Paper Towns

Margo is Quentin’s next door neighbor. She is a free-spirited teenager known for her eccentric adventures and extravagant schemes. She and Quentin have not been close since childhood, though they attend the same high school, live next door to one another and are in the same grade. She has an unhappy home life, and feels stifled in her Orlando community, calling it a “paper town” to suggest the artificial nature of its existence. As a result, she has a history of running away from home, though she always leaves elaborate clues to her whereabouts for her family and always returns home after a few days. Though Quentin does not really understand Margo, he has idolized her for most of his life. When he begins searching for her, however, he comes to realize that she is much more troubled and lonesome than he had previously thought. 

Ben is one of Quentin’s best friends. He is a goofy person and provides much of the novel’s comic relief. He is also often considered insensitive by Quentin, although he means well. He is a loyal friend to Quentin and supports him in his search for Margo. Like his friends, at the beginning of the novel, Ben is somewhat of a social outcast. Unlike Quentin, however, he wants to fit in and be liked. With Quentin’s help, Ben begins to date Lacey, Margo’s best friend, and his life changes, as he is included in many of the events that his “status” previously excluded him from. 

Radar’s real name is Marcus, though no one calls him that. He is Quentin’s other best friend, and is a lot more easygoing than either Quentin or Ben. Radar is very intelligent, and is the brains of his group of friends. He maintains a reference site called Omnictionary, and is obsessive about updating it. He is also very perceptive, and often mediates disagreements between Quentin and Ben. Radar is also able to understand Margo’s clues more easily than the others, and becomes indispensable in the search for her. He falls in love with Angela in the novel. A comedic motif throughout the novel is the fact that his parents own the world’s largest collection of black Santas.