The Way Out of The Labyrinth

After Alaska's funeral, the Colonel and Pudge has started their journey to unravel Alaska's death. After talking to the cop and going through her things the Colonel came up with a theory she had a fight with Jake and had to go to talk to him otherwise they would break up. Even though it was a good theory it couldn't be tested until they called Jake but Miles didn't want to because he would have to ask about her while his last minutes with her were making out. They both get into a fight but later apologized with each other. Then, they wanted to test Alaska's level of drunkness so they stole the breathalyzer and came to the conclusion she was asleep during the crash but it didn't made sense since she crashed in straight line. Next after some discussion between Miles and Chip, Miles agreed for Chip to call Jake and ask him what she told him that night. He said the call was for their eight month anniversary and that everything was fine, she told him she was doodling and then freaked out. A few days later they tried to get a hint from the call with Jake but could't find anything until Miles called his mother and found a sketch in the payphone journal of a daisy. Even though the daisy meant something for a while they couldn't figure it out so they left the investigation on hold and decide to created the best prank ever to honor Alaska Young, a pranked she had created called '' Subverting the Patriarchal Paradigm'' On Speech Day and striptease actor would fake pretend to be an psychologist that studied sex and teenagers and later get almost fully naked. The prank went exactly as pranked and Takumi, Lara, Chip and Miles were very proud about it. 
After the whole drama passed Takumi and Chip came up with a new theory why Alaska drew the daisy, when she was a kid her mom used to put flowers in her hair and later remembered yesterday (January 10th) had been her death anniversary; so she freaked out and when with the white tulips to her graveyard and maybe accidentally or on purpose crashed. The theory the got explained pretty much everything so for a few months they started focusing on school because finals were coming. Then Dr. Hyde, their teacher tells them his final paper will be on Alaska's questions, how do you get out of the labyrinth. As Miles wonders his answer he gets a note from Takumi that was leaving for the summer to Japan that tells him he saw her that night, she was very anxious and frenzy, he helped get the white tulips but never expected for her to drive 3 AM in the morning and how guilty he felt all this time. When Miles read this he understood the way out of the labyrinth is through .......(NOT GOING TO TELL) and writes down his paper about and accepts Alaska's death.

Before and After

BEFORE

After that drunk night in the barn, the Colonel, Alaska, Pudge, Takumi and Lara, went back to school and burst into tears looking at the new smurf weekday warriors. To celebrate their accomplishments once again Miles, the Colonel and Alaska went to the barn. Between Alaska and the Colonel they got really drunk. At somewhere between the middle of the night Alaska and Pudge hooked up. The made out but Alaska was too tired and told him ''to be continued?'' and fell asleep. Later in the night Alaska woke Pudge and Chip (the Colonel) very anxiously and desperate. She told them to help her drive off campus somewhere she didn't say. Chip and Miles didn't argue and just did what Alaska said, the blew up some firecrackers at the Eagle's house and went back to sleep. It was typical Alaska.....

AFTER

The next day the woke and went back to their dorms, but all students were called for an assembly. At first Chip and Miles thought they were caught with the fake reports and would be expelled, but then they couldn't find Alaska. They told the Eagle if they could wait for her for the announcement to be said but he just told them to wait and see. Alaska had died in a car accident last night. When the two friends received the news their hearts almost stopped, it wasn't something you heard everyday especially from Alaska Young. They couldn't believed what happened, they were in complete denial, Pudge feelings were everywhere. Did she meant what she said last night? What happened? Did she love me? Did she even care about me?
Everything had changed
And as for the Colonel he had learned every capital from every country, have walked 84 miles and learned the population from every country. They were going insane. They first attended Alaska's funeral and later went back to school and the Eagle told them to clean up anything Alaska's aunt shouldn't find. It was really hard for them to go back to her dorm. To look at those mountains of piled books, her Life Library, to smell the candles in her desk. Yet they did it and Pudge looked for her favourite book The Labyrinth, even though it was very blurry due to the water from the weekday warriors prank it was readable. Pudge went through a few pages that had different side notes and find one that was written after the flooding, it said ''straight and fast''. What did it meant?  
Chip decided he needed the truth. Therefore a few days later he and Miles went to the police station and asked a few questions to the cop that saw her crash. He told them the car in which she was driving never tried to avoid the crash, like it was a suicide mission. They also asked if there was any weird item in the car and he told them there were some white tulips.
Then everything made sense, she killed herself without even blinking, as the cop said. Neither the Colonel or Pudge could accept what they were told, they both knew the answers they would get wouldn't be good but they needed the truth, they need normality.



''Pudge,  what you must understand about me is that I am a deeply unhappy person'' (Green, 125)

I would never imagine Alaska was sad, her personality was so outgoing and fascinating. When she was first introduced in the book her whole existence sounded like a perfect daydream. She had friends, a boyfriend, she was smart, people liked her, she was a risk-taker but never sad. This quote makes me think that from the outside everything will always look better, in the show Gossip Girl, girls inside the Elite were rich, famous, had hot boyfriends, lived in pent houses in Manhattan, attended the best schools, yet as the show started developing you could see how sad their lives were, everything they ever had was drama. People have to learn not to judge people because they don't know their story and to appreciate their own life, because no one's life is perfect.

