User:Amc475/sandbox

Edited themes for Looking for Alaska and Reception section to add:

Search for meaning

After Alaska’s death, Pudge and Colonel investigate the circumstances surrounding the traumatic event. While looking for answers, the boys are subconsciously dealing with their grief, and their obsession over these answers transforms into a search for meaning. Pudge and Colonel want to find out the answers to certain questions surrounding Alaska’s death, but in reality, they are enduring their own labyrinths of suffering, a concept central to the novel. When their theology teacher Mr. Hyde poses a question to his class about the meaning of life, Pudge takes this opportunity to write about it as a labyrinth of suffering. He accepts that it exists and admits that even though the tragic loss of Alaska created his own labyrinth of suffering, he “'still believes in the Great Perhaps,'” meaning that Pudge must search for meaning in his life through inevitable grief and suffering. Literary scholar Barb Dean analyzes Pudge and the Colonel’s quest for answers as their venture into finding a deeper meaning to life. Because it “becomes their obsession, a way to navigate around the really stark pain of their loss,” Dean states that it leads to Pudge finding his way through his own personal labyrinth of suffering and finding deeper meaning to his life. [10]

Grief

When Alaska dies unexpectedly, the repercussions in the lives of her friends are significant, especially for Pudge and the Colonel. Scholar Barb Dean concludes that it is normal to seek answers about what happened and why. She also points out that in writing Looking for Alaska, John Green wished to dive deeper into the grieving process by asking the question “…how does one rationalize the harshness and messiness of life when one has, through stupid, thoughtless, and very human actions, contributed to that very harshness?” [11] Pudge and the Colonel blame themselves for Alaska’s death because they do not stop her from driving while intoxicated, so their grieving process consists of seeking answers surrounding her death since they feel as if it is their responsibility for leading her to her death. Ultimately, Miles is able to come to the conclusion that Alaska would forgive him for any fault of his in her death and thus his grief is resolved in a healthy way.

Coming of Age

Throughout the book, the events that Miles and other characters experience are typical coming of age type situations. By the end of the book, there is a clear sense that Miles has grown and learned a lot throughout the year. Book reviews often note this theme, bringing up the instances in the book such as grief that cause the characters to look at life from a new and more mature perspective . Scholar Barb Dean also concludes that the characters grow up faster than expected while investigating Alaska’s death because exploring the concept of the labyrinth of suffering is Miles’ “rite of passage” into adulthood as he learns more about himself through grieving for Alaska. Reviews also note activities such as drinking and smoking, which, though controversial, can be seen as rites of passage by teenagers into adulthood .

Hope

The theme of hope plays a major role in Looking for Alaska because even though the some of the novel’s prominent themes are about death, grief, and loss, John Green ties hope into the end of the novel to solve Pudge’s internal conflict brought on by Alaska’s death. In Barb Dean’s chapter about the novel, she takes a closer look into Mr. Hyde’s theology class where he discusses the similarity between the founding figures of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, “'that each brought a message of radical hope.'” Mr. Hyde also asks the class what their call for hope is, which, for Pudge, is his escape of his personal labyrinth of suffering. For Pudge, as Dean examines in her chapter, his call for hope is knowing that “suffering is real and cannot be removed” but also knowing that “it can be navigated through friends, through forgiveness, and through the belief that people are ‘greater than the sum of [their] parts.’" Dean offers Green's words that he writes fiction in order to “'keep that fragile strand of radical hope [alive], to build a fire in the darkness.’” [13]

Reception

Reviews for Looking for Alaska are generally positive. Many comment on the relatable high school characters and situations as well as more complex ideas such as how topics such as grief are handled. Overall, many reviewers agree that this is a coming of age story that is appealing both to older and young adult readers . There has been much controversy surrounding this novel, however, especially in school settings. Parents and school administrations have questioned language, sexual content, and tobacco and alcohol use that is included in the novel . This novel was awarded the Michael L. Printz award in 2006 and has also won praise from organizations such as the American Library Association, School Library Journal, and Los Angeles Times among others.

Noted from highly rated Wikipedia articles:

- topic sentences, especially when discussing reception, can be helpful

- in themes section for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, many examples straight out of the book are used - maybe not good for looking for alaska because of lack of scholarly discussion

- controversy section included in reception and relatively brief despite long history of censorship - maybe a better way to do it instead of just listing all cases; better exemplifies the real reasons for censorship instead of getting bogged down, can still list most controversial ALA list years

- Strong lead section is key; answers who/what is the subject and why this is important

- Short, strong, unbiased summary

Article Evaluation/ Proposed Changes (Looking for Alaska):

Making sure the article is arranged according to wikipedia's suggested outline of pages.

Add a reception section.

Change the controversy organization- perhaps this could be included in reception, and maybe just list the reasons for controversy as well as a few examples of cases, instead of the format it's in now. This would include the years that the ALA has cited this book in its most banned list.

The themes section is composed entirely of one critic's ideas- add more ideas on these themes as seen through book reviews etc.

Some minor grammatical changes, and phrasing changes to avoid bias

Few minor lead section edits for clarification, and making sure it answers who/what the article is about, and why this is important.

Bibliography for relevant research so far (includes a piece with a John Green interview, and some book reviews):

Barkdoll, Jayme K., and Lisa Scherff. ""Literature is Not a Cold, Dead Place": An Interview with John Green." English Journal 97.3 (2008): 67-71. ProQuest Central, Research Library. Web.

Gallo, Don. "The very Best Possibilities, Part Two." English Journal 95.5 (2006): 107-10. ProQuest Central, Research Library. Web.

"Looking for Alaska is Captivating." University Wire 2017. ProQuest Central. Web. < http://proxy.library.georgetown.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1973561652?accountid=11091 >.

Ritchie, John. "Looking for Alaska." ALAN Review 32.3 (2005): 36. ProQuest Central. Web.

Article evaluation (Absolutely True Diary) :

Everything seems relevant to the topic

All the controversy information seems to come from few sources

The article may be a bit biased towards defense of the book, explaining that more in depth than the reasons for protest against.

The Historical Trauma and Multicultural Literature section may not be necessary to the topic; it suggests some bias towards approval of the novel. If kept, the sections should maybe be joined/ retitled under the idea of contextualization of the novel, but it seems to me that it would be more appropriate to link to this information instead of putting it on the page.

Seems to have been often edited as parts of educational assignments.

Rating indicates that the article is not necessarily very focused, and contains some irrelevant information, so it requires some cleanup.

Many edits have been related to the censorship and controversy and adding additional sources.

In the reception section, there are only positive reviews, despite the book's major controversy.

The way the controversy section is introduced is slightly biased towards the book.