PLot Summary
Sixteen-year-old Miles "Pudge"
Halter has no friends at his Florida high school. He instead loses himself in
biographies of writers and is especially interested in the last words of famous
people. Tired of his safe life, Miles asks his parents to allow him to attend
Culver Creek, a boarding school in Alabama, which his father had once attended.
There, for the first time in his life, he makes friends. He drinks, smokes,
plays pranks, gets a girlfriend, and finally fits in. Throughout it all, he
cannot get over a girl named Alaska Young. One night, when Alaska is drunk,
Alaska drives off sobbing without explaining why. Fifteen minutes later, she
smashes into a parked police cruiser, killing herself instantly. Miles and his
friends are crushed, especially Miles, who aided her in leaving campus and did
not mention that she should not be driving drunk. Miles and his friends set out
to understand the circumstances of Alaska's death. Was it a suicide? Where was
she headed? Looking for Alaska is
written in two parts. The first half is entitled Before, and is broken into
chapters that say ‘One hundred ten days before and then Ninety-nine days
before, and so forth. The second half is After, and it goes along the same
path, except the days are counted as after.
Character Analysis
Miles:Miles is a
teenage boy who is the main character of this story. Miles is from Florida,
where he was raised and has attended high school. He decided to go to a
boarding school in Alabama. Miles is the most important character in terms of
developing the story, since he is not only the narrator, but the reader knows
every single one of his thoughts and can understand every single one of his
motives, actions and words. Miles, in Florida, was definitely not the popular
type, or social in any way. He is not fond of social interactions, especially
small talk. Miles would rather be reading biographies than socializing with
others. Miles has a fascination with last words. His hobby is reading
biographies, only to find out what the person’s last words were. Miles is
extremely scrawny and lacks muscle, and was exactly six feet tall. When he
first meets Alaska, and she is telling the Colonel a story about a summer
experience, Miles is captivated by her right away. Miles is a somewhat
vulnerable character who often finds himself in hard situations because he is
very confused and very insecure about himself. This is why he falls so easily
for Alaska after she gives him the slightest bit of attention, because he is
insecure and shy, and was not used to this type of attention back when he was
in Florida. Miles is a very intellectual person who can analyze every situation
and every single detail in order to truly understand it and the reasoning
behind it. The Colonel and him get along very well, because the Colonel is a
leader and is always sure of what he wants, which is the exact opposite of
Miles. This goes to show that opposites attract, and they end up being
extremely good friends. Miles is a follower, and not a leader. He is smart
in his words but does not excel with his actions.
Colonel:The Colonel is a very blunt and straight forward character. He is important to the story because he provides stability for Miles, and is always around to help and come up with ideas. The Colonel is a short, muscular guy with brown hair. He’s five feet tall, but still incredibly muscular. He has a deep voice, and he talks a lot. He got his nickname, the Colonel, because he is the mastermind behind all of Alaska’s prank plans. He is a genius, and he skipped a few grades. He takes advanced classes and excels at almost every subject. The Colonel comes from a poor background, and is at Culver Creek on a scholarship. His mom lives in a trailer park. His dad left when he was younger, and used to cheat and beat his mom. The Colonel is very protective of his mother and he states that the best day of his life would be the day he can offer a house to his mom and get her out of the poor neighborhood. The Colonel has an incredible memory, and when he first meets Miles, he shows off his talent. The Colonel knows every country by heart, and can name all of them. The Colonel is viewed as a leader by his friends, Alaska, Miles and Takumi. They listen to him as if he has some sort of authority figure. When a plank is being organized, the Colonel is the one who is giving out orders and who makes sure everything goes as planned. He is a very sarcastic and humorous person, who is always trying to make sense out of every situations presented to him. The Colonel is a regular smoker, and he definitely drinks too much. He resorts to drinking when he encounters a problem, which can eventually cause problems in his life because he shouldn’t use drinking as an escaping method. The Colonel is an intensely loyal person who does not believe in snitching or ratting anybody out, under any condition. He strongly believes taking care of things himself. The Colonel became best friends with Alaska when they met at Culver Creek in freshmen year. They became such good friends quickly, because they both shared an interest in booze and mischief. The Colonel is important to the story because he adds an element of mystery, because it is very hard to know exactly what he is thinking or feeling throughout the entire story. He’s a confusing individual, which is especially shown when him and his girlfriend, whom he actually hated, break up and he is very sad about it because he explains to Miles it was nice to have somebody to fight with.
