Miles.Miles. Miles, a meek and socially awkward boy who is infatuated with last words, is first introduced as a teenager with few friends and no astounding characteristics. Miles begins on a personal journey to seek a “Great Perhaps” in accordance to the last words of Francois Rabelais. On his way, he acquires the nickname Pudge, inspiring new friends, answers to the ceaseless questions of his mind, experience, and resolution.
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Alaska.Alaska. John Green characterizes Alaska in a way that readers are simultaneously enamoured and repelled by her presence. Her spontaneous nature and obdurate arrogances are so demanding of a one’s attention that one is relentlessly drawn into the convoluted discrepancies of Alaska’s character. Alaska is plagued with the blame for her mother's death, and as she grows older she is unable to rid herself of this guilt and grief. Her unpredicted death is a major obstacle for the other characters in the novel, and her absence creates discomfort between the origional friend group.
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Colonel.The Colonel. The Colonel is an experienced and astute student at Culver Creek, which he has been attending for many years. Outside of the boarding school he lives with his mom in a small trailer park. Growing up with a chip on his shoulder, the Colonel has no tolerance for rich, white snobs. This intolerance instigates the rivalry between the Colonel’s friends and the “Weekday Warriors.” Colonel takes Miles, his new roommate, under his wing and teaches him the ways of Culver Creek kids.
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Takumi.Takumi. Takumi, energized by his rapping prowess, is the boisterous jokester of the group. With Miles's arrival at Culver Creek and his new acceptance into Takumi's group of friends, Takumi begins to feel left out. He is able to discuss these emotions in the end of the novel, so the group of friends can help one another heal from the hurt and the loss they experience with the tragic passing away of Alaska.
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Pudge's quest.
“And his last words were ‘I go to seek a Great Perhaps.’ That’s why I’m going. So I don’t have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.”
- Quester: Miles is the quester. He is introduced in the beginning of the novel, and it is obvious that he is uncomfortable in his home environment. He does not fit in socially, and he is bored with the normality and predictability of his schedule.
- Place to go: Mile's destination is Culver Creek, a boarding school away from home. The school is fully equip with a lake, evil swan, delicious bufriedos, and dorms. The only the thing that the dorms are lacking is an air conditioning unit.
- Reason to go: *Here Mile's quest differs from the traditional archetypal quest. His reason to go is extremely similar to his real reason to go which is uncovered later on in the novel.* Mile's explains early on in the story that his reason for going to Culver Creek is to seek a Great Perhaps.
- Challenges: Miles is challenged to chose a new friend group. After he is accepted into a friend group, Alaska, one of his closest friends, dies in a horrible car accident. Miles has to learn how to handle his grief. This is what the entire second half of the novel focuses on. Miles attempts to answer the many questions brought to his attention by Alaska, and he develops opinions and theories on how to live life. During his time at Culver Creek, he temporarily loses hope, and even doubts the existence of a Great Perhaps
- Real reason to go: Mile's real reason to go was to establish that a Great Perhaps does exist for him, and that he can find this Great Perhaps through friendship, hope, and forgiveness. Miles has never experienced genuine friendship before, and with his experience at Culver Creek, his peers help him grow as an individual and as a friend. He makes a transition out of adolesence with his newfound understanding of human nature, religion, and human emotion.
Pudge and holden.
