'Pudge', Miles Halter, has come to Culver Creek Preparatory School seeking a 'Great Perhaps'. His father, his uncles, and his uncles' sons have all attended this same boarding school. His obsession with memorizing famous people's last words carries throughout the novel. His greatest wants and desires are reaching that 'Great Perhaps' and becoming Alaska's boyfriend.
'The Colonel', Chip Martin, is now in his third year at this school. He is Pudge's roommate, and one of Alaska's best/closest friends. After his father, an alcoholic whose anger went towards abusing his wife, left, his mother took care of him. His desire later lies in getting back at Kevin and his friends for what they did to Pudge. The Colonel also drinks and smokes cigarettes, and eventually gets Pudge to do so too.
Alaska, the girl and major character for whom the book is named for/after is also in her second year. She seems to have a slightly bipolar nature, being joyful one day, angry the next, sorrowful and depressed another, and playful another, all while acting in a somewhat either smitten, or "suicidal", put lightly, manner. Her mothered died when she was nine. The day after she took her to the zoo, her mother had an aneurism and Alaska just sat there for hours over her dead mother's body instead of calling 911. She now blames herself for her mother's death, which, although it is true she is partially responsible, she was only nine, but that is no excuse for her. I cannot tell exactly what she wants or desires, as she is the character most cloaked in and by mystery. The only obvious answer would be an answer of what the 'Labyrinth' is and how to get out of it.
There are four themes that have already appeared or that have begun to appear. The first is that of the 'Labyrinth'. Alaska is obsessed with and in a search for what the 'Labyrinth' is and how to get out of it. This is later the main driving theme of the novel towards the after section.
The second theme is that of the hatred by Pudge , The Colonel, and Alaska of the 'Weekday Warriors', or the rich kids from Birmingham. there is a continuous cycle of pranking between the Weekday Warriors and Alaska, The Colonel, and Takumi. This cycle is later fueled by revenge, dies down toward the After section or 'half'.
The third theme is that of smoking and drinking. Pudge has gotten addicted to both, and Alaska is their source of both alcohol and cigarettes. While Pudge is at first hesitant, remembering his father's advice not to do so, peer pressure quickly sets in.
The fourth theme is that of the unrequited love of Pudge towards Alaska. Pudge only falls deeper in love with Alaska as time goes on. This fact is not helped by Alaska's teasing of calling him cute. This theme is later encouraged by Alaska's sharing with Pudge of things she has never shared with anyone else, not even The Colonel.
The book is structured in a before half, starting off with one hundred thirty-six days before, and continuing to the last day. It then goes into the after section, where the structure is then reversed to one day after and continues to the end of the novel. I personally like this unique structure for a book. This is because instead of dividing it up into chapters, it allows for a human-like timeline of days. Each 'chapter', or day is divvied up by anywhere from half a page to several pages, making room for more to tell, and a quicker satisfaction for the reader, in turn making the reader even more hooked and making them want to read more sense the sections are so short.
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