On John Green’s female characters

*A note… I am speaking of TFIOS, Looking for Alaska, and Paper Towns… I haven’t read An Abundance of Katherines and I don’t think I will in the near future (I tried to read it a few years ago and I didn’t like it very much.)

So, after reading TFIOS (The Fault In Our Stars), I have come to realize that all (more or less, all) of John Green’s female characters are mysterious and extremely witty. They usually understand more than the male protagonist does in terms of “things” that encompass the scope of the universe (for example, in Paper Towns, Margo understand more about taking risks and the facade people carry). In other words, these girls are powerful and do not fall under any stereotypical roles of women, except for meeting the social standards of being pretty. I remember reading his books as a 9th grader and thinking “geez, these females are BADASS. They are awesome.” I wanted to emulate their mysteriousness, but I found that it was impossible. Green’s female characters are so unique… a bit too mysterious and too witty and too smart, making them realistically unattainable (realistic in that it is plausible that someone out there is like this character and that they talk about issues that readers can relate to, and unattainable in that you can’t try to be like them). It’s just like trying to be the characters from Juno or Gilmore Girls—nearly impossible because every line that comes out of their mouth is too perfect. Although I kind of hate that his characters are so amazing, I feel like these characters magnify the ideas that Green is trying to get across. Without their powerful personalities, they wouldn’t be memorable, making Green’s message die with the end of the book. But they are memorable. And that’s why his books and his writing are so good and so special (for lack of better words).