In the novel I am currently reading, Looking for Alaska, I am starting to pick up on a new trend: each character has a strong desire or will for something. For Miles Halter (Pudge), his favorite obsession is memorizing the last words of famous people as they are dying. This made Pudge crave the “Great Perhaps” (Francois Rabelais, poet). Throughout the book, Pudge has been mentioning the Great Perhaps quite often, thinking of what he must do to achieve his own Great Perhaps. However, I think it’s going to be difficult for Pudge to seek a Great Perhaps if he keeps up with his new drinking and smoking habits. For Alaska Young, the beautiful, intelligent girl living down the hall from Pudge, her goal is to put her many problems behind her. When Alaska was younger, her mom had a seizure and Alaska, being very young back then, failed to call 9-1-1. Alaska feels very guilty about this and continually blames herself for her mother’s death. Another problem Alaska has was her father leaving the family. Her father would blame Alaska for her mother’s death, which, again, allowed Alaska to feel she was the cause of her mother’s death. Alaska solves this problem by drinking a lot and planning pranks. I think one theme that is starting to appear is that there is more to life than one person’s experience, and we will never know why certain things may happen to our loved ones.