Alaska: Alaska Young is clearly one of the most important characters in the entire book. Alaska is a gorgeous, clever, funny, self-destructive and fascinating character. The whole story revolves mostly around her and her mystery. Alaska is teenage girl. She is petite, yet she still has curves. Although she is petite, she has a very loud voice. She’s extremely beautiful. She always smells like sunshine, vanilla and cigarettes. Her eyes are comparable to fierce emeralds. She’s a very flirtatious person, and she’s constantly flirting with Miles, even though she has a boyfriend. She’s always teasing him and letting him know how adorable he is. She’s an extremely spontaneous, impulsive and fun person. When she is in a good mood, she loves to make people smile and laugh. However, Alaska is rarely in the same mood for an entire day. She is excessively moody, and it extremely hard for anyone to figure out what she’s feeling and what is wrong when she’s in a bad mood. The Colonel and her have been very close for a long time, but he still doesn’t know how to tell what’s bothering her. When she is in a bad mood, she shuts everybody out and becomes condescending, cold and even rude towards her closest friends. Takumi and the Colonel are used to this, however, Miles is not, and he takes this quite personally at first. Alaska does not feel sympathy towards anybody because she has been through a lot of things in her life. In chapter 29, Alaska tells Miles, Lara, Takumi and the Colonel about how her mother passed away when she was younger, and it was her fault because she had not been able to call 911. She was in shock and she didn’t know what to do. Alaska blames herself for this and lives with a huge amount of regret and guilt. This has a great influence on who she is, and this could be the main source of her moodiness. Alaska is psychologically strong, and she does not let much bother her. She is an independent person. She came to Culver Creek to get away from home, because she claims home is full of ghosts. She does not like to be reminded of her mother and the guilt attached to it. She doesn’t return home for the holidays, which explains why Miles stays back at Culver Creek during Thanksgiving with her. Alaska is a very mysterious character and the whole book is dedicating to finding out her mystery after she gets in a fatal car crash.
Colonel:The Colonel is a very blunt and straight forward character. He is important to the story because he provides stability for Miles, and is always around to help and come up with ideas. The Colonel is a short, muscular guy with brown hair. He’s five feet tall, but still incredibly muscular. He has a deep voice, and he talks a lot. He got his nickname, the Colonel, because he is the mastermind behind all of Alaska’s prank plans. He is a genius, and he skipped a few grades. He takes advanced classes and excels at almost every subject. The Colonel comes from a poor background, and is at Culver Creek on a scholarship. His mom lives in a trailer park. His dad left when he was younger, and used to cheat and beat his mom. The Colonel is very protective of his mother and he states that the best day of his life would be the day he can offer a house to his mom and get her out of the poor neighborhood. The Colonel has an incredible memory, and when he first meets Miles, he shows off his talent. The Colonel knows every country by heart, and can name all of them. The Colonel is viewed as a leader by his friends, Alaska, Miles and Takumi. They listen to him as if he has some sort of authority figure. When a plank is being organized, the Colonel is the one who is giving out orders and who makes sure everything goes as planned. He is a very sarcastic and humorous person, who is always trying to make sense out of every situations presented to him. The Colonel is a regular smoker, and he definitely drinks too much. He resorts to drinking when he encounters a problem, which can eventually cause problems in his life because he shouldn’t use drinking as an escaping method. The Colonel is an intensely loyal person who does not believe in snitching or ratting anybody out, under any condition. He strongly believes taking care of things himself. The Colonel became best friends with Alaska when they met at Culver Creek in freshmen year. They became such good friends quickly, because they both shared an interest in booze and mischief. The Colonel is important to the story because he adds an element of mystery, because it is very hard to know exactly what he is thinking or feeling throughout the entire story. He’s a confusing individual, which is especially shown when him and his girlfriend, whom he actually hated, break up and he is very sad about it because he explains to Miles it was nice to have somebody to fight with.
