Looking For Alaska

By: John  Green

          So far the book is getting pretty interesting. On this post I really want to focus on the character Chip Martin, or The Colonel. His character is very complex and at times very confusing. 

            Chip doesn't have the best past, you soon find out that his dad left him and his mother alone. Now they struggle for money. They have trouble buying food and other necessitates but mostly for the school Chip goes too. But his mother knows and he knows that he needs to get his education to get some where in the world. Because of this he has always seen people with money in a bad way. Like the kids at school who have money, they are not the best of friends. Despite the hardships of his life he is very confident. He doesn't let anyone talk down to him and people just know not to mess with him. He tends to deal with things like everything is a joke. In the beginning of the book he actually tells a joke about his dad leaving but you can tell he was really hurt by it. He is not the most popular kid in school but he is defiantly well known in Culver Creek. 

           Chip Martin, the prank master. Chip is well known for his wittiness and clever pranks. Right now they are the "Pre-Prank" for the rich kids in the school. They call them the "Weekend Warriors". So far all we know is that the pre-prank is supposed to distract the teachers and principals so they will get away from what the real prank is... 

         

           Another big theme in the story is The Labyrinth. A labyrinth is 

is not a maze or a puzzle to be solved but a path of meaning to be experienced. Its path is circular and convoluted, but it has no dead ends. A labyrinth has one entrance -- one way in and one way out. Each character has a different view on this and I think the Colonel's has a good view on it. "After all this time, it still seems to me like straight and fast is the only way out--but I choose the labyrinth. The labyrinth blows, but I choose it."(122 after 12) He see's somewhat of suffering in the labyrinth and he thinks the only was out of it is to suffer.  He chooses not to find a way out but to suffer more because he believes suffering is the way out of the labyrinth. His view is very different from the other characters view on the labyrinth. 

       

   

     Continue on reading my blog to see Miles and Alaska's point of views on the labyrinth and to find out what happens next with the big prank...

           

Looking For Alaska 

By: John Green

John Green

           John Green is an  outstanding author, creative blogger, and hilarious You-tuber. He wrote Looking For Alaska in March 2005 and in 2006 won the Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association. 

          Looking For Alaska is about a boy, Miles Halter. The book is split into two parts, Before and After and tells Miles story... He is moving to a new school, from Florida all the way to Alabama! It is very different from his school now because it is a boarding school. At his old school he didn't really have any friends and was pretty sad and did not care about anything, but all that changes when he starts attending Culver Creek Boarding School... 

         "I am going to seek a great perhaps" (pg. 136 Before 18). Miles Halter starts off his story by moving to Alabama. He wants this year to be different, exciting. When he's moving in he meets his roommate, Chip Martin, or as many people call him The Colonel.  He then meets Takumi, the Colonels friend. And then he meets her, the most gorgeous girl hes ever laid eyes on, Alaska Young. The four of them all become very close. But particularly the Colonel and Miles become close. They are both similar and differnt in so many ways. The obvious ways they are different is in their looks. Miles is tall and skinny, very lanky, and a little quiet. And the Colonel is short and chubby, and has a big attitude. The Colonel gave Miles the nickname Pudge. "Its irony" he said because he is so skinny. The Colonel is also somewhat of a rebel. He is well known around his school for being the "prank master". Miles is defiantly the complete opposite of that, or at least he was. Miles was always quiet and didnt really do much in his home town but since he has moved here he has defiantly broken out of his shell. 

         Despite their differences they had one big thing in common. They both have similar views on things. Even though they are room mates and they fight a lot over dumb stuff, I have realized that so far they have similar views on things. They always end up agreeing in the end. I think as the book goes on we will be able to see more similarities in the two and they will become closer than they are now. I think the book is about to make a big change in the plot and I am excited on reading it. Keep checking up on my blog to find out what happens next...