Looking For Alaska Reading Response

Some people don't make friends easily. Others find friends that are exactly like them, but the best friends are the ones that you never would have expected to become friends with.  In the book, "Looking For Alaska" by John Green, it talks about how weird it is to meet people that aren't at all like you, but somehow become friends with you.  Some people have gotten this book banned because they find it inappropriate since it has explicit content such as sex, alcohol and smoking. However, this is really not the focus of the book and it shows kids what the real world is like along with things that are considered right and wrong. The main focus of the book is that life is hard, but you have to enjoy the best of it. I think that this book should not be banned because of those reasons. The book also shows how the characters in the book have rough lives and use cigarettes as a way to block the negative parts of their lives out, such as Miles, Alaska and The Colonel.

One example, is that The Colonel seems to like to smoke, especially when he starts to talk about his life. He always asks for a cigarette when he talks about himself and his mother being poor.  He doesn't seem very emotional when he talks about it.  I think he uses it for comfort. One example is when he talks to Miles about his life and says, " I hate rich people" and then asks for a cigarette afterwards which shows that he uses tobacco to drown his sorrows in.

Another example is when Alaska is talking to Miles about smoking. She then talks to Miles and says, "I don't smoke for fun, I smoke to die" which is very sad.  She is basically saying she intentionally smokes so she will die as soon as she can. This shows that Alaska not only uses tobacco to block away her depressing past, but to try to get rid of her pain and suffering by killing herself.

THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH SPOILS FOR READERS WHO HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK! READ WITH CAUTION!

The last example is when Alaska has already died and Mile's becomes depressed and feels like giving up. He then uses smoking to make himself feel better. When he is smoking alone, he says to himself, "You can't just make me different and leave, because I was fine before, Alaska. I was fine with just me and last words and school friends, and you can't just make me different and die."  This shows that Miles is again using smoking to get rid of or to hide his pain, even though it does not work.

In the end, Miles, Alaska and The Colonel all just use smoking to block the pain away. Sometimes this works, though most of the time it doesn't. Sometimes it can just make it worse. I think that teens in the real world try to use drugs and alcohol and especially smoking in this situation and other bad things as well, just to help get rid of the all the bad things in life, but they can also get rid of the good things in life which is more important then trying to get rid of the bad things in life. So I think that teens need to help find other ways to help themselves look for ways to cope with good and bad things and to figure out where they belong in life...without smoking. It's just part of living that things are both good and bad and nothing is perfect, which is why this book should not be banned.