* CONTAINS SPOILERS
The book Looking for Alaska by John Green is divided into two sections: before and after. The "before" section covers the part of Miles Halter's (A.K.A. "Pudge") life before Alaska Young's car crash, effectively ending her life. It begins before Miles even leaves for Culver Creek (the boarding school he will be attending), and it goes on to when he meets the Colonel, Alaska, Lara, and Takumi, all of whom change his life. The "before" section ends when Miles received the news that Alaska had died. The "after" section covers the time in Miles's life when he tries to absorb the fact that Alaska had died and get over his grief for her. There are many major themes that pop up in unexpected places throughout the book. The themes are death, expectations vs reality, romance, and the Pursuit of the Great Perhaps.
In the beginning of the book, we learn that Miles is obsessed with memorizing the last words of famous people. He values the moment of the person's death rather than their life. Alaska is in a similar situation. She said, "Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die." (page 44). Death is one of the most important themes in this book, and it presents itself in many forms: from Alaska's death to Miles and his friends smoking in the woods.
As a new student at the Culver Creek school, Miles has many expectations about how his new life at the school will be and how different it will be from the life he had at his old school. He conjures up scenarios in which he makes countless amounts of friends, but his expectations crumble when the Colonel announces himself to be unpopular and unwilling to help Miles make friends. One of the most important set of expectations that Miles makes is his relationship with Alaska. After her death, he struggled to understand her actions and to redefine his relationship with her. He idolized her when she was still alive, but he only comes to understand her complexity when she is gone.
In the book, romance is presented as a further exploration of the complexities of human relationships rather than actual love. No one is in love, although Miles thinks he is, but in reality, they are a group of teenagers trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be. When Miles and Alaska kiss and then Alaska dies, Miles was unable to understand that he loves Alaska for everything she brought into his life, but that he was not in love with her.
As he transitions from his old school to Culver Creek, Miles goes searching for the Great Perhaps. Since he is constantly unsatisfied with his current condition, the Pursuit of the Great Perhaps gives Miles hope for a better, more exciting life. The Great Perhaps is appreciating the moments you have, but the Pursuit of the Great Perhaps prevents Miles from experiencing it as it happens. After Alaska's death, Miles realizes that the Great Perhaps has always been there and will continue to be there because he is alive.
In conclusion, Miles is more interested in finding his own personal purpose, which he calls "the Great Perhaps". However, because of the friendships he develops, Miles realizes that he needs friends and family to support him and to make his goals and desires mean something. It takes time for Miles to come out of his shell and become a functioning member of society. It is these realizations that allow Miles to grow as a person. He understands that it is his relationships with others that really matters, not his idealistic goals. While he may never become someone famous, as long as he has friends that he matters to, he will never be forgotten.
The article "Cross-Dressers of the Civil War" by Veronica Majerol is about the many women in the 1860's who fought in the Civil War. The women disguised themselves as men to be close to their family, for the money, or for patriotism. The article quoted many women who fought in the war through their journals or letters to their families. It talked about the situations women went through in order to get what they want. The article also talked about how most women went undetected. The author provided many statistics that showed how the women were superior to men in some cases. The article shows that the women who fought were brave, strong, and determined people who were willing to sacrifice themselves for their country.
Throughout the article, the author is trying to say that women can be just as strong, brave, and determined as men. She supports it by giving quoting excerpts from women solider's journals or letters to their families. Sarah Edmonds, under the name of Franklin Thompson, said "I can only thank God that I was free and could go forward and work and I was not obliged to stay at home and weep." The words "... I was not obliged to stay home and weep..." made Edmonds seem strong. It shows that Edmonds was too mature and internally strong to act as a typical 1860's woman would: to stay at home and weep for their husband, brother, or father who went to war. This proves a part of Majerol's claim, which was that the women soldiers could be strong.
Later on in the article, Majerol gives another example; this time of a woman who proved the "brave" part of her claim. The woman's name was Martha Lindley. She was a Union soldier who joined the war solely to be close to her husband. The article says, "'I was frightened half to death,' she said about joining the 6th U.S. Cavalry in Pittsburgh, 'but I was so anxious to be with my husband that I resolved to see the thing through if it killed me.'" Lindley demonstrated bravery by getting over her fear of joining the army to be with the person she loved the most. By saying this, she proved Majerol's claim about soldiers being brave.
Mary A. Brown was one of the women who enlisted because they believed in the Union or Confederate cause. The article said, "Mary A. Brown said she fought with the 31st Maine Infantry because 'slavery was an awful thing, and we were determined to fight it down.'" Brown displayed determination by proving that she was not going to back down from fighting against the wrong morals. She showed that she resolved to finish the fight, no matter how long it took. She showed determination and no fear which is something that Majerol wants to pinpoint. She finishes proving her point by giving this example that illustrates a woman with determination.
In response to what I read, I feel that it was unjust and sexist that women were considered second-class compared to men. Right before the Civil War time period, there was the end of slavery, which not everyone agreed with. There were many problems with the nation, government, and citizens, such as racism in that time. It was wrong that beside discriminating blacks, the white men thought themselves to be superior to women. By reading this article, I thought about how far our country has come since the mid-1800's. It made me realize how lucky each and every non-white and female is, being that the Union won the Civil War so that slavery was forever abolished, and that women later became equal to men. By just reading this one 3-paged article, my eyes became more open to the world around me and the history and reason behind prejudiceness, racism, and sexism.
