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5. One Hundred Twenty-Two Days Before
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Looking for Alaska, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
How to Live and Die
Mystery and the Unknown
Loyalty and Forgiveness
Memory and Memorial
Identity
Mischief
Summary
Analysis
One day Miles gets in trouble with Dr. Hyde, who catches him staring out a window during class. Even though Miles was thinking about religion, but just looking away, Dr. Hyde kicks him out of the room. Alaska stand up and leaves with him. She tells Dr. Hyde that he is being unfair, but he says that they can either follow his rules or fail. In Florida, Miles was always the teacher’s pet, and getting kicked out of class upsets him more than being thrown in the lake.
While Kevin and the Colonel are motivated to act by the desire to right a wrong, Miles cares a great deal more about the opinions of people he admires. Miles can shake off being thrown in a lake, because he is used to being ignored or disliked by his classmates in Florida, but he is deeply upset by disappointing someone he respects.
Themes
Alaska is angry at the Colonel and Takumi for not leaving with her and Miles, but when they finally get out of class, the four walk down to “the Smoking Hole” in the forest behind the school. They talk about who might have ratted on Marya and Paul. Alaska says that it was probably another Weekday Warrior, and that the two deserved to get expelled because they were stupid enough to get caught. This comment strikes Takumi as lacking loyalty, and when he says so, Alaska rudely tells him to stop trying to figure everything out and to find some problems of his own.
Alaska proves yet again to be inconsistent. When Miles got thrown in the lake, she told him that other people had more important problems to worry about. When Takumi shows an interest in other people’s problems, however, she tells him to worry about himself. Ultimately, part of Alaska’s façade of mystery is that she neither takes an interest in other people’s problems nor divulges information about her own.
Themes
Alaska tells Miles that she wants to kiss him but she can’t because she has a boyfriend. Takumi makes up a rap about Miles, and Alaska picks it up and keeps going when he stops. Takumi’s rap is full of literary references that Miles doesn’t understand. When they finish, Miles asks Alaska why she smokes her cigarettes so quickly. She says to him, “Y’all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die.”
Alaska actively cultivates an air of mystery, and it can be difficult to tell when she’s serious. While it seems like her comment about smoking to die is a joke, it could also be read an interest in suicide. What is clear, however, is that Alaska sees herself as set apart from the rest of her friends.
Themes
