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...
Hey Sam I enjoyed your blog. I've never read the book but it seems like I should try to make a point of reading it when I get a chance. I really was brought in with the hook in the beginning, and I like how you incorporated the theme to go along with your book. I guess I'll have to keep reading your blog now because the last statement seems to say that I am contractually obligated to.
ReplyDeleteHey Sam I also really enjoyed your blog. I have never read this book before but after this, it seems like a good read. This book really seems to relate to other people that are Chip's age. I am wondering if in the book, it specifies where his dad really does go off to.
ReplyDeleteHey Sam, I really like the theme you picked out of this story, I feel that it goes very well and it is the theme that I would have came up with as well. I also like the pictures you choose to go along and relate to the characters in the book and the theme.
ReplyDeleteThe blog so far is coming along great. The more you explain the book the more I want to read it. I'm going to look for it and give it a try. Also, the theme you picked goes perfectly with the plot so far, I would have said the same thing.
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