Reading Response due Friday, the 12th (9/12/14)

Reading Response

Looking For Alaska
           
             In the story, “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, a boy named Miles Halter, also known as Pudge, is willingly sent off to a boarding school called Culver Creek, looking for a lifestyle different from his previous dull one back at home. Expecting to only meet a few new people and faculty, Miles is pleasantly surprised when he finds a group of close friends whom he becomes very fond of. In this group of individuals is a girl named Alaska, who is crazy, fun, and daring, everything Pudge is not yet everything he wants to be. She teaches him what living really is, and pulls him in to her innocent yet destructive life. A surprising end comes when Alaska dies in a car crash, leaving Pudge and his friends lost and clueless. Throughout the book, Pudge’s new thoughts and new experiences offer a perspective of a coming of age, teenage boy, and promote a theme carried along in the story. Overall, a large theme that is very present in this book is to always persevere even at the worst of times, and this is shown throughout the story in many different ways.

            To begin with, one way John Green teaches the readers to never give up is by showing the character’s previous backgrounds compared to their current day situations. With this, he teaches the readers that even though one’s history may be rough, as long as you persevere, your present doesn’t have to follow in the same direction. For example, at one point in the story, we learn about Alaska’s past life at home. We find out her mother died when she was eight, a memory that haunts her and makes her feel very guilty, thinking she could have prevented her mother’s death. “I should have called 911 , but I just started screaming and crying until she stopped jerking, and I thought she had fallen asleep and whatever hurt didn’t hurt anymore.” This shows Alaska feels very guilty for her mother’s death. Even though it was hard for her, she pushed through the sadness and persevered, coming to a better state of mind. This is emphasized by just learning about Alaska as a character. From the outside, you could never guess that she came from a very hard background, knowing her loving, lively personality. To add on, another character who is a friend of Miles called “The Colonel” also is shown as a figure who has overcome a lot from his personal background. We learn that his father left him at a very young age, leaving his mother to raise him alone on a single income. However, the Colonel transforms a negative aspect of his past into something positive, showing a way of overcoming hard situations. He says he wouldn’t have been able to grow up or become independent as quickly as he did, and branch out, if his dad hadn’t left. Overall, one very obvious way the author shows the theme of perseverance is through the characters overcoming some of their hard backgrounds.

            To add on, the most obvious way the author shows the importance of determination and never giving up is by illustrating how the characters overcome Alaska’s death. To start, Pudge, after grieving for many days, takes a questioning approach to her death. He is left with many unsolved questions, and he wants to find a specific reason as to how and why her death happened. Whether this is a form of denial, or just plain confusion, Pudge turns this into an almost investigation type thing, as a way to try to persevere in comprehending what went wrong. “And maybe it was only because Alaska couldn’t hit the breaks and I couldn’t hit the accelerator. Maybe she just had an odd kind of courage that I lacked.” In addition, another way the characters perseverance is shown is in remembering Alaska through a prank she had planned and wanted to do. In honor of her, Pudge, the Colonel, and Alaska’s other close friends organize what Alaska would have wanted to happen at the junior prank. In the end, it turns out successful, and comes as a remembrance and glimpse back at Alaska before she died. The author thoroughly shows that perseverance in a hard time of death can be met by distractions or memorials, and even more so, by trying to find an answer to your unsolved questions.

            Overall, “Looking for Alaska” has taught me that when a time may be hard or difficult, you always need to persevere. This has been represented through characters overcoming their rough backgrounds, or overcoming the loss of a very close friend and love. I find myself connecting this back to my personal life having been in challenging situations before. This book has taught me that I am not alone in going through tough times, and that there are many things I can do to persevere and keep going. “Looking for Alaska” has been a great summer read and I recommend it to anyone looking for some advice on determination, a romantic yet very heartfelt comedy, or just a quick view into what it’s like to finally come of age.