Labyrinth In Looking For Alaska

What is the labyrinth? John Green explores this question in his book ‘Looking for Alaska’. The main character, Miles Halter, goes to a boarding school in Alabama his jr. year. There he falls in love with Alaska Young, a wild spirit that gives Miles the adventure he's been waiting his whole life for. But, their adventure, along with Alaska's life, was cut short when she rammed her car into another and died on impact. Miles then explorers further into a topic Alaska always loved: What is the labyrinth? John Green uses the Labyrinth to mean several different things: life, death, and misery and pain.

Throughout ‘Looking for Alaska’ one of the main characters, Alaska, quotes ‘The General in his Labyrinth’, a book she is fascinated with. John Green

The biggest question she struggled with is “what is the labyrinth”? In the end Alaska decided the labyrinth wasn't life or death, but instead the labyrinth is “suffering. Doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. That's the problem. Bolivar was talking about the pain, not the living or dying. How do you get out of the labyrinth of suffering?” (82) The labyrinth isn't life or death, but instead suffering. Alaska believed the only way to end the suffering is to find a way out of the labyrinth. After Alaska died, Miles went through her room. Miles was only in search for one item in her room though, ‘The General in his Labyrinth’. After finding the book he flipped through it and began to read all her notes ““an arrow led from ‘How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!’ to a margin note written in her loop-heavy cursive: straight and fast” (Green. J). Alaska died by ramming her car into another. She found a way out of the labyrinth, straight and fast, and that's how she

Miles is obsessed with people's last words. He knows just about every famous person's last words. But, when Alaska died no on got to hear her last words. After her death, Miles is racked with guilt for letting her go. He blames himself and the biggest let down is he will never know her last words. He believes that if she proved she killed himself then there will be some justice for her, and more importantly closure for him. After Alaska's death, Miles dives further into the question, “what is the labyrinth”? He can to the conclusion that people believe in things, such as the afterlife, because they are scared of death, “maybe the afterlife is just something we made up to ease the pain of loss, to make our time in the labyrinth bearable”(Green. J). Miles spent a long time beating himself up about Alaska's death and trying to figure out an answer to a question that she spent her life wondering. After forgiving himself, he realized the labyrinth is just to make life