Literary Blog Assignment #3

After Pudge and the Colonel enter the gym, they realize that Professor Hyde, who they thought had died, is there, so Pudge says, 

“I tapped the Colonel on the shoulder and said, "Hyde's here," and the Colonel said, "Oh shit," and I said "What?" and he said, "Where's Alaska?" and I said, "No," and he said, "Pudge is she here or not?" and then we both stood up and scanned the faces in the gym.

The Eagle walked up to the podium and said, "Is everyone here?"

"No," I said to him. "Alaska isn't here."

The Eagle looked down, "Is everyone else here?"

“Alaska isn't here!"

"Okay, Miles. Thank you."

"We can't start without Alaska."

The Eagle looked at me. He was crying, noiselessly. Tears just rolled from his eyes to his chin and then fell onto his corduroy pants. He stared at me, but it was not the Look of Doom. His eyes blinking the tears down his face, the Eagle looked, for all the world, sorry.

"Please sir," I said. "Can we please wait for Alaska?" I felt all of them staring at us, trying to understand what I now knew but didn’t quite believe. 

The Eagle looked down and bit his lower lip, "Last night, Alaska Young was in a terrible accident." His tears came faster then. "And she was killed. Alaska has passed away." (Green,  page 138 and 139).

                Here, the author uses dialogue to create suspense and reveal the climax of the story. As the reader, I was at the edge of my seat and when I finally find out that Alaska had died, I was in shock. This was very similar to the reaction that the characters in the book had and the  author’s use of diction and dialogue, made it feel like you were there, in Culver Creek’s gym with the rest of the characters.

Literary Blog Number 2: Character Sketch

1.) The protagonist of Looking for Alaska is Miles "Pudge" Halter, a 17 year-old boy with an obsession for famous last words. Miles grew up in Florida with his Mom and Dad, throughout his life he spent a lot of time alone and never made many close friends. Miles spends most of his time reading biographies of famous authors and poets, memorizing famous last words and searching for his  "Great Perhaps."
Since the book is written in first person format from Miles' point of view, his physical appearance isn't discussed often.  Miles is described as being very tall and thin, hence his ironic nickname, "Pudge," given to him by his boarding school roommate, Chip "Colonel" Martins. We don't know what his hair, eye or skin colour is.
Miles changes very much throughout the book. At the beginning he starts out very shy and likes to keep to himself and as the book progresses he slowly becomes more outspoken and rebellious. Miles has a thirst for knowledge and unlike most typical teenagers he enjoys going to school. But when Miles meets Alaska Young, the most gorgeous girl he's ever seen, his lifestyle begins to change. He starts smoking cigarettes, not paying attention in class, breaking Culver Creeks biggest rules, getting kicked out of basketball games and planning elaborate pranks.
Overall Miles is a very kind and intelligent character that doesn't like to go against the group or be a leader.


If Looking for Alaska  was made into a movie I would cast Freddie Highmore as Miles.

2.) The novel is set in Birmingham, Alabama, at Culver Creek Boarding school, over the course of Miles’ junior year of high school. The majority of the story so far takes place at Culver Creek but Miles and his friends often make trips to the nearby city of Birmingham. Birmingham provides a place where the main characters aren’t restricted by as many rules as they are at school and is a setting often associated with an overall happy feeling. The city is also the place where Alaska buys alcohol and cigarettes with her fake ID, so it also holds a feeling of rebellion. 

Culver Creek has a much different feeling then Birmingham. All of the students there are either paying tuition or have an academic scholarship, so maintaining good grades is very important to every student. The school seems to be very controlled and provides the perfect backdrop for the trouble that the main characters get into. There are many rules at Culver Creek that are enforced by The Eagle, the school’s headmaster with zero tolerance for troublemaking, and that seems to fuel the main characters to break the rules and cause as much trouble as they can.

Birmingham reminds be of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the setting for the novel, The Perks Of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Both places are relatively large cities and provide a place for the main characters of each novel to have more freedom and have fun. Culver Creek did not remind me of any place that I’ve been or read of, but I imagined it to look like a smaller version of Harvard University.

First Post

All about Me:


Welcome to my blog, My name is Erin and I am currently reading Looking for Alaska by John Green. My favourite subject in school is English and I play basketball in my spare time. My favourite movie is Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, my favourite band is Nirvana and my favourite food is potato salad. I like to read dystopian  novels and I read a lot in my spare time.



My Current Novel:


As I mentioned before I am reading Looking for Alaska by John Green.

The book follows Miles "Pudge" Halter, a teenager with an obsession for famous last words, on his journey through his first year at Culver Creek Boarding School.  But after his first night, when  a group of boys come into his room, duck tape his arms and throw him into a lake, Pudge realizes that Culver Creek is not what he expected. With the help of his roommate, Chip "Colonel" Martins, and his friends, Takumi and the gorgeous, Alaska Young, he works to seek revenge on the people that nearly drowned him in the lake.