Both Cather in the Rye and Looking for Alaska are Coming of Age novels. Main characters Pudge and Holden are both students in boarding schools who question the validity of statements and claims made by numerous adults who they encounter. Holden frequently calls adults phony, while Pudge doubts that adults understand the mentality teenagers. Pudge claims that teenagers are invincible, and as adults proceed with their daily lives, they forget what it is like to be a teenager. Both characters favor childhood of adulthood in the beginning of the novel, but learn to mature and accept their exists of adolescence towards the end of their journeys. Pudge and Holden have mentors that guide them and attempt to council them throughout the novel. Each character has an adult mentor and a nonadult mentor. Holden's adult mentor is Old Spencer, who attempts to direct Holden towards a more successful future. Old Spencer tells Holden, "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.” He gives Holden long lectures, attempting to help him implement reforms in his daily life choices. Pudge's adult mentor is his religious history teacher. He calls this teacher the "Old Man." The Old man pushes Pudge to pursue deep thinking questions: “What is the nature of being a person? What is the best way to go about being a person? How did we come to be, and what will become of us when we are no longer? In short: What are the rules of this game, and how might we best play it?” Holden's nonadult mentor is his younger sister Phoebe and Pudge's other mentor is Alaska. Both Phoebe and Alaska are portrayed as intellectual and wise individuals who maintain sufficient influence over the thoughts and actions of Holden and Pudge.
Symbolism.The labyrinth- The labyrinth is used as a metaphor for life. Alaska sees the labyrinth has a maze full of suffering and wrongdoings. The symbolism of the labyrinth is further explained in the video here.
Cigarettes- To Augustus, cigarettes are a metaphor for anything that kills. Augustus puts the killing weapon (the cigarette) in his mouth, but he does not light it. In this manner, the cigarette can do no damage to him. He is teasing the killer by not allowing it to harm him. Hazel has lung cancer, so she is offended at first when Augustus pretends to smoke, but she learns to embrace this metaphor as well once she becomes accustomed to Augustus's behaviors. Encouragements- In Augustus's house, his parents have displayed various encouraging phrases and sayings. These encouragements are his parent's attempts to cope with Augustus's cancer, and they are also attempts to encourage Augustus to stay strong. The encouragements symbolize hope, perseverance, and coping. "Home Is Where the Heart Is" "Good Friends Are Hard to Find and Impossible" "True Love Is Born from Hard Times" Video games- Augustus annoys Hazel Grace while they play video games by pretending to be overly heroic. He throws himself in front of bombs and gun shots to save the civilians in the games, even if it means he dies and loses the round. He views these occasions as successes and not losses, because he saved the virtual civilians lives. This is symbolic of Augustus's chritst-like attributes, such as self-sacrifice and the desire to make other people's lives better. |
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Religion.“I am going to take this bucket of water and pour it on the flames of hell, and then I am going to use this torch to burn down the gates of paradise so that people will not love God for want of heaven or fear of hell, but because He is God.”
This quote depicts the main character's observation that people are being scared into faith. Often times, people feel threatened by accusations and peremptory demands forcing them into religion. This quote expresses the desire to freely worship and develop faith without these factors.
Religion can be seen as frightening and overbearing when viewed as a staunch institution. Faith, however, is not reliant on a religious organization or specific religious affiliation. Faith is a personal set of beliefs, which can be created, changed, nourished, and deferred by organized religious institutions but, however, functions separately from them. "People, I thought, wanted security. They couldn't bear the idea of death being a big black nothing, couldn't bear the thought of their loved ones not existing, and couldn't even imagine themselves not existing. I finally decided that people believed in an afterlife because they couldn't bear not to."
Pudge concludes that the reason why people believe in an afterlife, heaven, or a "Great Perhaps" is because they are unable to fathom the concept of not existing. People are reliant on the hope of a heaven.
Religion is necessary because it provides answers to the ceaseless questions presented daily on this earth. With the comfort of these answers, people can find tranquility. Tranquility is a much desired state of mind in this world of chaos, noise, and conflict. Modern day Buddhism and Alaska.
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Pudge's Essay.
What is the most important a question that a human being must answer?
