Theme Of Labyrinth In Looking For Alaska

Simon Bolivar’s last words were, “How will I ever escape this labyrinth?” What ‘labyrinth’ was Bolivar talking about? Life? Death? No, I believe that the labyrinth is suffering. In John Green’s novel, Looking for Alaska, Miles Halter lived a mundane life in his Florida home, but one day he decides to go in search for the ‘great perhaps’ in Culver Creek. At Culver Creek, Miles expects that he’ll have the time of his life, however, Miles and his gang end up learning more about their lives and how to deal with the fact that suffering is inextricably bound to living.
On the first day at Culver Creek Miles , dubbed Pudge by his friends, Pudge meets the Colonel, Takumi and Alaska Young. Pudge is immediately intoxicated by Alaska. As Pudge starts …show more content…
But after a few breaths, I noticed a rhythm. And after a few more, I realized that the Colonel was saying words. He was screaming, ‘I 'm so sorry.’”After Pudge and the Colonel learned about Alaska’s death, the Colonel tries to get rid of the pain and the suffering but then he realized that he cannot get rid of the labyrinth of suffering. “After all this time, it still seems like straight and fast is the way out-but I choose the labyrinth. The labyrinth blows but I choose it.” The colonel is not trying to escape the labyrinth because he thinks that there is value to suffering and going through trials and …show more content…
In Looking for Alaska by John Green, the kids in Culver Creek were put through trying times and were forced to learn coping mechanisms to deal with the reality of pain and suffering. Alaska Young felt that the labyrinth was suffering and that you have to suffer because of the wrongs that you have done. Chip ‘the Colonel’ Martin thought that suffering is a natural and crucial part of life and, therefor, you should not aspire to escape the labyrinth, you should embrace the labyrinth. Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter believes that you can escape the labyrinth of suffering through forgiveness. No matter what you believe is the truth about the root of suffering is, it is human nature to try and define and rationalize the things that we cannot explain and whether is be life after death or how to escape the labyrinth of suffering, these questions will plague humankind until the end of time because we are curious creatures who all have different ways to