Entry Two: Looking For Alaska

Everyone has wants and desires. In my opinion, John Green did a wonderful job creating and explaining the major characters’ wants and desires. He carried them all throughout the entire book. Pudge’s desire is to find his Great Perhaps. That is why he went to Culver College, to find his Great Perhaps. Alaska’s desire was to find the way out of the labyrinth. She found it, that’s why she allegedly killed herself. The Colonel was more difficult to decipher his desire. I think that his main desire was to find answers. After Alaska died, he wanted to know everything. The answers to the what, why, how questions. All of these desires and wants lead to the themes developed in Looking For Alaska. The themes include, the Great Perhaps, the labyrinth, drugs, and pranks. The Great Perhaps and the labyrinth are themes because they are mentioned in the book multiple times. Drugs and pranks are somewhat of a theme because they are meaningful. These are the two things that became rituals when Alaska died. In Looking For Alaska it describes the ritual for Alaska and cigarettes, “The Colonel pulled a cigarette out of his pack and threw it into the water. ‘What the hell?’ I asked. ‘For her,’ he said” (page 193, Green). When Alaska died, they pulled a prank and started the annual Alaska Young Memorial Prank. That is why I think pranking and drugs are somewhat themes, because they are meaningful. The structure of Looking For Alaska is a journal type of organization. This book is separated into two parts, After and Before, referring to the death of Alaska.