John Green's young adult fiction novel, Looking for Alaska, follows the protagonist, sixteen year old Miles Halter, a high school student who wishes to seek what life has to offer him outside his lonely, uneventful life. The novel begins with Miles's parents throwing him a goodbye party as he has decided to leave his home in Florida, to attend Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama for his junior year of high school. Miles explains his decision to attend a new school with an excerpt from Francois Rabelais’s last words, “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.” (pg. 5) Shortly after Miles's arrival at his new school, he makes a close friend of his roommate, Chip "the Colonel" Martin. Chip ironically nicknames Miles, Pudge, because he is so scrawny. …show more content…
Chip introduces Miles to a self-destructive, reckless girl named Alaska Young, who Miles is instantly captivated by.
Mile's affections grow for Alaska as the novel progresses, but unfortunately for him, she is dating a college student and he lacks the confidence to approach her with his affections. It does not take long for the trio to quickly become close friends, Chip and Alaska are the only real and adventureous friends Miles has ever had. Early on in the novel Miles admits his feelings for Alaska; but just to himself, of course. Over Culver Creeks Thanksgiving break most students leave to visit their families, but Alaska has chosen to stay on campus, therefore Miles decides to follow her lead in hopes of furthering a relationship with her. When Miles and Alaska are left alone on campus, they snoop through the rooms of their classmates to see who they truly are, and eventually Alaska falls asleep next to Miles after their secret exploration. As Alaska peacefully sleeps, Miles thinks to himself in possibly the novel's most famous paragraph: "I wanted so badly to lie down next to her on the couch, to wrap my arms around her and sleep. Not f***, like in those movies. Not even have sex. Just sleep together in the most innocent sense of the …show more content…
phrase. But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane." (pg. 88) This quote symbolizes Miles feelings for Alaska, while many high school aged boys view girls as mere sexual objects, Miles genuinely cares for Alaska. Miles is stating Alaska is hard to not notice, imposing, whereas he feels insignificant and unnoticed in comparison, like drizzle to a hurricane. At a later point in the novel nearing the end, the three play truth or dare while Alaska and Chip are drunk. Alaska dares Miles to hook up with her, to which he eagerly agrees. The two kiss a few times but then she falls asleep, and shortly after, Alaska is awakened by a phone call, which causes her to leave the room for a short time, and when she returns, she is hysterically crying. Alaska urges the Miles and Chip to distract the school's dean so she can drive off campus. As Miles and Chip are caught up in the situation, they completely space the fact that Alaska is drunk and they fall asleep once she is successfully off school grounds. The following morning, Culver Creek calls the entire student body to the gym for an announcement. Mr. Starnes, the dean of Culver Creek, announces the tragedy that Alaska Young has been in a fatal car crash the night before. Alaska's heartbroken friends, Miles and Chip, make it their mission to find out the truth about Alaska's death: was it suicide or an unfortunate accident? Why was it so important she left that night?
During their investigation, it occurs to Miles and Chip that the night Alaska died was the anniversary of her mother’s death. Every year, Alaska left flowers on her mother's grave, it is possible that she had forgotten this year due to having fun with her two friends. As life goes on, Miles and Chip come to terms with the loss of their beloved friend, they rest the mystery of Alaska and the potential details that led to her death, as they have failed to come up with any answers, only assumptions. Miles has a passion for remembering people's last words. The last page of this novel holds a sincere quote, which is spoken by Miles himself, "So I know she forgives me, as I forgive her. Thomas Edison's last words were: "It's very beautiful over there." I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful." (pg. 221) The reader may potentially find this to be a bad ending, since major questions about Alaska are left unanswered, but this quote creates an image in your head. Where exactly is over there? That is up to the reader's imagination to decide, over there could be anywhere. The before and after structure of the novel gives readers a good explanation of what occured before and after the event of
Alaska's death. When left with only speculations, the reader can imagine the ending however they would like to. Looking for Alaska is a novel that teenagers may feel somewhat a connection to. As John Green uses the characters to show the experiences of love and loss, and how pain reverberates, seeming endless. It’s also about the search for that Great Perhaps that Miles is so fond over. Although the novel is centered around a heart-wrenching event, it gives off a mysterious, yet adventoreous teenager mood. Once Miles attends Culver Creek, he experinces things such as drinking, smoking, and being a prankster with his friends; things that are typical for high school students to become exposed to. This fiction story would be recommended to someone who enjoys a good mystery, or a reader who likes to find the deeper meaning to the figurative language used by the author, which Green used plenty of.
