All questions and answers must be typed. Your name should be typed at the top of each
page. Bring Looking for Alaska, these questions, and Death of a Salesman to class the
Monday we return from break.
1. Discuss the book’s unusual structure. Why do you suppose Green chose this strategy for
telling his story? How else might he have structured the same material?
2. Miles tells the story from his own first-person voice. How might the book differ if it had been
told in Alaska’s voice or the Colonel’s? Or in the voice of an omniscient narrator?
3. The Colonel says, “everybody’s got a talent.” Do you? Explain (5-10 sentences).
4. Miles’ teacher Dr. Hyde tells him to “be present.” What does this mean?
5. John Green worked for a time as a chaplain in a children’s hospital. How do you think that
influenced the writing of Looking For Alaska?
6. What do you think “The Great Perhaps” means?
7. Miles tells the reader about the last words of some notable individuals. Choose one that he
discusses and explain why it’s your favorite. Then, look up a notable person who interests
you and investigate what his or her last words were. What do you think about them? How
do they make you feel? Explain (4-8 sentences).