Disscution Questions #4
- Question: At the beginning of this section, Miles and Chip were looking up warning signs of suicide trying to figure out what happened to Alaska. Although Alaska showed a couple of the signs, Miles and Chip couldn’t decide on if her death was accidental or suicide. At this point what did you think was the real reason, why?
Answer: At this point, I thought it was suicide because whatever Alaska heard on the phone pushed her over the edge, and she decided to finally take her life. I thought she had been planning her death for a while, but didn’t have a reason to do so until she got that phone call.
- Question: Miles is told by Chip that he wasn’t the only other guy Alaska kissed, which makes him wonder how special he was to her, and if she really loved him. Do you think that Alaska really loved him or was she just playing Miles?
Answer: I think Alaska was just playing him, she said constantly that she loved Jake and she had no reason to really love Miles. I think the whole love thing was something Miles made up in his head because that’s what he wanted to happen.
- Question: Miles described Alaska as his “Great Perhaps”, what qualities or attributes do you think he saw in her to make her his “Great Perhaps”?
Answer: I think Miles saw her as a mystery; she was something that he wanted to find out more about, and he couldn’t stop trying to understand her. I also think she pushed him out of his comfort zone, which he was searching for in his “Great Perhaps”
- Question: Miles and Chip had kept the truth about the night Alaska died, from Takumi for a longtime, why do you think they made that decision?
Answer: I think they were scared of his reaction to the truth. In their minds they probably thought Takumi would always hold that against them and their friendship would never be the same.
- Question: Miles and Chip constantly get angered by the way people, who didn’t know Alaska very well, act like they were best friends when in reality they don’t know them very well. Do you think this happens in real life, why or why not?
Answer: Yes, I think this happens in real life, and I think people do this for two different reasons, either to gain attention from other people or to bury their guilt about not spending enough time with the person that has passed on.
- Question: Miles compares his understanding of Alaska to the Buddhist koan, where a man realizes there is no best or worst, only what is and he reaches enlightenment. He wonders if his understanding of Alaska will happen in an instant, do you think it is possible to understand a person fully and/or in an instant?
Answer: I do not think it is possible to understand a person fully, but I do think you can understand them better than anyone else on. For example, a married couple for 60 something years will know each other very well, but I think there is still some mystery to everyone. I do not think it is possible to know every part of someone in an instant.
- Question: Do you think the prank was a good commemoration to Alaska?
Answer: No, I don’t really think it was a good commemoration of Alaska because I find the prank was very simple, and I expected there to be a much more complex prank, but I think the end result and reaction of the Eagle and students was a good commemoration of Alaska.
- Question: Miles wrote for his religions class this quote “maybe ‘the afterlife’ is just something we made up to ease the pain of loss, to make our time in the labyrinth bearable” How do you feel about this statement, do you agree or disagree?
Answer: I think this holds some truth, because it’s easier to get over the death of a loved one if you think they are in a better and happier place vs. rotting away in the ground. I do not agree with the fact that we made it up, because in the religion I follow and believe in, it’s a fact not a made up place.
- Question: What are some themes of this book?
Answer: Some themes shown throughout the book were: Friendship, Love, Regret and Loss
- Question: An example of a theme is “There is more to a person than you will ever know”, when was this shown throughout the book?
Answer: Alaska was the main example of this, because no one ever really figured out why she got into an accident, what her last words were or if she loved Miles. Takumi is also another example, you don’t figure out that he saw Alaska that same night, and you would have never known that without the note he left.
~ Amanda
I think you are very wrong when you stated in question 3 that Alaska was the "great perhaps" because She was a mystery to him. I think that indeed Alaska was Miles's "Great perhaps." but, i think she it is because she made him the person he wanted to be and took him out of hsi comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'm wrong in saying that she is his "Great Perhaps" because she was a mystery. In m opinion, Miles had been looking for an unknown, something to break the sameness he experienced back at home and Alaska was that person. Alaska constantly made Miles want to experience more in their friendship, and it was the mystery that made him keep coming back.
ReplyDelete~Amanda
I agree with Amanda in her statement that Alaska is Pudge's 'Great Perhaps'. She brings up excellent points in saying that Alaska truly represents an unknown. Before, and especially after Alaska's death, Pudge realizes that he never really understood Alaska fully and never knew what she would do next. I think her unpredictability and wildness was exactly the 'Great Perhaps' that Pudge was looking for when he left his old school. I believe that this is exaclty what he found in Alaska.
ReplyDelete-Kira
I'd have to agree with Kira and Amanda. Alaska basically embodied what Miles had been searching for; she brought him out to the soccer field to dig up bottles of wine, involved him in crazy pranks and was just someone so unpredictable (like the Great Perhaps) that he couldn't help but fall for her even if he never really knew that much about her.
ReplyDelete-Lauren