Themes In Looking For Alaska

Looking for Alaska is a novel written by John Green set in Alabama specifically the campus at the Culver Creek boarding school with the exception of a few important locations such as the Smoking Hole. The story is narrated in the first person through the perspective of Miles “Pudge” Halter, which has its disadvantages as he turns into a mental wreck after the death of Alaska.

The novel “Looking For Alaska” focuses on many themes such as friendship, death, mortality and rules and order. These themes are seen predominately throughout the course of the novel and inspire character development of each character in particular “Pudge”. The themes that will be focused on in this report are friendship and death.

The main protagonists, Miles leaves his hometown to find his so called “Great Perhaps”. He finds this in the people he meets of Alaska and The Colonel. Together the three of them form a bond and begin to value friendship equally if not more than any other Disney story. Even through his new friends introduce him to all kinds of illegal mischief such as underage smoking and drinking, but what he really values about these new friends is that they accept him for who he is and don’t try to manipulate or change him.

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Symbols are seen in many aspects of the novel even in the characters names of Alaska Young and Miles Halter. Miles’ last name, ‘Halter’ is more than just a name, it has a meaning that corresponds to him as a character and the meaning is “a strap or rope placed around the head of a horse or other animal, used for leading or tethering it”. This is relevant to Miles life as his has always been the safe and conservative type willing to be lead. While Alaska’s name ‘Young’ is also relative to her personality as she is young, wild and free. Which is seen in her need to be rebellious and urge to constantly break the campus rules by smoking, drinking and having