Adrian Jones Professor Gennari English 112 1 March 2016 Looking For Alaska Final Essay Peer pressure plays a major role in young adolescences lives, especially young high school students, in fact, research has shown that peer pressure has a much greater impact on adolescent behavior than any other factor. Young teenagers often give in to peer pressure because they want to fit in and feel accepted from their peers. They want to be liked and they worry that they may be left out or be teased if they don't go along with the group. Peer pressure can lead to experimentation with drugs and alcohol, sex, skipping school, and various high-risk behaviors (Aspen education). As an illustration of peer pressure, throughout his time at Culver Creek, Mile’s …show more content…
Miles along with the colonel and Alaska along with him new friend Takumi continue their journey of participating in several pranks, drinking and smoking throughout the school year. Miles grows a deeper love for Alaska over the course of the school year and feels that one day, they may have a chance of actually being together rather than just friends, but one night after a successful prank on the weekend warriors, the group decides to celebrate and gets extremely drunk and eventually, they all fall asleep. Suddenly, Alaska wakes up crying and says she has to leave which catches Miles off guard because he doesn’t know what is wrong with her. When she leaves, she gets into a car accident a dies on the way to her mother’s grave site. The next morning, the school has a meeting and tell the students what happened to Alaska leaving the entire school in shock. Miles felt that he was to blame for her death. Later he finds out that a labyrinth is a place that has many confusing paths or passages almost like the maze of life In a book Alaska had in her room and finds that she wrote “Straight and fast” as her way out of her labyrinth. He begins to think that his labyrinth is never getting to be in a relationship or seeing Alaska again. Miles and the colonel search for what may have happened that night and come to the conclusion she forgot that the same night they celebrated, was her mother’s death anniversary and forgot to put flowers on …show more content…
For example, your child might be influenced to become more assertive, try new activities, or to get more involved with school”. (Raising Children) In the end, I believe that the peer pressure that Miles received from his new friends at Culver Creek all had a positive effect on him. His new friends gave him opportunity to grow and experience new experiences that changed his life forever. It gave him the chance to experience the great perhaps he wished
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.
After the death of Alaska, Miles throws up. He exists in a fog of grief. Miles agrees with the Colonel to find out if Alaska killed herself or not. They talk to the cop who was at the scene. They want to figure out how drunk she was. Alaska was very drunk and she was talking to her boyfriend Jake. Finally Miles and the Colonel give up. Miles apologizes to Lara and Takumi and he focuses himself on school.
There are many conflicts in this narrative but the first one I will be talking about is person vs self, Throughout the book Miles is trying to discover himself and who he really is, looking for The Great Perhaps. In the before section of the book, he is Miles. He is friendless and unhappy until Culver Creek where he becomes Pudge. Then he works harder and harder to discover who this new found Pudge is. During the after section when Alaska dies, he realizes the who and what Pudge is. He discovers the Great Perhaps and moves onward into his new life. So through the whole book he isn't just looking for The Great Perhaps, he is looking for his self identity. And Alaska's death helps him to discover
Alaska and Colonel have been good friends ever since he arrived in third grade. Alaska is portrayed as a confident and talkative person. when Miles meets her for the first time he describes her in is head as ‘The hottest girls in all of human history.’. Whilst Miles is talking to Alaska on the swings at night, he gets to know Alaska a little bit more and the things that her and Colonel have done together since they met. He then realizes that he might have mixed with what his mom calls “The wrong crowd”, but Miles didn’t care, he is looking for a little adventure.
Gormly, Kellie B. "Peer Pressure - for Students and Adults - Can Be Positive." TribLIVE.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
“Peer Pressure: Its Influence on Teens and Decision Making.” 2008. Teacher Scholastic Journal. Retrieved 2008. (http://headsup.scholastic.com/articles/peer-pressure-its-influence-on-teens-and-decision-making).
That night all the friends go to celebrate at their hideout, Alaska shares with them how she watched her mother die when she was very young and how her dad blamed her because she didn’t do anything. A few nights later Alaska and Pudge make out even though she has a boyfriend, and then she says that she’s tired but she promises “to be continued?” In the middle of the night Alaska starts freaking out and crying, she leaves campus in her car and Miles and the Colonel set off fireworks as a distraction while
Alaska’s death devastates Miles and he states, “At some point you just pull off the band-aid and it hurts but then it is over and you are just relieved” (Green 224). Leaving him confused and hurt, he comes to the realization that her death displays the point of discovery for himself and is the understanding of where he fits into this world. The Great Perhaps is an opportunity that provides him with the ultimate hope for a better, more exciting life, and he realizes this hope after Alaska
Alaska is a troubled senior who corrupts Pudge’s mind and starts to make him drink alcohol, smoke Marijuana, and have sex. She is very troubled and when she was little, her mother started screaming and fell to the ground and started to jerk. She then stopped breathing and passed away.
...comes obsessed with and starts seeing his ghost. Finally, at the end of the novel she begins to look to Miles for a sense of belonging. It may even seem as if she wants to find love so badly that she smothers him to the point of death and kills him. He also may have died because she frightened him to death. In the last few scenes, the governess seems to frighten the boy so badly, they he starts sweating and breathing hard and she even starts to shake him. She longs for love so terribly that she believes Miles is Peter Quint. Finally, the governess has a "victory" at the end of the novel and she finally is able to control and manage everything she wanted to know before. The governess and her unreliable narrator poses far too many questions for answers but all the clues point to her infatuation being so strong in Bly, that she needs to have a feeling of belonging.
... instead of following the majority. The issue of peer pressure can relate to teens, as they are in constant pressure to be ‘cool’ or to be in the ‘in’ group. It does not really promote individualism, so people cannot develop their own ideas but rather follow the leader of their group.
Peer pressure is an incredibly widespread issue in today’s society, and can have many significant and long lasting effects. Peer pressure is an issue that can be found in many places, with many varying degrees, but often happens for the same reasons. Peer pressure can cause drug and alcohol addictions, being caught shoplifting, failing exams, and other problems. It has many causes, with many contributing factors, but is most prevalent during the teenage years, as teens look beyond the guidance of their parents, and seek answers from their peers. Peer pressure most commonly occurs at parties, where parental supervision is minimal, however indirect peer pressure can be experienced anywhere.
When peer pressure is exerted on one, one often gives in to that pressure as one desires to confirm their status, and often give in to peer pressure perceiving the morals, ideals, behavior or even just materials that are suggested to them as being linked to their status.
“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” (Dr.Seuss). Society often thinks of peer pressure as a negative implement. Often times the community imagines peer pressure as teen influencing one another to experiment with drugs, alcohol, and sexual intercourse. But really all peer pressure is, is the encouragement of changing values and behaviors of an individual. Peer pressure can be thought of as positive for teens, because it allows and individual to become a leader in an environment, strong encouragement to work hard in school, and lead a healthy lifestyle.
When you are a teenager and you have friends that ask you to do something for them and you do not then they get mad. Then think you are a loser and that is ever person's nightmare, to not be liked. Peer pressure is no piece of cake. It is like choosing the wrong thing for what you think is right at that very moment, and then regretting it afterwards, because your parents find out. But most would not care about what they do wrong or right. Unless there is a chance of parental disappointment, and a lot of the time that is the case.