Looking For Alaska Guilt

In the book “Looking For Alaska,” I guess you can say, everyone is a little messed up in their own way. There are two major characters, one named Miles “Pudge” Halter. Now, Miles is a very intriguing character, he starts of as an antisocial person who remembers the last words of people. He's not very out going and he goes to “seek a great perhaps,” (8) which were the last words of a Francois Rabelais, who was a poet. He is not your average guy, not the guy a girl would fall in love with right away. Another main character is a girl named Alaska Young. She is very intriguing and not the average person you would meet, but she is beautiful. She has a certain kind of gloom or death kind of feel that she always carries around. She helped Miles break

out of his shell and try new things, she was an adventurer. She doesn't seek the “great perhaps” like Miles because she already lives the “great perhaps” everyday. She is a very self-destructive person. She is something else. Another character is a guy called the Colonel, he is not a main character, but someone who is friends with both Alaska and Miles. Colonel is a very interesting person. He is someone that Miles cares about and is grateful for because he helped Miles make new friends, befriended Miles, introduced him to Alaska and many more things. Colonel is another person who helped break Miles out of his shell and helped him “get out there.”
This book contains three major themes throughout the entire book, these themes are felt throughout each and every chapter. The first theme is death. Death is a themed used in the book more frequently that not. The theme death follows a character, Alaska, throughout the entire book, it never leaves her. Alaska’s life is fully associated with the theme death; her mother's death, Miles and Alaska trying to figure out what happens to you when you die, and lastly, (spoiler alert ahead) Alaska’s death. The book revolves may revolve around the theme death but there is another major theme in this book; self discovery.
Self discovery is extremely present throughout the entire book as well, every character has figured something out, about themselves, by the end of the book. This theme is a more present theme with Miles. Miles was not the best person in the world in the beginning of the book, he was a shy little butterfly who had not come out of his cocoon yet. As the book progresses, Miles makes more friends, he starts to realize that he can actually do this, he can stand being away from his parents. Albeit, there is some homesickness, he still can do this. He also learns that he thrives for the risk, he loves them. He does seek the “great perhaps” after all, all he ever wanted was some adventure and love in his life. He learns all of this during his time at the boarding school. He is always learning new things about himself everyday that he is at the boarding school. He is discovering himself.
The last main theme in the book is guilt.

Guilt, in a way is presented in mysterious ways. The first of guilt in the book was when MIles was leaving his parents behind in Florida to go to the boarding school. He feels more guilt after he decides to stay at the boarding school with Alaska instead of going home to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. Guilt is also felt a whole lot more in the second half of the book, specifically after Alaska’s death. This guilt is felt through Miles, colonel, and a girl named Takumi, also a friend of Alaska, MIles, and Colonel, they all felt guilt for Alaska’s death. They all partially blamed themselves because they all were drinking the a couple of hours before and everyone was not at their right mind at the moment. And yet, when Alaska remembered something and needed to drive somewhere, they let her go because they were all drunk even though they knew they should have stopped

her.
The author John Green has a marvelous writing skill, in my opinion. He always has a way of intriguing the reader, he adds a mysterious vibe to his characters, and something else to them. He finds the perfect match for his characters. This is not the first book i read a book by the author John Green and it definitely will not be the last. He is an amazing writer and i absolutely love him. For this book specifically, i can connect to this book so much. This book may be depressing and something not everyone wants to read but i am glad that i read it. I could relate to the main characters, alaska and Miles, more than anything. Alaska has always been the way she is in the book and MIles has too, i don't know how to explain it but i can just relate to this whole book in a way. This book is very good, and very different from many others books. At first you would think it's your cliche love story but as you read more and you understand it, then you realize that it has a deeper meaning to it. This book also has many marvelous quotes, for example the quote, ““So this guy,” i said, standing in the doorway of the living room. “Francois Rabelais. He was a poet and his last words were ‘i go to seek a great perhaps.’ Thats why im going. So i don't have to wait until i die to start seeking a great perhaps.”” (8) What i understand or pick up from this quote is that we should not have to wait until we die to take any risks. We should take chances and life and hope for the best, never give up and just strive to give yourself a happy life so you can die satisfied with yourself for doing everything that you wanted to do. Another quote that really piked my interest was, “i just did some calculations and i have been able to determine that you’re full of s**t.” (98) This quote helps me see that Miles has a great relationship with his friend Colonel, who said the quote, and that Colonel can see through his lies and will always be there for him to point out the facts, ALWAYS. The next quote is, “You just use the future to escape the present.” This quote tells me that we are all runners, each and everyone of us are runners. We run from the present because sometimes we do not want to be there, sometimes we run from the present even when its okay because we want to see how our lives are going to be like in the future and hope that we are still okay then. We all use the future to help us get through the present, we all want that escape.
In conclusion, “Looking For Alaska” is an amazing book with an amazing message to many people.

Its teaches you the consequences of life and things that happen in the real world. Things that happen when you do not think of the consequences and so i end this with my all time favorite quote from this book, “If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we can’t know better until knowing better is useless.”

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