Throughout all phases of life, individuals are faced with the challenge of finding their themselves and discovering the true purpose of life. In the novel An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, the main character, Colin Singleton, experiences heartbreak and mental changes that lead him to rediscover himself. The themes of the novel, individuality and finding happiness in your identity, are expressed through Colin’s changing ideas about love and self evaluation. One of Colin Singleton’s most prominent characteristics is that he only dates girls named Katherine. He has dated nineteen of them, and after his most recent break up with Katherine the 19th, he is completely sure that he will never love anyone like he loved her, and acts
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If you think about it, and Colin often did, all romantic relationships end in either (1) breakup, (2) divorce, or (3) death" (Green 16). Colin isolates himself from his best friend Hassad and his family, and tries to make sense of what is going on in his life by using literal math equations and graphs that he’s created to determine why the Katherines broke up with him. In efforts to cure his lovesickness, Hassad takes Colin on a road trip across the country, and while trying to find the Archduke Ferdinand’s grave in Gutshot, Tennessee, they manage to meet Colin’s future girlfriend, Lindsey. Lindsey is able to show Colin that Katherine's aren’t as important as he thought, and just breaking down the Katherine Wall allows him to have honest hope …show more content…
At the beginning of the novel, Colin longed to be unique, and also looked for significant events that he called “eureka moments”, where he would no longer be a prodigy, but a genius, someone who discovers something for themselves. He yearned for something new about himself to rise to the surface, other than the fact that he was a child prodigy. He realized that his intelligence was looked at as more of an annoyance than a feat. John Green writes, “The problem was that this most special, magnificent, brilliant boy was—well, not. The problem itself was that he didn't matter,” (Green 10). Though Colin only thinks he’s talking about his relationship problems, he also gives insight into what is he truly feeling inside; he is not only unhappy, but he is hopelessly unloved. He has a very narrow outlook on life until he meets his future love interest, Lindsey, who was previously mentioned.With Lindsey, he breaks the “Katherine Streak”, finally sees through the fog of the past, undergoes a positive transformation on how he views himself and his own life, and finally has hope for the future. Colin’s views of life are as different as black and white from the beginning of the novel compared to the end, and he realized that he is not just a child prodigy, and that he can be who ever he wants to
If you think about it, and Colin often did, all romantic relationships end in either (1) breakup, (2) divorce, or (3) death" (Green 16). Colin isolates himself from his best friend Hassad and his family, and tries to make sense of what is going on in his life by using literal math equations and graphs that he’s created to determine why the Katherines broke up with him. In efforts to cure his lovesickness, Hassad takes Colin on a road trip across the country, and while trying to find the Archduke Ferdinand’s grave in Gutshot, Tennessee, they manage to meet Colin’s future girlfriend, Lindsey. Lindsey is able to show Colin that Katherine's aren’t as important as he thought, and just breaking down the Katherine Wall allows him to have honest hope …show more content…
At the beginning of the novel, Colin longed to be unique, and also looked for significant events that he called “eureka moments”, where he would no longer be a prodigy, but a genius, someone who discovers something for themselves. He yearned for something new about himself to rise to the surface, other than the fact that he was a child prodigy. He realized that his intelligence was looked at as more of an annoyance than a feat. John Green writes, “The problem was that this most special, magnificent, brilliant boy was—well, not. The problem itself was that he didn't matter,” (Green 10). Though Colin only thinks he’s talking about his relationship problems, he also gives insight into what is he truly feeling inside; he is not only unhappy, but he is hopelessly unloved. He has a very narrow outlook on life until he meets his future love interest, Lindsey, who was previously mentioned.With Lindsey, he breaks the “Katherine Streak”, finally sees through the fog of the past, undergoes a positive transformation on how he views himself and his own life, and finally has hope for the future. Colin’s views of life are as different as black and white from the beginning of the novel compared to the end, and he realized that he is not just a child prodigy, and that he can be who ever he wants to