Looking For Alaska Essay

Have you thought about what some people’s last words were? Do you know the capitals of all states in the world? Can you quote lots of poetry off the top of your head? If you think you are a clever but screwed up person, then I think you should read Looking for Alaska by John Green. This novel is about a group of juniors in high school. Instead of your average public high school, these eleventh graders went to Culver Creek Boarding School in Alabama. The story is told by a boy named Miles, but everyone called him Pudge. His roommate and best friend’s name was Chip, and everyone called him the Colonel. A few rooms down, was a girl named Alaska Young. All three of them had a ‘specialty’ in this school. Pudge knew many famous people’s last words, the Colonel knew every capital of every state in the world off the top of his head, and Alaska knew poetry and loved to recite it. The students called the dean ‘The Eagle.’ Pudge fell in love with Alaska quickly.

In the beginning of the novel, Pudge was at home, waiting to leave for Culver Creek. He was a good kid, he didn’t smoke, drink, or even skip class. Once he became friends with Alaska, the Colonel, and a kid named Takumi (I still can’t figure out how to pronounce that name), he began smoking. All four of them would walk down to the “Smoking Hole,” which Alaska named. When the Colonel told their friend, Lara, why they called it that, he said, “‘It’s like fishing hole,’ the Colonel said. ‘Like, if we fished, we’d fish here. But we smoke. I don’t know. I think Alaska named it’” (Green 193). They had to go to the Smoking Hole because if they got caught smoking by the Eagle, they would have to go to Jury (basically a fake court type of thing). The Eagle doesn’t usually go there, so they were safe to smoke their cigarettes there. Alaska and the Colonel changed Pudge. There were a few negative changes, but there was a lot of good ones,