''I just looked past him, looking across the too-quiet dorm circle, wondering if it had mattered to her, and I can only tell myself that of course, she had promised .To be continued. (Green 146.)

I think the worst part when you are into someone is the extra analysis we do intro everyting they say. No matter if it was just a ''hi!''or a complete question, we wonder around and look for every possible hint we could get. It is terrible that we humans do that since our minds can fantasize the worst-case-scenarios and crack our heads all day from it.

Daydreaming, Studying & Pranking

After the basketball game, Thanksgiving was coming up and Alaska begged Pudge to stay with her  at campus and even though he knew she had a boyfriend. Miles did anything Alaska told him, so he stayed with her. During break Miles and Alaska had some deep talks between each other and Pudge only fell for her even more. Also during those free days they went to explore the Weekday Warriors rooms to learn about them and plan a prank,  they had to avenge themselves after flooding Alaska's room and almost drowning Pudge. Later when Takumi and the Colonel came back from vacation the Colonel and Alaska planed the pre-prank, therefore for the weekday warriors no to expect the real on but excluded Pudge, allowing him to study for finals that were coming up soon. Afterwards they had the master idea ready, they shared it with Pudge, Takumi and Lara that were involved in the project too. Takumi and Pudge were assigned to blow firecrackers next to the Eagle's house; while Alaska and the Colonel sneaked into the Weekday Warriors' dorms and added industrial blue dye into their conditioners, shampoos and hair gel. Afterwards, they would hacked the school system and sent their parents some fake failing reports. While of this would happen, Pudge and Takumi  would ran for their lives through the woods, so they Eagle wouldn't get them until they reached the barn, where Lara was waiting for them. Then some time would pass and the Colonel and Alaska would arrive. Luckily the prank went exactly as predicted and that night they celebrated with a drinking game called ''the best and the worst day ever.'' As they started playing Alaska told them some deep secrets and how she saw her mother die from a heart attack when she was eight and didn't do anything about it. Through that story everyone learned why Alaska acted the way she did and why she was always so impulsive. Alaska feared not being in control and the fact that she stayed there not doing anything when she could have saved her life. 


"Suffering is universal (Green 82)"
I completely agree with this quote but I think that suffering is what makes happy moments in life meaningful. If there wouldn't be any suffering we wouldn't know happiness either so everything would be the same making life meaningless . 



''But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I has hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.'' (Green, 88)
When Pudge said this it made me wonder how wonderful is love and how much Pudge cared for Alaska. It's amazing how John Green is able to provide such insightful details to the story making it much more interesting and relatable. I really liked how he uses comparisons to describe the love Miles had for Alaska.

Culver Creek Boarding School

The novel "Looking for Alaska"by John Green, recites the tales of Miles Halter, also known as Pudge. Pudge is a shy teenager, sometimes insecure and obsessed with people's last words. He starts his story when he enrolles in Culver Creek Boarding School and leaves his parents down in Florida. On arrival day he meets Chip Martin, nicknamed the Colonel, his roommate that later introduces his friend Takumi and Alaska Young.  Alaska is the hottest, smartest and funniest girl around campus and her whole life is just one huge party.  Part of being the newbie around means some silly pranks but for Pudge it isn't that fun when he is thrown into the lake, tied and naked by some kids nicknamed the Weekday Warriors (the rich kids).  Later when Pudge tells the Colonel about his late night swim, he goes nuts and decides that they need to take back on them. After, they go to a basketball game in which they get kicked out and also are caught smoking by the Eagle. Pudge is now starting to change his lifestyle a lot, from being a friendless kid to being the rebellious group of the school.

QUOTES & INQUIRY “I was looking at the wooded, slow-sloping hill beyond the lake. And from Hyde’s classroom things did seem connected: The tres seemed to clothe the hill…. I couldn’t see the trees for the forest- everything so intricately woven together that it made no sense to think of one tree as independent from that hill (Green, 39.)”

 While reading this passage in the story, I found myself thinking how things in my life are the same, every aspect of my life is interconnected so I must have balance and order.

 It is imperative for me and everyone to know and measure the importance of things around them in order to have stability.

The idea that everything is interconnected is a really good concept for me to be able to plan out my life since I now know the importance of making sure everything is taken care. This is like taking care of a garden, if I only water the the flowers, the grass and trees will die and then it will require extra work to bring them back to healthy plants.

"You just use the future to escape the present (Green, 54.)
When I read this quote that Alaska mentioned while talking to Pudge about the labyrinth of life, it made me think how much people fear life. We try to avoid what happens right now justifying it with the future because it is easier that way, words are far easier than actions. Also I think us humans only focus on the final goal instead in the path to get to it, therefore we skip the hard parts of life by fantasying perfection.