Task/Activity: Instead of taking a spelling test, students in both classes jumped right into PARCC preparation. Students received a packet containing a reading selection from the novel A Woman Who Went to Alaska and multiple choice questions that was included on the 2015 PARCC and released to the public. Students read the packet and answered the questions independently before the class reconvened, discussing the reading and its questions as a group. Following this activity, students worked together in pairs to write down the challenges they faced while completing the packet and identify the skills they still need in order to succeed on the PARCC exam. After this, the class received a packet titled “Ruby Bridges: Girl of Courage,” and were instructed to complete the first task, which including reading and annotating as well as completing four questions about the passage. The rest of the packet would be completed in stages during the following week.
The climax of the story is when Miles is shot by the Bonewoman. The reader comes to realize that Miles’ choice to live life on the safe side was a mistake:
Today I am going to be explaining how the three different point of views or P.O.V the narrators in three different stories all about unfairness to the miners during the gold rush or the late eight-teen-hundreds though. Mainly I'm going to be mentioning the character's narrators background, family, and their opinions. For opinions I'm going to be talking about if they thought the rules where to strict or just right.
Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong somewhere and just wanted to get away? Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is about a guy named Christopher who called himself Alex, and he just wanted to get away from his life and live how he wanted. Christopher McCandless stands out because he shows his emotions thoroughly and goes through with what he thinks. McCandless can be described as a thrill seeker, arrogant, and courageous.
The characters in Empire Falls go through many changes throughout the novel. By the end of the novel Miles is changed drastically. He begins the novel as a slow moving, trusting, somewhat depressed individual. By the end of the novel, Miles has achieved an epiphany. No longer letting the world step on his dreams, Miles goes after with a roar the dreams and desires that have lain dormant for twenty years. His ex-wife, Janine, also comes to realize that the dreams she thought she had are not necessarily what she wants after all. Janine comes to accept herself for Janine, instead of flailing around wildly trying to find herself in outward appearances. Tick has learned a lesson that we all come to at some point in our lives, that people are not always good and there is danger in the world.
Into the Wild, written by John Krakauer tells of a young man named Chris McCandless who 1deserted his college degree and all his worldly possessions in favor of a primitive transient life in the wilderness. Krakauer first told the story of Chris in an article in Outside Magazine, but went on to write a thorough book, which encompasses his life in the hopes to explain what caused him to venture off alone into the wild. McCandless’ story soon became a national phenomenon, and had many people questioning why a “young man from a well-to-do East Coast family [would] hitchhike to Alaska” (Krakauer i). Chris comes from an affluent household and has parents that strived to create a desirable life for him and his sister. As Chris grows up, he becomes more and more disturbed by society’s ideals and the control they have on everyday life. He made a point of spiting his parents and the lifestyle they lived. This sense of unhappiness continues to build until after Chris has graduated college and decided to leave everything behind for the Alaskan wilderness. Knowing very little about how to survive in the wild, Chris ventures off on his adventure in a state of naïveté. It is obvious that he possessed monumental potential that was wasted on romanticized ideals and a lack of wisdom. Christopher McCandless is a unique and talented young man, but his selfish and ultimately complacent attitude towards life and his successes led to his demise.
Jon Krakauer, fascinated by a young man in April 1992 who hitchhiked to Alaska and lived alone in the wild for four months before his decomposed body was discovered, writes the story of Christopher McCandless, in his national bestseller: Into the Wild. McCandless was always a unique and intelligent boy who saw the world differently. Into the Wild explores all aspects of McCandless’s life in order to better understand the reason why a smart, social boy, from an upper class family would put himself in extraordinary peril by living off the land in the Alaskan Bush. McCandless represents the true tragic hero that Aristotle defined. Krakauer depicts McCandless as a tragic hero by detailing his unique and perhaps flawed views on society, his final demise in the Alaskan Bush, and his recognition of the truth, to reveal that pure happiness requires sharing it with others.
