the bittersweet side of things rather than be pure “happily ever after” for his characters. For example, the ending to the novel, The Fault In Our Stars, in which Hazel’s love Augustus dies due to his cancer returning. That’s not to say that his works end in depressing endings that leave you in tears, you just shouldn’t expect a straightforward happy ending.
THE JOURNEY
A common thing found in the works of John Green is for his characters to go on a journey or trip of some kind that causes a profound change in the character. Paper Towns is the foremost example with the main character, Quinten, and his friends going on a journey to find their lost friend Margo and coming out with a bit more of an idea of who they are; or in An Abundance of Katherines during which the main character visits Tennessee and while working there comes to understand more about themselves, their relationships, and what they want out of life. The journey is an important part of every novel and Green’s novels use them to display the growth and change of their characters.
ISSUES
As I’ve mentioned before, these themes are prevalent in a number of John Green’s novels. So much so, that many people would claim that all his books feel the same. I, however, think that that may be a bit unfair. Books having extremely similar themes and ideas or being similar in how they are written doesn’t necessarily mean that the stories are the same or that they make it less fulfilling. For example, I’m a fan of the works of R.L. Stine. Now, most people might say that Stine’s books follow a bit of a pattern. A kid finds out about something scary/supernatural happening, no one believes them, they fight the supernatural thing, they win, then there is a twist ending. But in spite of the somewhat predictable formulas, I still enjoy R.L. Stine’s writing. A story isn’t special because it’s unique. We retell stories with similar themes, ideas, or plots we’ve seen all the time. Beauty and the Beast, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet. We all have heard the story of Star Wars all the time but we still keep hearing about new movies being made. It is the execution of those ideas that makes it special. By twisting similar or previously explored ideas into new shapes, we can create incredible and unique pieces of work. And that’s what John Green does when it comes to his novels.
OVERALL
John Green’s works carry a lot of interesting ideas. Examining things like loss, disappointment, and a journey of change through the lens of a teen is an interesting idea and one that Green does well through his works. His unique voice and usage of the themes in his novels are one of the reasons why he is one of the more well-known authors of this day and age.
References
Patrick. “John Green: ‘I’m Tired of Adults Telling Teenagers That They Aren’t Smart’.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, February 27, 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/feb/27/john-green-adults-teenagers-smart-interview
Dalgyte, Bilby P. “Every John Green Book: A Review of Themes.” Every John Green Book: A Review of themes, January 1, 1970. http://thewindowofbilby.blogspot.com/2012/05/every-john-green-book-review.html.