Alaska: Alaska Young is clearly one of the most important characters in the entire book. Alaska is a gorgeous, clever, funny, self-destructive and fascinating character. The whole story revolves mostly around her and her mystery. Alaska is teenage girl. She is petite, yet she still has curves. Although she is petite, she has a very loud voice. She’s extremely beautiful. She always smells like sunshine, vanilla and cigarettes. Her eyes are comparable to fierce emeralds. She’s a very flirtatious person, and she’s constantly flirting with Miles, even though she has a boyfriend. She’s always teasing him and letting him know how adorable he is. She’s an extremely spontaneous, impulsive and fun person. When she is in a good mood, she loves to make people smile and laugh. However, Alaska is rarely in the same mood for an entire day. She is excessively moody, and it extremely hard for anyone to figure out what she’s feeling and what is wrong when she’s in a bad mood. The Colonel and her have been very close for a long time, but he still doesn’t know how to tell what’s bothering her. When she is in a bad mood, she shuts everybody out and becomes condescending, cold and even rude towards her closest friends. Takumi and the Colonel are used to this, however, Miles is not, and he takes this quite personally at first. Alaska does not feel sympathy towards anybody because she has been through a lot of things in her life. In chapter 29, Alaska tells Miles, Lara, Takumi and the Colonel about how her mother passed away when she was younger, and it was her fault because she had not been able to call 911. She was in shock and she didn’t know what to do. Alaska blames herself for this and lives with a huge amount of regret and guilt. This has a great influence on who she is, and this could be the main source of her moodiness. Alaska is psychologically strong, and she does not let much bother her. She is an independent person. She came to Culver Creek to get away from home, because she claims home is full of ghosts. She does not like to be reminded of her mother and the guilt attached to it. She doesn’t return home for the holidays, which explains why Miles stays back at Culver Creek during Thanksgiving with her. Alaska is a very mysterious character and the whole book is dedicating to finding out her mystery after she gets in a fatal car crash.
Favorite Qoutes
Symbols
Cigarettes:
The cigarettes are symbols that
are in direct link with the theme of death, and the motif of mischief. The
cigarettes are a big part of Alaska, the Colonel, Takumi and Miles’ life.
Although Miles did not enjoy smoking at first, he becomes used to it in order
to fit in. Alaska’s body is always marked with the scent of cigarettes and
vanilla. After she passes away, Miles always remembers Alaska when he smells a
similar scent, and this is what represents Alaska and who she was. The cigarettes
also represent tradition because the group always goes out to the forest to
have cigarettes and figure things out, like pranks and theories about certain
things.
Whenever cigarettes are apparent in the novel the characters are relieved. The
cigarettes symbolized peace and calmness. When Alaska, Chip, and Miles go to
smoke at the Smoke Hole they joke around and forget about school and all their
problems. “Today was the best day of my
life! To be here with friends drinking and smoking makes me feel peaceful.”
(pg.113). Though the one exception to that is Alaska. A well-known quote from
the novel is “Yall smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die”(44). Is said by Alaska and
proves that she is doing it for different reasons compared to Miles and Colonel.
The cigarettes can also symbolize defiance. The book is about three characters
who are going through hard times in their life and just want to fit in but also
make a statement. They do this by breaking the school’s rule and risking getting
expelled just to smoke one cigarette.
White Daisy: White daisies are Alaska’s favorite flower. The white flowers are present in the story as a symbol of purity and of commemoration towards Alaska’s mother. Every year, Alaska goes to her mother’s grave and puts white daisies on her grave marking the day she died. Though this year she was so distracted with her new friends she had forgotten what day it was and didn’t put the flowers on her grave. When she suddenly realizes she rushes to the cemetery driving drunk and upset, she ends up dying in a car crash. The daisies not only symbolize death, but happiness. They make her remember her mother’s death but also all the happy times that they shared.
White Daisy: White daisies are Alaska’s favorite flower. The white flowers are present in the story as a symbol of purity and of commemoration towards Alaska’s mother. Every year, Alaska goes to her mother’s grave and puts white daisies on her grave marking the day she died. Though this year she was so distracted with her new friends she had forgotten what day it was and didn’t put the flowers on her grave. When she suddenly realizes she rushes to the cemetery driving drunk and upset, she ends up dying in a car crash. The daisies not only symbolize death, but happiness. They make her remember her mother’s death but also all the happy times that they shared.
