john greem
John Green’s novel Looking for Alaska tells the story of Miles Halter, a shy teenager who transfers to Culver Creek Boarding School for his junior year of high school, in search of the “Great Perhaps”. His roommate, Chip “the Colonel” Martin, takes Miles under his wing, nicknames him Pudge, and introduces him to smoking, drinking, pranks, and Alaska Young. Alaska is a beautiful moody, self-destructive girl who catches Pudge’s attention. One night, after getting drunk with the Colonel and briefly making out with Pudge, Alaska breaks down crying, drives off campus and dies in a car wreck. Alaska’s friends must come to terms with their guilt and grief and accept that they will never know if the wreck was an accident or suicide.
There are several themes in this novel. One theme is that there is more to life and more to any person than can be experienced or known. Pudge reads biographies and memorizes people’s last words to try to understand what kind of people they were. He looks for meaning in the facts and the words that are recorded after a person dies. Alaska fascinates Pudge because he does not “get” her, he cannot figure her out, but Alaska says, “‘You never get me. That’s the whole point’” (54). Alaska knows that people are complex beyond anyone’s ability to understand. Pudge feels like someone who has lost his glasses and is told that there are no more glasses in the world, and he will “just have to do without” (144). Seeing represents knowing, and Pudge will never know the world through the filter of Alaska ever again. Ultimately, Pudge realizes that “we are greater than the sum of our parts,” and because energy can never be created nor destroyed, “that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail” (220-221).
The novel’s plot, theme, style, setting and mode work together to formulate a powerful piece of literature. The structural device of counting down days rather than simply progressing through
There are several themes in this novel. One theme is that there is more to life and more to any person than can be experienced or known. Pudge reads biographies and memorizes people’s last words to try to understand what kind of people they were. He looks for meaning in the facts and the words that are recorded after a person dies. Alaska fascinates Pudge because he does not “get” her, he cannot figure her out, but Alaska says, “‘You never get me. That’s the whole point’” (54). Alaska knows that people are complex beyond anyone’s ability to understand. Pudge feels like someone who has lost his glasses and is told that there are no more glasses in the world, and he will “just have to do without” (144). Seeing represents knowing, and Pudge will never know the world through the filter of Alaska ever again. Ultimately, Pudge realizes that “we are greater than the sum of our parts,” and because energy can never be created nor destroyed, “that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail” (220-221).
The novel’s plot, theme, style, setting and mode work together to formulate a powerful piece of literature. The structural device of counting down days rather than simply progressing through