Preview

Responsive essay Looking for Alaska

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
672 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Responsive essay Looking for Alaska
“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.” John Green. In the book Looking for Alaska by John Green, the characters attempt to find every possible way out of a labyrinth, which everyone can find themselves while they still exist. While exploring, they discover that there is more to it than they can understand, because somethings just don’t have a fair explanation to make us truly believe. But, this doesn’t stop Green from suggesting us to try and seek a great perhaps, as Miles “Pudge” Halter does. The labyrinth of life can have drastic falls and tricky turns, but only one way out. The word labyrinth has a metaphorical meaning, which is life. We suffer through life every time we desire, because the suffering of life is product of loss. “Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.” John Green. We use the future as a distraction from this suffering, as a way out of it, because we are afraid to front-face the real problems. This is why we seek a great perhaps in life. That great perhaps is in everyones labyrinth, but not everyone finds the way to it. You can either let your mistakes and anger guide you to a “straight and fast”, as Alaska Young called it, end or learn to forgive yourself and others, as Miles “Pudge” Halter did. John Green shows us that we choose our own paths with the decisions we take and that there is still hope even when you think you are lost. “When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The novel Looking for Alaska by John Green takes place in Culver Creek, Alabama. This book was pleasurable to read and is recommended.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Screwtape Letters Essay

    • 1754 Words
    • 8 Pages

    I never really saw how anything good could ever come from my story…I couldn’t find a purpose for my pain, but even if I can’t see it now, God is weaving a…

    • 1754 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lake Minnetonka Essay

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Nestled within western Hennepin County and Carver County, Minnesota, Lake Minnetonka holds unique meaning for different people. The retreating Wisconsin Glacier of the last Ice Age that produced melted blocks of ice, gave life and form to this island lake. It was Alexander Ramsey, Minnesota’s territorial governor in 1852, who gave Lake Minnetonka its name. The lake is also commonly known as the Big Waters, deriving that nickname from the Sioux language in which “Minne” means water and “Tonka” means big or great. As the ninth largest lake in Minnesota, Lake Minnetonka features several islands, a series of interconnecting bays including Haltsed Bay and Grays Bay, and it covers 22.2 square miles of water, boasting roughly 110 miles of beautiful…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Elena Ferrante Analysis

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Her reasons traveled with her to her grave. I suffered from that. And then there was that former soulmate, who went around telling really tall tales about me. When we broke up, my heartsickness settled in for a long, long while. I can only describe that sorrow as suffering. By the time her rumors came to light, I didn’t even care anymore, thank goodness! Nevertheless, It’s impossible for me to forget how I vowed to never let anyone else in. And how I reversed course, only to be disappointed again. This is life—joy, pain, learning, forgetting, and starting all over again.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    rough draft

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive” (Green 218). In John Green’s, Looking for Alaska, Alaska and her friends are searching for the way of the “labyrinth” while finding their Great Perhaps at the same time.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The labyrinth is a symbolic labyrinth in the entire book Ts’ui Pen has written, which made chapters in the book seemed not linked and even opposing. The reason is that Ts’ui Pen wanted to use the novel to show the…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Minnesota Geography Essay

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Minnesota The sky is foggy and thick as the the sun elevates into the air. Mountains plot the Minnesota landscape. Woods stretch out for miles, miles, and miles without end. The animals devour on whatever they can find. In the darkness of the night, you can only make out the sounds of wolves.…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Every day we are given a fresh start; another chance to move forward in our lives and accomplish the things we thrive to achieve day to day. A new day can also liberate us from our past mistakes and provide us with a chance to change our ways. We are all faced with misery and misfortune at points in our lives, some more than others. We must recognize that it is not the burden in itself that shapes who we are, but how well or how poorly we deal with the difficulties. Sometimes misfortunes can be seen in a negative light; because it seems unjust, therefore we response in a negative matter, and become negligent to change. Overcoming tragic events is what truly counts, for we are meant to live happily and in acceptance that there are things that we cannot change. In many cases, individuals seem to feel as though they’ve lost an amount so great that they are unable to free themselves of the pain. This perspective often leads to further suffering. A Temporary Matter by Jhumpa Lahou and Kiss Me by Andrew Pyper demonstrate a loss of identity, negligence towards communication, and eventually leading to the destruction of a relationship.…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    On one plane, Stephen’s labyrinth exists in his mind; the many confusing and contradictory thoughts and opinions Stephen holds are each winding paths that cause Stephen to feel lost. On another plane, Stephen’s labyrinth is a metaphor for his journey through life and time on earth; the many possibilities and choices of Stephen’s life are each paths that could lead to his freedom in union with God after death. With that in mind, Stephen maneuvers each labyrinth differently to ultimately engage with…

