Looking for Alaska: Characters, Setting, and Conflict

For my summer reading book I chose Looking for Alaska by John Green. Miles, also known as Pudge is one of the main characters, he is described as tall and skinny and is the protagonist of the book. Alaska Young is the girl that Miles is in love with, and another main character is Chip who is Pudge’s roommate. The setting of the book starts off at Pudge’s house for his going away party. Pudge is leaving for boarding school at Culver Creek in Alabama.

One of the big conflicts in Looking for Alaska was Pudge vs. Miles (person vs. self). Throughout the book Pudge/Miles is trying to find himself and who he really is, looking for “The Great Perhaps”. In the BEFORE section of the book, he is Miles. He is friendless and unhappy until Culver Creek where he gets the nickname Pudge from Chip. Then he works harder and harder to discover who this newfound Pudge is. During the AFTER section when Alaska dies, he realizes who and what Pudge is. He finds “The Great Perhaps” and moves forward into his new life. He gave into peer pressure, and pulled pranks, did drugs, and everything, just to find out who he really is.