Pudge asks a question presented to him by Alaska, "How do we escape this labyrinth of suffering?". After Alaska's death, he is unable to ignore the ambiguity of the labyrinth any longer. Through periods of intense grief, hatred, anger, mourning, yearning, and love, he concludes that the most efficient escape route is forgiveness. Pudge declares, “I forgave him, and she forgave us, and we had to forgive to survive in the labyrinth." Pudge finds shelter and comfort in his answer, so he embraces his new revelation. With forgiveness, he begins the healing process of regaining the certainty and hope that Alaska stole with her when she got into the car the night of her death. He must overcome the resentment he feels towards her for driving drunk that night, her leaving without a good bye, and her selfishness. When he is able to forgive her, he accepts the reality that he must continue to hope without her presence. He accepts that he must proceed to seek a Great Perhaps, regardless of the circumstances. When he is able to resolve his conflicting emotions, he states, "I would never know [Alaska] well enough to know her thoughts in those last minutes, would never know if she left us on purpose. But the not-knowing would not keep me from caring, and I would always love Alaska Young, my crooked neighbor, with all my crooked heart.”
My Essay.
How do we escape this labyrinth of suffering?
In my attempt to answer this question, I spent a long time coming up with answers that I wasn't completely confident in. I realized that the reason why I struggled to formulate a satisfying response was because I do not completely agree with the question itself. I do not believe that the labyrinth of suffering is an accurate metaphor for life. Life is not entirely full of suffering, and as Pudge and Alaska see the labyrinth as something they desire to escape, I do not think that life is something intended to be escaped from. Maybe I am too optimistic, but I believe that a more formidable metaphor for life is the cycle of water.
Water is circulated throughout the entire eath. It travels through underground waterways, fills the oceans and rivers, evaporates into the air, and precipitates back down to the ground in various forms. People are not stagnant beings, and people's lives constantly change as people change themselves. A person will undoubtedly encounter suffering and pain in their lives, but I do not view life as a labyrinth full of these damaging aspects. Life has plenty of ups and downs, and a more accurate reflection of the varying degrees of happiness in life is the water cycle.
The underground stage, as water travels through dirt, mud, and darkness, can be seen as a period of suffering in one's life. Water vicariously flowing through riverbeds can be seen as a vibrant and adventurous period. Water in the ocean could be a calm and serene moment, or the ocean could be a time period that is as destructive as a tsunami. Water vapor evaporating into the sky could be seen as a moments of hope, salvation, and rebirth. Precipitation comes in all different shapes, sizes, and states, which can reflect the diverse nature of outcomes created by life decisions.
This cycle is continuous, and throughout one's life in this cycle, one will experience uncountable moments of all of these numerous emotions. This metaphor is more inclusive of varying aspects of human nature than the labyrinth of suffering.
In my attempt to answer this question, I spent a long time coming up with answers that I wasn't completely confident in. I realized that the reason why I struggled to formulate a satisfying response was because I do not completely agree with the question itself. I do not believe that the labyrinth of suffering is an accurate metaphor for life. Life is not entirely full of suffering, and as Pudge and Alaska see the labyrinth as something they desire to escape, I do not think that life is something intended to be escaped from. Maybe I am too optimistic, but I believe that a more formidable metaphor for life is the cycle of water.
Water is circulated throughout the entire eath. It travels through underground waterways, fills the oceans and rivers, evaporates into the air, and precipitates back down to the ground in various forms. People are not stagnant beings, and people's lives constantly change as people change themselves. A person will undoubtedly encounter suffering and pain in their lives, but I do not view life as a labyrinth full of these damaging aspects. Life has plenty of ups and downs, and a more accurate reflection of the varying degrees of happiness in life is the water cycle.
The underground stage, as water travels through dirt, mud, and darkness, can be seen as a period of suffering in one's life. Water vicariously flowing through riverbeds can be seen as a vibrant and adventurous period. Water in the ocean could be a calm and serene moment, or the ocean could be a time period that is as destructive as a tsunami. Water vapor evaporating into the sky could be seen as a moments of hope, salvation, and rebirth. Precipitation comes in all different shapes, sizes, and states, which can reflect the diverse nature of outcomes created by life decisions.
This cycle is continuous, and throughout one's life in this cycle, one will experience uncountable moments of all of these numerous emotions. This metaphor is more inclusive of varying aspects of human nature than the labyrinth of suffering.