ipl-logo

Significance Of The Labyrinth In Looking For Alaska

656 Words3 Pages

The labyrinth is an idea that symbolizes the maze that is life. It winds through so many different kinds of suffering, some serious and some insignificant. Alaska Young in the story Looking for Alaska read about Simon Bolivar’s last moments in The General and His Labyrinth: “He was shaken by the overwhelming revelation that the headlong race between his misfortunes and his dreams was at that moment reaching the finish line. The rest was darkness. ‘Damn it,’ he sighed. ‘How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!’.” This quote heavily impacted Alaska because she realized its relevance to her confusing life. The labyrinth takes on a more significant meaning in the second half of the book because Miles is deeply affected by Alaska’s death, and he needs to understand the role of the labyrinth in his life and understand how it affected Alaska’s final moments in order to move on. …show more content…

It is the underlying question in most religions’ search for meaning. Miles’s religion teacher Mr. Hyde confirms this after Alaska’s death. “How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering? -A.Y. ‘I’m going to leave that up for the rest of the semester,’ he said. ‘Because everyone who has ever lost their way in life has felt the nagging insistence of that question. At some point we all look up and realize we are lost in a maze, and I don’t want us to ever forget Alaska.’” Miles liked Bolivar’s last words the instant Alaska read them to him, but after her death, all of his time and thought began to go toward trying to put together the connection between the labyrinth and Alaska’s final few seconds before she decided to hit the police car directly, as well as his and her mortality as a

Show More
Related

How Does Jareth Use Dramatic Irony In The Labyrinth

284 Words | 2 Pages

Also, Sarah said both that the labyrinth was a “piece of cake” and that breaking the fair rules was the “way it was done” in the labyrinth. Heck no. To add on, labyrinth uses dramatic irony (reader/viewer knows, not characters) to show suspense and surprise. First off, we know which way is the way to turn in the beginning of the labyrinth, also knowing that

Read More

Juxtaposition In The Film Pan's Labyrinth

1340 Words | 6 Pages

Del Toro, additionally, contrasts the real world and the fantasy world through the use of colors, shapes, and varying levels of organization and cleanliness. Furthermore, he places objects of the real world into the fantasy one to draw relations between the two. Through these three singular parallels, Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth explores the realities of fascism in Franco-Era

Read More

Literature Review Of Pan's Labyrinth

952 Words | 4 Pages

Pan’s Labyrinth – Literature Review I. Introduction – historical background The Spanish Civil War lasted from July of 1936 till April of 1939. The intensely ferocious war was between the Republicans and the Fascist nationalists, lead by General Francisco Franco. Victory was in favor of the nationalists and General Franco ruled Spain for the next 36 years after the war, up until his death in 1975.

Read More

Significance Of Krakauer's Suicide In Chapter 14

283 Words | 2 Pages

After reaching Alaska on a small fishing boat, he had met a woman who sheltered him for the night before he was to climb the dangerous slopes of Devil’s Thumb. At first, he began to make steady progress, but on

Read More

Analysis Of Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

1092 Words | 5 Pages

Danger has always held a certain allure... McCandless, in his fashion, merely took risk-taking to its logical extreme” (Krakauer 182). There was no way to stop him from getting to Alaska, he lived in the Fairbanks city bus 142 for 112 days which is now commemorated in his honor. Most people see McCandless as an idiot who took on challenges he could not handle and dies in the process but from a readers point of view McCandless is a man brave enough to go on a voyage to find himself something most people cannot

Read More

An Analysis Of Carmen Febo-San Miguel's Essay 'I Believe'

771 Words | 4 Pages

Without questions, Lightman believes there would be no reason to search for the unknowns of the world, something that gives him such great pleasure. In the second paragraph, Lightman brings up a phase that nearly all humans experience, asking “why” questions. He recalls a question he asked while staring at the stars, “How far away were those tiny points of light?” This example takes the reader back to their own “why” questions, which appeals highly to most readers. His strategy of evoking a reader’s emotions works beautifully, because it appeals to such a wide variety of readers.

Read More

Violence In Pan's Labyrinth

1617 Words | 7 Pages

This movie explores the time-honored plot of good versus evil though a haunting intermingling of fantasy and reality. Pan’s Labyrinth is clearly Guillermo del Toro’s magnum

Read More

Extreme Fascist Behavior In The Film Pan's Labyrinth

257 Words | 2 Pages

Pan's Labyrinth takes place in the center of violence and war, so from beginning to the end, there is no escape from violence. Vidal symbolizes ultimate Fascism, which can be seen in the first few minutes of the movie. Vidal orders his pregnant wife and step-daughter to take a long journey to live in a house near a military base. Vidal does not consider how dangerous this decision is, he only cares that his son is born where he is. Vidal demonstrates this extreme Fascist behavior throughout the film until his death.

