Looking for Alaska

About the Book

The novel Looking for Alaska follows the protagonist Miles Halter, also known as Pudge, as he goes on his journey looking for “The Great Perhaps.” “The Great Perhaps” is another way of saying that Miles is looking to a journey to look for aspects of life he has never encountered before. He indeed encounters just that when he meets Alaska Young, for whom he develops an infatuation. He discovers many good qualities about Alaska, like her intelligence and her free spirit. At the same time, she also proves to be sexually manipulative by using Miles’ attraction to her for attention, and eventually “hooking up” with Miles, while insisting she has a boyfriend whom she loves. Another quality of Alaska’s is that she is mysterious, meaning no one knows what to expect from her, and no one knows why she can be moody or mean. However, Miles and his friends later learn that Alaska is emotionally unstable because she feels responsible for her mother’s death by aneurysm, that she did not know how to handle as an eight-year-old child.

After “hooking up” with Pudge, a drunk Alaska realizes that it was the anniversary of her mother’s death, and heads to a grave while crashing into a car at a fast speed, which ultimately leads to her death. After her death, Miles and his friend “The Colonel” look for what her cause of death actually was: accident or suicide. However, the eventually come to the conclusion that no matter what the cause of Alaska’s death is, she is dead, and they must learn to accept the fact of her death and keep moving forward. Although, they continue to live in the world in Alaska’s memory and living with her free-spirited contribution she made on them.

Impact

The first time I heard about Looking for Alaska is hearing my sisters talk about the book. When I would hear them talk about it, I was personally not interested in John Green because in my mind I thought all I was going to read was a teenage love story. In other words, I kept thinking of him as a Nicolas Sparks figure. Then, when the book was proposed as a reading for my senior seminar class, I actually ranked it pretty high-up on my list of books I wanted to read because I wanted to know what my sisters were talking about, and I also found something inside of me that said that I should give it a shot because I was in one of my hopeless-romantic moods when I voted. I actually liked this book a lot more than I thought I would because it was not as simple as a teen romance book. It was so much more than that. It was learning about coming to terms with life and death, coming of age, and discovering one’s identity. Most importantly, it was figuring out the contribution one makes to the world while living and after one’s death. I liked how well-developed Alaska was as a character, and how the reader learned why she was the way she was. She was so much more well-developed than the rest of the characters, even Miles in my opinion, to show the kind of contribution that a person like that can make on someone else’s life, even after her death. To me, it was a very realistic portrayal of how human beings impact others and how human beings move on after a death, but keep living with the characteristics of that person in mind. I guess John Green is not that much like Nicolas Sparks after all.

Values

This book helped me form what I think is the most important question human beings must answer, as Miles’ religion teacher asks them on their final exam. What contribution are you making to the world? In my opinion, this is what literature should do for people, as stated in my literature philosophy. It should examine the contribution people make to the world while living and after death. In other words, how does each character in a piece of literature contribute to his or her world? What is the importance of that contribution? The book looks at how Alaska contributed to the world before and after her death, and how her friends will continue to memorialize her free spirit even after her death. Also, the idea of “The Great Perhaps” shows how Miles is going to embark on a new adventure and meet new people who will contribute to his identity, like Alaska. Also, his journey shows his “coming of age” when he learns to accept the circumstances of Alaska’s death, and continue to let her free-spirit live on by embodying it himself.

Significance to My Students

Looking for Alaska teaches people that although it can be bothersome not knowing the answer to a troubling event, like someone’s death, happened in the past and should be accepted as such. Furthermore, it teaches students that accepting these events is what happens in life and that moving forward in life is growing up, or coming of age. However, although a person has moved on, that does not simply mean that the student will forget the impact that person had on them. It also teaches people that what one goes through is what develops his or her identity. Every person or experience a student comes across will have some sort of impact or contribution on his or her identity whether the person is dead or alive, or whether the experience is good or bad. For fifth graders, I would not think that experiencing the death of a classmate should be that prevalent, but they may have experienced the death of a family member. With that in mind, will have moved on with time about that death, but they must never forget how that person’s death impacted them. In a way, this can be hard to teach students because it is their process of finding meaning, which is hard for me to teach them. However, the best thing I would be able to do for my students is to help them cope with death and help them “remember the good times”. Looking for Alaska shows the healing process of death, and when a student comes in one’s class experiencing death, that student will be devastated. However, with the “remember the good times” idea, students will remember that impact that loved on made on him or her, and live with that person’s good qualities, but with time, the student will have moved on from that death, and that experience with death and the qualities that student loved will contribute to his or her identity.

What is the most important question human beings must answer? The most important question they should answer is, “What contribution are you making to the world?” Answering this question makes it easier for human beings to understand how their identity will be able to develop. Although the question is a big question for fifth graders and even children Miles’ age to answer, the process of trying to find the answer helps one develop one’s identity. It is important to note that knowing the answer is not what helps a child coming of age develop one’s identity, but the process that develops one’s identity, and developing identity will help one figure out how they will contribute to the world. Many children do not know the answer to this question instantly; they have to figure out the answer on their own as they go through life and experience the world. In other words, the process of “coming of age” seems to be the process of answering this question. A young person grows older and goes through a series of trials to learn a lesson. When he or she learns that lesson, one has “come of age”. For example, Miles comes of age when he learns to accept the reality of death, and that he will not always have answers for the death of a loved one. Now, Miles will analyze how his experiences with Alaska and her death will help him make a contribution to the world.

When the young person comes of age, one could possibly have the answer to that question, or at least have an idea of how to answer that question. When one answers this question, he or she has completely figure out the person he or she wants to be. In other words, one has figures out the character traits that define his or her character that will impact others they interact with and the places they go. They may figure out what career they wish to pursue, but it is important to recognize that just because a child has “come of age” does not guarantee the career path they wish to pursue will not change or they will know at all. In fact, most young people do not know what career path they want to take. While I am teaching fifth graders, I know they will have ideas, but since they are still so young, their career aspirations may change.