Looking For Alaska Character Flaws

1734 Words7 Pages
In John Green’s Looking for Alaska, most of the conflict is driven by the unique characters attending Culver Creek high school. Some of these characters are well developed and entertaining to read about. Others are hard to root for and poorly conveyed to the reader. The main characters are Miles Halter (Pudge), Chip Martin (The colonel), Alaska Young, Takumi Hikohito, and Lara Buterskya. As the protagonist and narrator every character is perceived by the reader through Miles, so in the context of this book it is necessary to keep in mind each characters effect on him. The diversified group does a good job at keeping readers entertained, but some flaws can be found that distract from the plot. Miles Halter, or Pudge, is a junior in high school…show more content…
Pudge decided to leave his boring life at a Florida public school behind to pursue adventure at a notorious Alabama boarding school- Culver Creek. Pudge is a meek and naïve teen, traits that seem to have hampered his sociality in Florida. Thankfully Pudge was paired up with a well-established well-connected roommate, Chip Martin, also known as the Colonel. Through the Colonel Pudge is coaxed out of his shell, and he learns how to enjoy misbehaving in high school. As a character many details of Pudge’s life in Florida are vague. It is implied that he didn’t have any close friends before Culver Creek, but there is no real mention of any activities Pudge partook in, or his interests. Apart from his passion for memorizing people’s final words, Miles Halter is a boy disconnected from his past. As a character, having a vague or unspecified past works well in stories, but as a narrator it is distancing to have such a shadowed guide through the book. Some aspects of Pudge’s personality are also poorly explained. For example, his obsession with Alaska. When the two were first introduced the physical attraction made sense, however as he got to know her the attachment persisted, even through all of her oddities and problems constantly…show more content…
Before Culver Creek Pudge seems to have had no story to tell. He had no friends and no life. For these reasons he decided to relocate to Culver Creek. Things wouldn’t have gone much differently for the awkward Pudge at this new change of scenery if it weren’t for his roommate taking him under his wing. The Colonel very graciously introduced him around his group of friends, and brought him along for their shenanigans. Without the Colonel Pudge would never have met Alaska, who is the center of the conflict of the story. The Colonel’s history is fairly well documented, just a little more is revealed about his past life than Pudge’s. He is a simple straightforward character and his story is simple and straightforward. It is revealed early that he comes from a family of meager income, and that his mother is single and raising him alone. Hailing from a trailer park, the Colonel surpasses the expectations usually attributed to trailer dwellers. A master planner and more than capable student, one would never assume he had any less to start off with than his peers. The Colonel’s perfect simplicity even infects his personality, and as far as he lets on, he harbors no self-doubt or remorse for his mistakes. The Colonel’s goal in life is to put his mother in a nice big house. Obviously a goal like that also entails personal wealth, but along the way he truly wants to repay his mother in full for everything she has done for
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