Miles “Pudge” Halter’s entire life in Florida is built on the belief that he is unordinary, and unimportant. However, all of this changes once he is sent to Culver Creek Boarding School in Alabama, where it is anything but boring. In Looking for Alaska, by John Green, Miles meets several new people including his roommate Chip Martin (A.K.A. The Colonel), Takumi Hikohito, Lara Buterskaya, and Alaska Young. Intoxicated with Alaska’s beauty, intelligence, and wild heart, Miles sets off on a wild adventure called life, until something tragic happens. The demise of their beloved friend, Alaska, devastated them. Throughout the novel characters are on a search for identity, love, and forgiveness.
In the book, Looking for Alaska, many of the characters were on a search for their Identity. One character in particular struggles a lot with their Identity is Miles. He is having a difficult time with peer pressure, and risks a lot to be known. It is evident that he wants to feel like he belongs: “And then somehow, the Colonel talked me into paying five dollars for a pack of Marlboro lights I had no intention of ever smoking” (Green 15). Miles is
…show more content…
One of these characters is Alaska. She is filled with plentiful amounts of guilt for letting her mother die when she was young. Alaska is searching for forgiveness from her father. She feels so guilty for not calling 911, and has a hard time with her father. Alaska’s father blames her for what happened, and she needs his forgiveness. In addition, both Miles and the Colonel go hand in hand with each other. Both are searching for forgiveness from everyone, because they believe they helped kill Alaska. They are so filled with guilt for letting her drive intoxicated: “ I realized that the Colonel was saying words. He was screaming, ‘I’m so sorry.’” (Green 141). Chip and Miles were so upset with her finite life, that they just yelled and felt the need to
Miles Pruitt is the center of this story; he is going through life in attempt to avoid the hardships it throws at him. He has to cope with the misfortunes that come with love, and by the end of the story, Miles will finally come to realize that his decisions to go through life untouched will not pay off.
The Perks of a Wallflower, written by Stephen Chbosky, is a captivating novel that follows the transformation of a boy referred to as Charlie throughout his freshman year of high school. During the course of the book Charlie, his sister, and friends fall in and out of relationships. Each one of them is seeking the love and attention of another person, even without directly expressing their emotions. Love is a recurring theme in this book, even though it is shown in different ways.
Throughout the book Miles’ character grows greatly. He starts out as a boring and friendless boy, but grows into someone who makes great friends and memories to cherish. Alaska’s death doesn’t make him believe any less in the Great Perhaps, because not believing would mean giving up, and he saw how that ended with Alaska. Miles realizes that their letting Alaska go doesn't matter as much anymore. He forgives her for leaving drunk that night just as he knows that she forgives him for letting her go.
Guilt and sin are dominant themes in the mind of young Luke Chandler. He notes, “As Baptist, we were never short on sins to haunt us” (Grisham 60). “Most things were sinful in rural Arkansas, especially if you were a Baptist” (Grisham 83) according to Luke. This pervasiveness of sin created a guilt complex that nagged the youngest Chandler. When he lies to officer Stick Powers, Luke was certain that he was “skirting around the edges of the fiery depths” even while he was fabricating a justification for his sinful actions (Grisham 100). After watching Tally Spruill bathing in the river, Luke felt uncertainty as to how sinful his act had been, although he could not recall any direct Scriptural prohibition (Grisham 128). Even at times when it was questionable as to whether he had done anything wrong, Luke would feel “guilty of something” (Grisham
In Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild”, Krakauer describes the travels of Chris McCandless, a young man, who travels alone into the Alaskan wilderness. Krakauer details Chris’s painful demise from starvation was at the age of 24 in an abandoned bus deep in Alaska. According to Krakauer, Chris McCandless left for Alaska because he was seeking refuge from his betrayal by his father. Chris was searching for truth; something he could believe in after he had found out his dad led a double life; one with Chris and his mother and another with another woman and another son. It seems McCandless was looking to test himself; to prove he could survive in the wild without society, but mostly without his father’s help. Chris was searching for something, Independence. During Chris journey to Alaska, he found what he was looking for an escape but also found his identity. During his final days in the bus, Chris’s mindset changed; he determined he needed people. Some say Chris was foolish but he was a smart kid in unfortunate circumstances.
At Calver Creek, he shares a room with ‘the Colonel’. The Colonel teaches Miles all sorts of things. He teaches him for example how to smoke, to drink alcohol, etc. I can say that Miles is impressionable. Miles is a follower,
Love, one of the biggest aspects of human nature, affects everyone in different ways. In the novel by Stephen Chbosky, “the Perks of Being a Wallflower,” the main character Charlie, negatively affected by his loving relationship with his aunt Helen, develops many social issues. The novel, a coming of age story about overcoming many obstacles as a teenager, follows the main character, Charlie, and the challenges he faces. Throughout the story, Charlie struggles with the loss of his beloved aunt. When he begins High school, he has a harder time than the typical teenager for many reasons. His close relationship with his beloved aunt is the source of his companionship issues, depression, and insecurities.
