Looking For Alaska

“Looking For Alaska,” by John Green is a novel for young adults. It is about a curious, teenage boy named Miles. He heads off to a free spirited, unstable boarding school, in Alabama. That is when everything changes, when he meets a gorgeous, screwed up and clever teen named “Alaska Young”. Although Alaska seems free spirited and bubbly, she is really, insecure, overwhelmed and perplexed about her life.

            We see, for example, that she doesn’t really care about her life. She only thinks in the present, not about the future. “Y’all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die,” she says. This shows that Alaska might seem like she enjoys life a lot, but deep down she has a dark side that is waiting to burst. She hides her insecurities with cigarettes, wine, alcohol, and her fake happiness. “She lay on her side across two bales of hay, the afternoon light brightening the green in her eyes, her tan skin like the last memory of fall. With her mouth half open, it occurred to me that she must already be drunk as I noticed the far – off look in her eyes…” (Green, page 115) This shows that Alaska might seem perfect on the outside, but in fact she chose to be drunk all the time and smoke, which sadly shows that she must not be perfect inside.

           

What makes Alaska an important character is how she is so clever and bubbly. Miles says, “For a moment, she looked concerned. She looked like the girl I met yesterday, the girl who said I was cute and bubbled over with energy and silliness and intelligence…” This shows that Alaska covers up her insecurities and mysteriousness with her silliness and fake joyfulness. But at times her happiness is real, too.  When she is not drinking, she reads books for pleasure and her good side seems to come out.  She seems happy when she does mischievous things. Alaska does pranks on the school, which shows that she doesn’t care about what people think of her. She doesn’t care about screwing up her life and the consequences. Alaska cares about having fun and being a rebel. In this way, she seems free.

But under that layer of cleverness and fierceness, there is a layer of pure unhappiness and confusion. She says to Miles, “But there is always suffering, Pudge. Homework or malaria or having a boyfriend who lives far away when there’s a good looking boy lying next to you. Suffering is universal…”  This shows that everyone, even people who seem perfect and happy all the time, can suffer and have trouble in their life.  Also, Alaska is fascinated with the quote from a book called The Labyrinth. “How do you get out of this Labyrinth of suffering?” Her fascination with this quote is like a metaphor for how Alaska experiences her life as one in a maze. She feels trapped, small and needs to escape.

“Looking For Alaska” has a lot of messages for young adults and teens. One of those messages is that no matter what happens, you can fix your life, you shouldn’t throw your life away with alcohol, drugs and cigarettes.  There are people out there who can help you and you should get help.