The Depiction of Women Characters in John Green's Novels

Most young adult novels nowadays deal with teenage issues, such as young love, self-confidence, heartbreak, and similar. The protagonists of such stories are boys and girls that are mostly considered as “outcasts” in their schools or neighbourhoods and who meet another person that is either on the same side of the spectrum or the complete opposite. The authors of such novels tend to use the same formula in these stories: either a girl meets a boy who changes her life forever or a boy is obsessed with a girl and believes they belong together. One of the most famous authors of Young Adult literature is John Green. His women characters mainly have their lives changed by a boy, which makes them a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. The question arises whether such representation of women characters is healthy for young readers, what a good representation of women characters in such novels would be, and if there are any to be found in young adult novels. The aim of this BA paper is thus to answer these questions by examining John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns.