Looking for Alaska

133 pages • 4 hours read

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

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 36-40Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 36 Summary

Seven days after Alaska’s death, the Colonel is still angry but Miles sees this anger as pointless; all it does is provide distraction from the sadness and guilt. It does not fix anything.

The Colonel returns from the cafeteria later that day and says that the Eagle asked him if he set off the firecrackers but he had not ratted. He and Miles then clean out Alaska’s room, which Miles finds unbearable. He catches Alaska’s scent and glances at all the books that she will never read. Locating The General in His Labyrinth, he looks at the page where Bolivar asks how he will get out of the labyrinth, and he sees that Alaska has written a note in the margin: “Straight & Fast.”

The Colonel assumes that this is her answer to Bolivar’s question, and Miles asks how exactly Alaska died. The Colonel replies that she ran straight into a police car, and Miles can imagine her aiming for the car and not caring about anyone else. However, he also remembers her saying, “To be continued.” The Colonel also wonders why she would drive six miles from campus to kill herself, but he finds “Straight & Fast” an odd premonition nonetheless. He adds that they still do not know what really happened or who called Alaska earlier that night.

The Colonel carries on trying to figure out what happened that night, but Miles is preoccupied with guilt. No matter what the Colonel deduces, they are both responsible for letting Alaska go.

Chapter 37 Summary

Classes resume on Tuesday, and the mood is somber. Dr. Hyde refers back to the topic that the students were set for their final exam and cites Alaska’s question: “How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?” He says that he will leave this written on the blackboard for the rest of the semester so that students can ponder the question and remember Alaska.

When other students profess to be devastated by Alaska’s death, Miles is annoyed at first, because these people did not really know her. However, he then realizes that he did not know her that well either; if he had, then he would know what she meant by “To be continued?” Also, if he cared about her, he would not have let her go.

As a result of this realization, Miles is no longer bothered by the other students, though the Colonel is palpably angry and voices his grievances to Miles. Miles, meanwhile, feels that the other students have more of an excuse to grieve for Alaska as they were not responsible for her death. Still, he knows better than to voice this opinion while the Colonel is angry.

Chapter 38 Summary

The Colonel has now formulated a theory that he deems unlikely but plausible: Jake called Alaska on that fateful night and they argued. She was upset and wanted to visit him, and she became hysterical at the thought of him breaking up with her. As she was driving along, she noticed a police car and, in that moment, she saw the conclusion to the mystery of the labyrinth. It was as though it was staring her in the face and she made her exit by killing herself, “straight & fast.”

Miles brands this theory ridiculous; pointing out that Alaska had been kissing him prior to the phone call and had hushed him when he mentioned Jake. The Colonel then asks who did call her, and Miles loses his temper, yelling that he does not know and that it does not matter, though, really, he feels that it does. He also noticed that Jake did not attend Alaska’s funeral. Still, Miles feels that he would rather go on not knowing than find answers that he cannot live with.

Miles says that he does not want to know the details, but the Colonel maintains that he does. He says that, if Alaska had planned to kill herself, then she had made Miles and himself accomplices. He hates her for that, as it has left him with a burden that has to carry in secret. He consequently plans to set about investigating her death, which involves interviewing eyewitnesses, and finding out how drunk she was, as well as where she was going and why. Miles says that he does not want to talk to Jake, but the Colonel tells him to stop being so selfish. Miles subsequently agrees to go along with the plan, as he cannot afford to lose the Colonel as a friend.

Chapter 39 Summary

Claiming to be Alaska’s brother, the Colonel visits the Pelham Police Department with Miles and asks to speak to police officer who saw Alaska die. The office is cooperative and tells them that he was on patrol and received a call about a jackknifed truck. As he pulled up at the scene, he saw a car heading straight towards him. He put on the siren but the driver failed to stop, so he got out of the patrol car and managed to escape before the impact.

Having heard this, Miles thinks that the Colonel’s theory is more plausible—surely Alaska would have seen the lights and heard the siren, and surely she was sober enough to swerve.

The police officer says that Alaska was dead when he got to her, and, when the Colonel asks if he thinks it was an accident, he says that he has never seen someone so drunk that they cannot swerve. Still, the coroner judged it an accident, so he does not know. The Colonel then asks how drunk she was, and the officer reveals the test results indicated that she was extremely inebriated. The Colonel’s next question is whether there was anything in the car, and the officer replies that there were college brochures and white tulips.

As he and the Colonel walk home, Miles wonders why Alaska had taken Jake’s tulips with her. The Colonel says that, last year, he was at the Smoking Hole with Alaska and Takumi one day, when Alaska waded through the creek to obtain a daisy that she had spotted on the bank. When asked about it, she said that her parents always put white flowers in her hair when she was a child. The Colonel suggests that maybe she wanted to die with white flowers, while Miles speculates that she may have been returning them to Jake. The Colonel says that this is possible but that the officer has now convinced him that it may have been suicide.

Miles suggests that it would be better to just let Alaska stay dead, as nothing that the can do will make things better. He also says that, even if she killed herself, this does not make the Colonel and himself any less guilty. All it does is show her to be awful and selfish. At this, the Colonel reminds him that these characteristics were part of her personality, and that Miles now seems to only view her as an idealized figure.

After a while, the Colonel says that he just wants things to be normal again and that knowing what happened might help. Miles acquiesces but is not enthusiastic.

Chapter 40 Summary

Miles and the Colonel look up the warning signs for suicide on the Internet and believe that Alaska showed two of the signs: she had lost her mother, and her drinking had increased. The Colonel also prompts Miles to think back on the times when Alaska was moody, and he points to the incident with Marya.

The Colonel states that Alaska obviously was not thinking of killing herself when she was with Miles, and so, if she decided to do so, it was at some point between the phone call and the moment of the crash. When Miles asks why she would have driven six miles away from the campus to die, the Colonel speculates that she liked being mysterious. Miles also notes that Alaska hated authority figures.

Miles is too annoyed to cry and is fed up with the enduring mystery of Alaska. Even in death, she refuses to offer any answers, and this just makes him hate her, which he does not want to do. The Colonel reassures him that there are always answers and that online sources say that suicide usually involves carefully thought-out plans. This would suggest that she did not commit suicide, but, then again, the events do not add up as an accident. At this, Miles laughs at the “progress” they are making.

When a student called Holly pays them a visit, claiming that Alaska has communicated with her via Morse code, the Colonel is angry to be confronted with another fake griever and refers to her as a “stupid bitch” (169) once she has gone. Miles is conscious that Alaska would not have wanted him to call any woman a bitch, but he knows that there is no use arguing with the Colonel.

Chapter 36–Chapter 40 Analysis

When cleaning out Alaska’s room, Miles is inevitably drawn to The General in His Labyrinth, in which Alaska has written a typically cryptic and intriguing note in the margin next to Bolivar’s last words. The note reads “Straight & Fast,” and the most obvious interpretation is that this is how Alaska finally responded to Bolivar’s question. We do not know all the details about Alaska’s death (which, like her life, is shrouded in mystery), but the way in which she died is certainly in keeping with this comment. So, whether her death was accidental or the result of a last minute decision, her note seems prescient.

The cause of Alaska’s mood shift on the night of her death is still unknown, but, evidently, something happened during the time she took the telephone call. There are thus a variety of questions concerning what happened that night, and, following the initial shock, the Colonel begins to investigate them. This is in keeping with his methodological, precise mindset, but Miles remains downcast: whatever conclusions their investigation brings, nothing will change the fact that he and the Colonel were responsible for letting Alaska go.

When the World Religions class resumes, Dr. Hyde shares Alaska’s exam question—“How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?”—as both a memorial to Alaska and a prompt for the other students to consider how they would answer this question. As with the other religious/philosophical questions posed in the novel, it also encourages readers to engage with these same weighty topics.

The Colonel has now immersed himself in the role of amateur detective and speculates that Alaska became upset after an argument with Jake over the phone. Miles, however, clings to the idea that Alaska had lost interest in Jake and that her affections had turned to him instead. Something clearly upset Alaska during the phone call, but Miles is scared of what he may find out if he and the Colonel pursue this line of inquiry. That is, he is scared that it may shatter his fantasies. The Colonel has his own motivation though, as he resents Alaska for potentially having made him an accomplice in her suicide—if it was suicide. Miles has little choice but to go along with the Colonel’s plans, as their friendship is important to him and, as far as he is aware, they alone share the guilt-ridden knowledge about Alaska’s departure from campus.

A discussion with the driver of the police car gives credence to the Colonel’s theory of suicide. According to the police officer’s testimony, Alaska must have been aware of the light and sirens in front of her, and, no matter how drunk she was, she could surely have swerved. Other significant information concerns the items in her car: college brochures and white tulips. College brochures would suggest that she was planning for the future, and, indeed, Alaska had revealed plans to become a teacher once she graduated from college. Miles had already seen the tulips in Alaska’s room, and she had told him that they were to mark her anniversary with Jake. This then raises the question of why she had taken them with her that night.

The Colonel is able to shed some light on this, recalling an incident the previous year in which Alaska had waded into the creek to obtain a daisy that she had noticed on the bank. She revealed that her parents put white flowers in her hair when she was a child, so it may be that they had a special significance to her. Perhaps she had a poetic vision of dying with white flowers—this would certainly be fitting, given her interest in melancholic literature. As Miles says, though, she may have simply been returning the flowers to Jake.

Miles remains a reluctant participant in the investigation, as he believes nothing will make things any better or take away their guilt. If Alaska did commit suicide, Miles will be forced to see her in a bad light, as a selfish person. The Colonel, however, is more realistic and is able to see Alaska as she really was, which, as she herself acknowledged, was as a flawed individual. Even Miles became annoyed with her when she was alive but, in death, his idealization of her has clouded his vision. She was not an angelic vision of beauty and purity but a real human being who was far from perfect.

Internet research shows that Alaska exhibited a couple of the warning signs of suicide, yet the Colonel and Miles do not believe that she had been planning to kill herself. These various threads keep leading back to the phone call that she took that evening, as it was at this point that Alaska’s mood changed so dramatically.

By now, Miles is starting to get annoyed; Alaska is proving as cryptic in death as she was in life and the investigation seems to be going round in circles.