Read More

Pan's Labyrinth Essay

975 Words | 4 Pages

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), directed by Guillermo del Toro, is a gorgeously realised tale of fantasy and horror, set against the backdrop of post-Civil War Spain. The story follows a young girl, Ofelia, who travels to the countryside with her ill mother to live with her new stepfather, Vidal, a captain in Franco’s Fascist army. The film explores how Ofelia uses her imagination as a copying mechanism to deal with the monstrosities of her reality as well as to interpret the horrific events unfolding around her. Del Toro employs a number of cinematic devices including cinematography, sound and editing to effectively draw parallels between Ofelia’s reality and imagination, ultimately creating a powerful film that condemns the nature of Fascism.

Read More

The Creature Monologue Frankenstein

388 Words | 2 Pages

Breathing deeply, I retched at the sickening smell of rotten flesh and pus. Looking around, I caught a brief glimpse of the creature that was stalking me. Noticing my stare upon it, the creature melted into the shadows as if it was never there. This wretched labyrinth was starting to get to me.

Read More

Monstrosity In Pan's Labyrinth

1765 Words | 8 Pages

In December of 2006, the film Pan’s Labyrinth was released. Considered as a dark fantasy film, it depicts a young girl, Ofelia, along with her mother traveling to live with her new father, an officer in the Spanish army who is attempting to quell a guerrilla uprising. During this time, she meets an Faun, who tells of her past life as a princess of the Underworld. In order to reclaim her status, she must complete three dangerous tasks, all in which she must battle monsters of varying degrees. However, we quickly come to learn that they are not the only kind of monsters she must face, and that not all monsters have monstrous appearances, but can be of the human nature.

Read More

Daedalus And Icarus In Homer's Odyssey

1018 Words | 5 Pages

Daedalus had been commissioned by King Minos to build an impossible maze to imprison the mighty Minotaur. However, Daedalus and Icarus were sentenced to the impossible-to-crack maze, after Daedalus had fallen out of favor with the King. Icarus knew the maze like the back of his hand - he had helped his father build it, afterall. The labyrinth was a series of intricate dark corridors, endlessly meandering, which kept the Minotaur at its center. The beast still lay there, a pile of dust.

Read More

Ambiguity In Henry James's The Turn Of The Screw

1429 Words | 6 Pages

James uses his writing skills to suck the reader into the story, chews them up with mysteries, and spits them out confused. First, he creates mysteries involving Miles's expulsion and the idea that the ghosts, when they were alive, corrupted the children. Then, using limited point of view, he tricks his reader into believing the story because they cannot get the story from anyone else's view. Finally, by not answering the questions created by the expulsion and ghosts, he leaves the reader on his own to try to piece the puzzle together; this leaves the conflicts open to multiple interpretations. Henry James, the author, uses ambiguity throughout the novel, different conflicts with the children and possible ghosts, and limited perspective in order to create a well-devised mystery in which he leaves the reader

Read More

The Maze Runner Analysis

1048 Words | 5 Pages

The maze runner is a young adult, science fiction and post-apocalyptic book that has the purpose of introducing the reader into a fantasy world where things can get a little out of control and surviving remains the main focus. The story starts mysteriously with the title character named Thomas, a teenage boy, who wakes up with no memory after arriving with a moving box into a Glade surrounded by a Maze. The book explores different psychological stages of the characters and help up understand how it is like to live with no memory and surrounded by people you do not know. The author, a young man also, has a particular interest in adventure and survival plots due to their excitement upon readers. The author came with the idea of writing a novel involving a crowd of teenagers trapped into an unbreakable Maze filled with hideous creatures while he was dreaming.

Read More

The Maze Runner Research Paper

1530 Words | 7 Pages

The constant changing and shifting of the maze, as well as the copious amounts of trials the characters undergo, represent their lack of control over their situation and the WICKED’s authority over their lives. Thomas, the main character, encounters and overcomes his fear of the monsters in the maze during his first runner experience. This marks a pivotal moment

Read More

More about Significance Of The Labyrinth In Looking For Alaska

Related Topics

Open Document