So. John Green. A man who is a child at heart, an educator at face, and a star in the skies of teenagers across the globe. Another fact about John Green: he loves last words. In fact, this guy loves last words so much, he made a book out of it. And yet there is more behind that, I feel, so I will take the liberty to go ahead and point out the significance of this motif. The "last words" of any one person are important in that they can carry a lifetime of meaning in the last few seconds of life. "Last words" connotes departure, and in this case, departure will be permanent. Death is a concept that is ultimately questioned behind these words, and it is a concept that most teenagers usually don't think about. Pudge points out near the end of the novel that teenagers are invincible because they believe they are, "invincible" meaning unconquerable, perhaps even in the face of death. Teenagers don't like talking about death only because they are so full of life, and if they don't think of death, perhaps they won't be afflicted. Pudge, like John Green, is fascinated by last words, and is thus fascinated by death in an indirect way.
I also took the liberty to go ahead and do some research on the so-called "teenager invincibility theory." A certain study claimed that the reason teenagers would take risks was not entirely because they believed in their invincibility, but because they underestimated the risk of the activity in which they were engaging in. The study also suggested that teenagers believed they could recover from possible injury (contributing to this invincibility theory) and that medical care was advanced enough to help them if they were to run into any serious trouble. So John Green, looks like you were partially correct on your assumption on our strength, but Mr. Green, you must also admit that we are a little heedless in our choices sometimes, too, a point proved by Pudge time and time again. |