John Green's An Abundance of Katherines depicts a tale of a child prodigy, who throughout his entire life, has only dated females with the name Katherine. The story begins as the main character, Colin, is dumped for the 19th time, by a Katherine. Colin took this break up severely and in order to get his mind off of the breakup, his best friend Hassan decided that they should leave to go on a road trip. Symbols of love, relationships, and individuality are found widespread throughout their trip, and these symbols help convey to the reader the themes and messages that Green is trying to communicate in his story. The symbols we see Green using are, the Katherines Colin has dated, and a mathematic theory Colin created called the Theory of Underlying
…show more content…
This theory, based on the relationships Collin had with each different Katherine, divided participants of all relationships into the category of either a "dumper" or a "dumpee." As Collin was the constant dumpee in all of his relationships, the theory represents his thirst to understand the real concept of relationships, and the theory itself questions why all of his relationships end constantly leaving him heartbroken. While this theory represents Collin's failed relationships, it also stands as a symbol of his goal to be a unique individual and not a washed up child prodigy. Collin fully commits to the belief that he is uncool and unimportant, and knowing this terrorizes him because his greatest goal and wish is to be known by everyone and seen as a genius. Collin works relentlessly at this theory throughout the book because he holds a belief that, "[W]hen he proved he mattered, she would miss him, he knew she would see him as she did in the beginning: a genius." (Green, --) The she in this quote happens to be the last Katherine he dated, and the quote uncovers the reason Collin toils for a chance at becoming genius. Colin yearns to become a genius simply because he wishes to prove himself to the Katherines he dated in his past. He feels he needs to prove himself because these Katherines chose to break up with him, making him feel as if he is not special, or
This theory, based on the relationships Collin had with each different Katherine, divided participants of all relationships into the category of either a "dumper" or a "dumpee." As Collin was the constant dumpee in all of his relationships, the theory represents his thirst to understand the real concept of relationships, and the theory itself questions why all of his relationships end constantly leaving him heartbroken. While this theory represents Collin's failed relationships, it also stands as a symbol of his goal to be a unique individual and not a washed up child prodigy. Collin fully commits to the belief that he is uncool and unimportant, and knowing this terrorizes him because his greatest goal and wish is to be known by everyone and seen as a genius. Collin works relentlessly at this theory throughout the book because he holds a belief that, "[W]hen he proved he mattered, she would miss him, he knew she would see him as she did in the beginning: a genius." (Green, --) The she in this quote happens to be the last Katherine he dated, and the quote uncovers the reason Collin toils for a chance at becoming genius. Colin yearns to become a genius simply because he wishes to prove himself to the Katherines he dated in his past. He feels he needs to prove himself because these Katherines chose to break up with him, making him feel as if he is not special, or