5/12 entry

I had written this entry on time but it was saved as a draft instead of posted.

I feel like the over all theme/mood throughout the book has been growing up and maturing. The reason I think this is because the main charecter, Pudge, enters the novel as an anti social, naive nerd, who has never really had a proper friend, let alone one that was a girl, especially like the other main charecter, Alaska. When Pudge arrives at his new boarding school, Culver Creek, not only do him and Alaska become really close friends, he also falls in love with her, while she has an older boyfriend, and while she exposes him to all the "fun, teenage" things in life like smoking cigarettes, and drinking cheap pink wine on campus. 

When Alaska ends up getting in a car accident (which might or might not have been suicide) and passes, Pudge is dealing with many new emotions and situations, and to say the least, he's confused. He's very obviously sad, I mean the girl he as in love with basically killed herlself, but he's also mad at Alaska for leaving him. He feels like Alaska came into his life and taught him how to drink and smoke and got him a girlfriend and all these experiences that were once (and still are) completely foreign to him, and then left. She left him on his own in the dark to deal with all of these things alone, when she had gotten him in these situations in the first place. Him made do his best friend, Colonel, were also just plain confused. Colonel was sad because his girlfriend broke up with him. Pudge was sad because his parents were starting to enjoy life with out him. But in their eyes, Alaska didn't have anything to be sad about. She had a boyfriend she was in love with, and friends, and a car and her dad. 

I feel like overall, Pudge dealing with different experiences like drinking and smoking and with situation with Alaska killing herself diminishes all the naïveness Pudge had when he first arrived at Culver Creek. Throughout the book, by introducing him to new things and new situations, Alaska is the colloid for Pudge's growing up and maturity.