Looking for alaska
main characters & plot:
John Green's first novel, "Looking for Alaska" is about Miles Halter who has always been fascinated with last words. But for his Junior year of high school he decides to go in search for "The Great Perhaps" in hopes of finding what he's always been looking for. So he decides to adventure off to Culver Creek Boarding School where he meets the compelling Alaska Young, who he falls deeply in love with. He also meets Chip "Colonel" Martin, who gives him the nickname "Pudge", he also meets Takumi Hikohito. As they all emerge into a friendship together, they all learn new things about each other, even Pudge learns that he himself was beginning to grow feeling for Alaska. He also figures out that Alaska is very broken in the inside, but doesn't know the seriousness of her brokenness until much later. As they all have great times with each other, there happy-times come to an end when Alaska suddenly dies in a car accident, leaving everyone with questions. Especially Pudge. Now they are in a hurry to find out the truth, if Alaska's death was an accident... or not. Pudge, Colonel, and Takumi are now searching for answers, clues, and ultimately questioning themselves, all in hope of finding answers that they may never find.
Important Themes & Symbols: Hope
Amidst all the tragedy hope was very embedded into the book. From the beginning when Pudge decided to go to Culver Creek, he had HOPE of finding answers to, "...seek the Great Perhaps" (5). As he assist Culver Creek Alaska dies and that makes him go on a journey in HOPES of finding the real reasons and answers in Alaska's death. He doesn't give up and through the journey with hope he realizes that, "We can never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken."(221) Meaning, through so much pain and confusion, Pudge was able to use and find hope.