Alaska's Labyrinth

Throughout the story, Alaska constantly brings up the idea of a labyrinth or a 'maze of life'. For example, the quote, "Jesus, I’m not going to be one of those people who sits around talking about what they’re gonna do. I’m just going to do it. Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. ... You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present" (Green 240). Many instances in the story Alaska mentions the uncertainty of how to escape the labyrinth and even the uncertainty to understand what the labyrinth is. In my opinion, each character has his or her own labyrinth constricting their life. Each one must recognize the labyrinth and try to escape it. Not each character is able to escape it in a constructive way, for example, Alaska 'commits suicide' before she truly gets to discover her life's labyrinth.

Alaska's Smoking Habit = Suicide?

The main characters smoke cigarets as if it was a fountain of nutrition. This becomes a main "theme" in the book. The characters smoke when they are upset, happy, or just together having fun. It is an outlet for most of the kids - a way to channel their thoughts and emotions.

At one point in the story, Alaska says, "You smoke to enjoy it, I smoke to die" (Green 167). This posed a question for Pudge and The Colonel, after the death, because it made it seem as though the death was a suicide. However, there were also other traits that cause the death to appear as an accident.

The book never quite answers wether it was a suicide or accident - however I have my speculations. I am sure other people who have read the novel have different opinions. The ending is left up to interpretation which I thought was both good and annoying.