Green, J. (2005). Looking for Alaska. NY: Dutton Books.
Miles Halter, a teenage
boy obsessed with last words, leaves his normal high school in Florida to
attend Culver Creek Preparatory High School in Alabama for his junior year. Miles'
new roommate, Chip "The Colonel" Martin, nicknames Miles
"Pudge" and introduces Pudge to his friends: hip-hop emcee Takumi
Hikohito and Alaska Young, a beautiful but emotionally unstable girl.
Alaska loves literature and Learning of Pudge's obsession with biographies and famous last words, Alaska informs him of her favorite poet, Simon Bolivar’s last words, : "Damn it. How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!” At first, Pudge thinks it odd, but later learns of the quote’s importance.
Culver Creek is famous for the “pranks” students pull on each other and the staff. Miles is initiated into the pranking world on his first night at Culver Creek, when he is kidnapped and thrown into a lake by the "Weekday Warriors," a group of rich rival schoolmates.
Alaska introduces Pudge to Romanian classmate, Lara, hoping sparks will fly. She is the last to join the group of friends. Unfortunately, Pudge and Lara have a disastrous date, ending with a concussed Pudge throwing up on Lara. Alaska and Pudge grow closer, and he begins to fall in love with her, although she insists on keeping their relationship platonic because she has a boyfriend at Vanderbilt University named Jake, whom she insists that she loves.
The gang celebrates a
successful series of pranks by drinking and partying, and an inebriated Alaska
confides about her mother's death from an aneurysm when she was eight
years old. Although she failed to understand it at the time, she feels guilty
for not calling 911. Pudge figures that her mother's death made Alaska
impulsive and rash. A week later, after another "celebration," an
intoxicated Alaska and Pudge spends part of the night fooling around. Later that same night, Alaska receives a phone
call that causes her to become hysterical. Insisting that she has to leave,
Alaska drives away while still drunk, and the Colonel and Pudge distract Mr.
Starnes, the Headmaster. The next morning, they find out that Alaska was in a terrible
car accident and died.
The Colonel and Pudge
are devastated, blame themselves, wonder about her reasons for undertaking the
urgent drive, and even contemplate that she might have deliberately killed
herself. The Colonel insists on questioning Jake, her boyfriend, but Pudge
refuses for fear of a confirmation that she used him. They argue, and the
Colonel accuses Pudge of loving only an idealized Alaska that he made up in his
head. Pudge realizes the truth and reconciles with the Colonel.
As a way of celebrating
Alaska's life, Pudge, the Colonel, Takumi, and Lara team up with the Weekday
Warriors to hire a male stripper to speak at Culver's Speaker Day, a prank that
had been developed by Alaska before her death. The whole school finds it
hilarious; Mr. Starnes even acknowledges how clever it was.
While cleaning out her dorm room, Pudge finds Alaska's copy of The General in His Labyrinth. He located the labyrinth quote underlined and notices the words "straight and fast" written in the margins. He remembers Alaska died on the morning after the anniversary of her mother's death and concludes that Alaska felt guilty for not visiting her mother's grave and, in her rush, might have been trying to reach the cemetery.
On the last day of school, Takumi confesses in
a note that he was the last person to see Alaska, and he let her go as well.
Pudge realizes that letting her go no longer matters as much. He forgives
Alaska for dying, as he knows Alaska forgives him for letting her go.
He concludes that the
labyrinth was a person's suffering and that humans must try to find their way
out.
I found that the labyrinth
is an important symbol in the book. It represents
personal suffering, and it is different for everyone. Alaska’s labyrinth is dealing with the loss
of her mother and the guilt her role in it brings. Miles’ labyrinth is his love for Alaska but
knowing she doesn’t feel the same for him.
Colonel’s’ labyrinth is his self-worth.
He feels he is a worthless human being, and he is constantly trying to
prove it by his actions.
The tone of the book is
dark. You can feel the character’s pain
and can for shadow that something bad will happen.
I liked the book, but
it was a bit slow in the beginning. It
took me a while to get into it. It is
not a book that could be taught in a classroom because it has a lot of sex,
drinking and smoking.
I found a study guide
for the book. It is from a site called
coursehero. It has context, characters,
plot summary, quotes, symbols, themes, and an about the author section.
No comments:
Post a Comment