The Inupiat, like other Arctic peoples,are mainly hunter gathers. Only men are hunters among the Inupiat. What they hunt depends on where they are located. The Nunamiut, who live inland, hunt caribou, grizzly bears, moose, and dall sheep, while the Tareumiut , the coastal people, hunt walrus, seals, whales, and in rare instances polar bears; however both groups are dependant on geese, ducks, rabbits and berries. Traditionally hunters traveled in dog sleds or canoes from place to place and used spears, harpoons, and bows as weapons Hunting is the single most important duty of any Inupiat man because of the scarcity of any other resources. It is the most reliable way to get subsistence in the environment in which the Inupiat live and thus a hunter must be skilled and lucky or his family will starve.
Author Jennifer Egan in some way tells us that shame and redemption is one of the main ideas of the book, A Visit From the Goon Squad, who’s chapters are sort of arranged similar to a rock album song list with different but similar stories. Moreover, Egan explores her different type of writing styles as in one of her chapters of this book she writes as a power point. This book seems to be all out of order, but even though it doesn’t follow chronological order it all ties back to the previous chapters. All of this shows us that Egan is not scared to write in any way or form, which overall gives us the reader a taste of different writing style. As she goes through the book her main character Sasha is revealed to be a kleptomaniac who’s attitude is always changing. Bennie Salazar, who was an owner of a record company, sold it to an oil company, and loses everything he has, despite all he fights to become a better person in life. He was part of a band called the Flaming Dildos with Scotty. And last but not least Scotty Hausmann, who was in a bad called Flaming Dildos in his teen years later becomes a music success. All these characters show in their story shame and redemption, which is on of Egan’s main ideas for the book, A Visit From the Goon Squad.
... its characters. These ironic flaws contribute to their sufferings throughout the novel. The flaws of Willie Stark, Adam Stanton and Judge Irwin led to the ultimate punishment, death, and Jack Burden’s flaws led to temporarily losing his love, Anne Stanton.
For the duration of the play, Miller uses static characters to portray how pride affects their behavior. To begin, Judge Danforth makes judgements that the accused characters must be guilty, regardless
/6m÷illions of their very race, but also with the prisoner workers who were-and have been-relentlessly tormented by (the guilt of their actions) (their guilt). This (novel, story, event, etc..) will not soon be forgotten.
Identity is a substantial component of a person, it’s something that determines who they are and help establish themselves with people who you find enjoyable and shares similar interests. It could bring people together, and provide a sense of belonging and unity. However, there are times where these people who are within certain cliques are perceived more negatively or believe that all people within that group perpetually have a certain set of traits. In most cases, these negative perceptions lead to discrimination and conflict, and obscures the positive and more genuine traits of an individual. In S.E. Hinton’s book, The Outsiders, there is a group of poor and lower-middle class teens who are labeled as greasers. This group of wild teenagers
...mans, it is in our nature to find an easy solution for a problem. In many cases it is a means of escaping, and finding something better. For these four characters, the illusions they used to get out of the stresses of normal life, become their lives. Instead of dealing with issues with their spouses and getting what they want in life they blur themselves to reality. It becomes a question of when is reality too much to handle? For these characters reality was too much to handle the minute they got scared. The second the future was in jeopardy, or their reputation was on the line. This is not unlike society today. People are desperate for approval and will seek this by any means. Without approval from others we cease to exist or be content. And for many contentment is also something that must be achieved.
In the novel Looking for Alaska, the sudden and tragic death of Alaska leaves Pudge mentally unable to think of anything other than her death: "I could hear the Colonel screaming, and I could feel hands on my back, but I could only see her lying naked on a metal table" (Green). John Green, the author of this novel, was demonstrating that Pudge did not do enough to help Alaska, and because of that he is punished with feeling this way, when in reality the selfish decision Alaska made to take her life instead of getting help is what leaves Pudge feeling mentally unstable, and having to live with the constant regret that what happened is his fault, when it is not. To continue, when your sadness takes over your body physically, you feel unable to cope with the tragedy that has occurred. Clay Jensen experiences this after he has to live through the death of Hannah Baker, and her decision to leave him feeling empty: "My fingers, my hands, my arms, my neck, everything feels hollow" (Asher). Jay Asher wrote Thirteen Reasons Why to demonstrate that everything you say to a person matters. What Hannah didn't