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A labyrinth is classically a human construction designed to confuse. It can trap our lives, hiding our past and future and constantly forcing us to make choices, even though we may not know what the consequences of those choices might be. The confusion of the puzzle may even tempt us to run blindly through the labyrinth, ending in disaster. Life itself is often considered such a labyrinth, and by adopting the strategies of travelers who came before and choosing our path cautiously while playing close attention to the patterns of our lives, we may find the right path through the maze. Although the Labyrinth appears to be an intellectual challenge, every turn is accompanied by an ethical dilemma as well. "The Garden of Forking Paths" is both an ethical and intellectual riddle. Consideration of Yu Tsun 's intellectual choices must be accompanied by consideration of his ethical choices.…

    • 1647 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Looking For Alaska Essay

    • 852 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the book Looking for Alaska written by John Green is a story about how main character Miles “Pudge” Halter moves from his hometown in Florida to go to a boarding school in Alabama called Culver Creek High School, there he meets his roommate Chip “The Colonel” Martin and his friends Alaska Young, Takumi Hikohito, and Lara Buterskaya. Throughout the novel Pudge tries and does things that he never thought he would do, he falls in love, makes friends, and also loses one friend. There is one event in the book that completely changes the story because of how unexpected this incident was. This novel was written extremely well, but if I had the chance to ask John Green a question I would. In Looking For Alaska Miles “Pudge” Halter changes characters from the start of the novel to the end, one event changes the whole book, and if I had the chance to I would ask John Green a question.…

    • 852 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel “looking for Alaska”, is written by a famous author John Green. It’s a story of a teenage boy named Miles Halter, and how he leaves his home in Florida to attend Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama. All the chapters leave you something to think about. This novel is very engaging and shows a lot of maturity. Not only does this novel leave you surprised with a few twists but it teaches you life lessons like love, loss, grief and forgiveness.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The maze was a representation of where you look for what you want in life and it also represented the obstacles that we all face time after time. When I look back on the way my life has turned out and carefully think about certain outcomes, I can clearly see a maze and all of the right and wrong turns that I made along the way, probably more wrong turns than right. But the main message that Johnson wants to convey is Change and that it will eventually happen.…

    • 1738 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everybody’s journey in life is different; there are endless possibilities and paths to choose from. Many of us go through similar situations that we learn so much from, but in many different ways. In the story “Allegory of The Cave” by Plato, a prisoner gets out of the cave that he has been imprisoned in his whole life and see’s the real world as it really is. I went through a similar situation when I decided to move out on my own and left my “cave” into the real world. “Behold! Human beings living in an underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood” (page 1). The prisoner in the allegory of the cave has been imprisoned since birth. The only thing he saw were shadows, and felt a fire behind him and his whole life, this is all he saw. He was imprisoned with two others but could not turn to see them. He and the two other men in the cave would play games on what shadow they would see next and the winner would be the one who guessed right of course, but that is how they carried on in the cave. Since I was a child, the only thing I knew was wake up, go to school, come home, eat and sleep; Then I would wake up and repeat that process as well. I felt I wasn’t able to do anything for the first 18 years of my life. My parents would tell me to do something and I had no choice but to obey. Much like the prisoner I was eager to leave and see the world on my own. My parents said I couldn’t make it very long Gonzalez 2 without them, but I preceded with it anyway the first chance I had; I did not even thinking about any of the consequences that would come with it. The prisoner, similar to my situation, also left the cave the first chance he had when he escaped from his bindings. Shortly after I turned eighteen, I saved a little money and moved out with two of my friends. Much like…

    • 1067 Words
    • 31 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Retreat Center

    • 1860 Words
    • 8 Pages

    What is it?The labyrinth is a sacred circle with a single path that leads to its center. Walking the path lends itself to prayer and meditation. This kinesthetic style of prayer is especially valuable during those times when words cannot express the depths of heights of our experience.…

    • 1860 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays