Looking for Alaska

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2005

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-25

Chapters 26-30

Chapters 31-35

Chapters 36-40

Chapters 41-45

Chapters 46-50

Chapters 51-55

Chapters 56-58

Character Analysis

Themes

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Important Quotes

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Chapters 56-58Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 56 Summary

The Colonel and Miles have now thrown themselves into their schoolwork, and their room becomes a study den for both themselves and Takumi and Lara. No one talks much during this time, but, according to Miles, they have no need to do so.

Chapter 57 Summary

Dr. Hyde gives the students their final exam of the semester, and the question is as follows: “How will you—you personally—ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering? Now that you’ve wrestled with three major religious traditions, apply your newly enlightened mind to Alaska’s question.” Dr. Hyde says that the founder figures of the major religions each brought “a message of radical hope” (215), so the question for the students is where they find their cause for hope.

When Miles asks the Colonel how they will ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering, he replies that he wishes he knew. When Miles points out that he has to write something, the Colonel says that straight and fast seems the only way out. Alaska was right about that, but the Colonel chooses the labyrinth; even with its suffering.

Chapter 58 Summary

It is two weeks later and nearly time for the summer vacation when Miles spots a note left for him and the Colonel by Takumi. The note reveals that Takumi had seen Alaska on the night of her death, having heard her crying outside his window. She told him that it was the anniversary of her mothers’ death and that she usually put flowers on the grave but had forgotten this year. She said that she was out searching for flowers but the weather was too wintry. It seemed as though she was looking to Takumi to say and do the right things, but he was at a loss.

Takumi writes that he had not known that Alaska was going to drive away and had thought that she would probably cry some more before going to sleep. Still, like the Colonel and Miles, he let her go that night and he feels guilty about it. He had kept this a secret because he was mad at his friends for cutting him out of their lives after Alaska’s death, and he liked having a secret of his own. He ends the note by saying that he knows that Miles and the Colonel loved Alaska, and that it was hard not to.

Miles runs out of the room to look for Takumi, but he has already departed for the summer. If he were there, Miles would tell him that he forgives him and that Alaska forgives them for that night. Miles now realizes that forgiveness is vital if one is to survive in the labyrinth, as it is impossible to undo one’s actions. He wishes he had acted differently on that night, but it is sometimes hard to appreciate the long-term effects of one’s actions at the time.

Miles has accepted that he will never know what Alaska was thinking in her final moments, but he will always love his “crooked neighbor” with all his “crooked heart.”

Before arriving at Culver Creek, Miles had thought that the way out of the labyrinth was to pretend that it does not exist and live out a small but sufficient existence in one of its recesses. That had only led to a lonely life filled only with the words of people who had already died, so he had sought out the Great Perhaps. However, along with the Colonel and Takumi, he had failed to be the friend that Alaska deserved.

Miles is aware that he could react in the same way that Alaska reacted to her mother’s death by becoming an enigma, but he has seen where that path led Alaska. So, he chooses to carry on believing in the Great Perhaps. He also knows that he will slowly forget Alaska but that she will forgive him; likewise, he forgives her for forgetting everyone but herself in her final moments.

Miles used to think that death was the end but, now, he does not believe that people are merely the sum of their parts—there is an energy that cannot be destroyed. Adults sometimes make condescending remarks about teenagers thinking that they are invincible, but Miles argues that human beings are invincible: forms may change, but energy remains. His view is that “We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irrevocably broken” (220).

Miles’s concluding thought is that Alaska is out there somewhere, and he hopes that somewhere is beautiful.

Chapter 56–Chapter 58 Analysis

When Dr. Hyde sets the students their final exam, both they and the readers are encouraged to address the question: “How will you—you personally—ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?” Alaska’s answer was “straight & fast,” but are there other possible responses? This may seem a depressing topic, but Dr. Hyde points out that the founders of each major religion offered a message of “radical hope” (215). Thus, Alaska’s method was not the only possible means of dealing with suffering.

While the students do not necessarily have fully-formed answers yet, they have some preliminary thoughts. The Colonel’s response is typical of his pragmatic nature and harks back to his question about good people being dealt “rotten lots in life.” While we did not learn his answer to this previous question, he now summarizes his belief that life is marked by suffering but that this is preferable to death. So, while he agrees with Alaska that “straight & fast” is probably the only way out, he would rather endure whatever life throws at him. This can be seen as a downbeat outlook but it also displays stoicism.

The investigation into Alaska’s death appears to be over by this point, as the students focus on their studies and getting on with their lives as best they can. However, Takumi’s note serves as an addendum, revealing that Alaska had spoken to Takumi on the night of her death. He had not known what to say or how to help her, and this explains his earlier comments about Miles and the Colonel not being the only ones to have failed their friend. It might seem odd that he did not confide in them when they revealed their own feelings of guilt, but, as he explains, he was annoyed at them for ignoring him. This was not the only reason, though: in the same way that Miles had shared a kiss with Alaska, Takumi liked to feel that he had his own exclusive connection with her. We have learnt that he had a great deal of affection for Alaska and felt envious of Miles, so his thought process had a certain logic to it.

Revealing this information via a note is fitting in that, despite his upbeat, talkative nature, Takumi is a cryptic figure in some ways, ever-present yet positioned on the peripheries of the novel in comparison with Miles and the Colonel. His friends could quiz him were he to reveal this information verbally, but, by leaving a note, Takumi indicates that he does not want to talk about it; perhaps because he feels ashamed about his behavior. In the same way that he cherished his link with Alaska, this note allows him to reveal the information on his own terms. He has imparted it in the time and manner that is right for him, and Miles and the Colonel cannot question him further.

Miles does not feel any resentment towards Takumi for keeping this information from him. He now realizes that resentment, guilt, and blame are destructive emotions, and he has embraced forgiveness. Nothing can change what happened on the night of Alaska’s death, so the only way he can move on is to forgive himself and his friends. This is also Miles’s response to the wider question of how to escape from the labyrinth of suffering. In contrast to the more pessimistic views expressed by Alaska and the Colonel, Miles therefore seems to have found a sense of inner peace.

In this respect, Miles’s earlier interest in Buddhism seems to have paved the ground for his outlook in the novel’s concluding chapter. It has also informed his response to the question of what happens after people die. While he had been inclined to think that death is the end, he now believes that physical forms may change and decay but that energy lives on and is invincible. He has also accepts the fact that he did not always understand Alaska, nor can he assume that she would have pursued a relationship with him following their kiss. This does not change the fondness that he felt, and still feels, for her.

Thanks to this mindset, Miles is now able to conceive of Alaska as continuing to exist after death. He had initially felt that her death robbed him of his Great Perhaps, but his belief in this idea has been reawakened and the novel ends with a sense of hope.