After April and Roger search desperately for Cheryl, they look for several weeks, and have no idea where she has gone. One night Cheryl’s friend Nancy calls April, and explains that she was leaving with her, but she had left suddenly and believes she is going to do something bad. April remembers that Cheryl told her how their mother committed suicide, by jumping off the Louis Bridge. When they arrive at the bridge a group of people say they saw a women jumped off and commit suicide about five minutes before they arrived.
Our team presentation focused on three Latino gangs, MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), the Mexican Mafia and the Los Surenos gang. My part of the presentation was to provide information on the type of crime these three gangs are known to commit. The crimes committed by the MS-13 gang are varied, violent, and take place all over the country. The FBI even put together a task force called the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in December of 2004 to try to put a stop to this gang’s activities. (www.fbi.gov). Los Surenos or Sur-13, originally based in Los Angeles, has also branched out from turf wars with rival gangs to “for profit”, violent crimes across the country. The Mexican Mafia has a similar story to tell as well in regards to gang crimes, which again range from respect crimes, and retaliatory violence to crimes for profit.
While Addie lies dying on her corn-shuck mattress, Darl convinces Jewel to take a trip with him to pick up a load of lumber. Darl knows that Jewel is Addie's favorite child. The trip for lumber is a contrivance- Darl's way of keeping Jewel from his mother's bedside when she dies. A wheel breaks on the wagon, and before Darl and Jewel can replace it, bring the wagon home, and load Addie's body onto it for the trip to Jefferson, three days have passed. By this time, heavy rains have flooded the Yoknapatawpha River and washed out all the bridges that cross it. The river is vicious, and the Bundrens' mules drown. The wagon tips over, and. Jewel, on horseback, manages to keep the wagon and its load from drifting downstream, saving his mother’s decomposing body. When the family finally makes it through the ordeal, they spend the night at the Gillespies' farm. Darl sets fire to the barn where Addie's body is stored in an effort to spare his mother. However, Jewel once again saves her coffin with a heroic act.
Sometimes a character may be pushed over the edge by our materialistic society to discover his/her true roots, which can only be found by going back to nature where monetary status was not important. Chris McCandless leaves all his possessions and begins a trek across the Western United States, which eventually brings him to the place of his demise-Alaska. Jon Krakauer makes you feel like you are with Chris on his journey and uses exerts from various authors such as Thoreau, London, and Tolstoy, as well as flashbacks and narrative pace and even is able to parallel the adventures of Chris to his own life as a young man in his novel Into the Wild. Krakauer educates himself of McCandless’ story by talking to the people that knew Chris the best. These people were not only his family but the people he met on the roads of his travels- they are the ones who became his road family.
Through the first page, Steinbeck cleverly foreshadows the final chapter. Subsequently when the reader reaches the final chapter, they realise that the opening of chapter six repeats the onset of the novel. The image of the sun "climbing up to slopes of the Gabilan mountains" seems like the return to paradise.
Generally, adolescents feel as running away from home is a solution to all their problems. Most people think that running away from one’s problem leads to negative consequences, however, that is proven wrong, according to the novel Crabbe by William Bell. In the novel Crabbe by William Bell, 18-year-old Franklin Crabbe’s decision shows that running away is a considerable approach to solving one’s problems. He packs his bags and runs off into the woods in hopes of finding inner tranquility and freedom. Throughout his journey in the woods, Crabbe unexpectedly receives more than what he seeks for. In the woods, Crabbe receives great rewards such as quality moral support from a strong willed woman named Mary Pallas, he obtains many important survival skills, and he becomes an overall more responsible and mature person.
... through her hug, squeezing the life out of him because of her own fears of the supposed ghosts. Miles response is so ambiguous it leaves the reader with only theories with no way of knowing for a fact what really happened.
Chip Martin, in my opinion, is the character with the most to lose in Looking For Alaska.