Quest
When reading Looking for Alaska I
remembered what I learned in the book How
to Read Literature like a Professor. One part that stood out in the
book is the five elements of a quest. The five elements, as explained by Thomas
Foster, are a quester, a destination, a stated purpose, challenges that must be
faced during the path to the destination, and the real reason that the quester
goes on the journey which is always ends in self-knowledge. The quester is
Miles. The destination is a boarding school in Florida called Culver Creek. The
stated purpose that Miles gives his parents is that he wants to continue the
Halter tradition of going to Culver Creek. The reason he gives us is that we
had no friends at his old school and is hoping to have a fresh start. The
challenges he faces are finding the group friends he wants and figuring out
what he wants for himself. He first picks Colonel and Alaska as friends because
they are the first people he runs into, but the next night a group of kids
awake him from his sleep and drag him to the lake telling him to pick better
friends before they throw him into the water. The next issue Miles faces is
whether or not he breaks his values and smokes and drinks. He ends up falling
for the peer pressure, but the act of them smoking together brings them closer together
and can act as a sign of communion. The last challenge he faces is getting over
Alaska. Miles is head over heels for Alaska even though he knows she will never
cheat on her boyfriend and that he already has a current girlfriend. Even after
Alaska dies Miles has trouble coping with his feelings of her and his feelings
of loss. The last part of the quest is self-knowledge. Miles self-knowledge has
to do with friendship. He never had true friends back home growing up and now
that he has made some and even lost one of them he learns what it means to be a
friend. This is the most important thing that Miles will ever learn in his four
years a Culver Creek.
Cuurent Event
The book Looking for Alaska has a lot of references to the three main
characters smoking and underage drinking. In fact the climax of the book is
when Alaska drives drunk and gets in a fatal car crash. Miles and Colonel were
unaware of the risk that they put Alaska in when they helped her drive off
campus aware of the fact that two hours earlier she had finished a bottle of
wine. When they find out the Alaska has died they are both devastated and blame
themselves for not stopping her. Miles and Colonel let they guilt eat at them
and decide the only way to make up for it is to figure out exactly how the
wreck happened and where Alaska was going. If they had known the consequences
of their actions they probably would have never allowed her to drive away or
possibly even gotten drunk in the first place. Today there are news stories
everyday about underage drinking and deaths related to drunk driving. People believe
if they educate the youth about all the negative effects alcohol and tobacco
has on your brain and the chances that they could cause the death of someone
else, the rates of DUIs would decrease. Below I have listed three websites. Two
of them are informational about what happens to an underdeveloped brain when exposed
to those drugs and the other one is the Mothers Against Drunk Driving homepage.
http://www.toosmarttostart.samhsa.gov/tweens/facts/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/216353-youth-smoking-drinking/
http://www.madd.org/
http://www.toosmarttostart.samhsa.gov/tweens/facts/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/216353-youth-smoking-drinking/
http://www.madd.org/
Videos by John Green
Themes
Death: This theme is the main theme in the book
because this is what the novel revolves around. Even before the actual death
occurs, death is a recurring theme, from Alaska’s mother’s death, to Miles’
trying to find out what happens when you die. Alaska is a character in the book
that is fully associated with the theme of death. It has played an important
role in her life, and also the future of the other characters. This theme
reinforces the storyline because the storyline, in the second part of the book,
revolves around Alaska’s death. There are many instances where Miles tries to
figure out why this happened, and what life and death is really about. This
theme is directly linked to the themes of life and the meaning of life. Death
is an important part of life, although many people fail to see it. Death is
usually something that most people avoid talking about because it scares them,
but it is important to face death and to be aware that it can touch anybody
close to you. The book uses death as a theme to show the readers that death is
something inevitable but we can never become ready for it.
Self-Discovery: The theme of self discovery is extremely present throughout the whole book. By the end of the book, almost every character has figured something out about themselves because of the experiences they have been through. Self discovery is much more present as theme within Miles because he is the character that undergoes the most change throughout the entire book. Miles used to be shy, lonely and very excluded from social tendencies. Because of the Colonel and Alaska, Miles becomes completely different and discovers his true self with their help. Alaska helps Miles discover a lot about himself. When Alaska dies, Miles discovers a new part of him filled with regret, guilt, love, sadness, bitterness and gets to understand himself better by experiencing all these new feelings and thoughts. The Colonel discovers a lot about himself after Alaska’s death also, parts of him he did not know he had.
Self-Discovery: The theme of self discovery is extremely present throughout the whole book. By the end of the book, almost every character has figured something out about themselves because of the experiences they have been through. Self discovery is much more present as theme within Miles because he is the character that undergoes the most change throughout the entire book. Miles used to be shy, lonely and very excluded from social tendencies. Because of the Colonel and Alaska, Miles becomes completely different and discovers his true self with their help. Alaska helps Miles discover a lot about himself. When Alaska dies, Miles discovers a new part of him filled with regret, guilt, love, sadness, bitterness and gets to understand himself better by experiencing all these new feelings and thoughts. The Colonel discovers a lot about himself after Alaska’s death also, parts of him he did not know he had.