The image to the left is the last words of the poet François Rebelais and is used to jump start the beginning of Pudge's journey, and evidently, the novel. According to the novel by Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, there are five key elements to a quest:
The QUESTER: The quester is obviously Pudge, the main character of the novel.
The PLACE TO GO: Pudge begins his quest at the Culver Creek Boarding School. This is the same boarding school that his father had attended for his high school years.
The STATED REASON TO GO: Pudge has always been interested in the last words of people. The "Great Perhaps" is the the place Pudge is aiming to reach. He says in the novel, "That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps... I wasn't going to find it with the likes of Will and Marie" (5). Will and Marie were the only two guests that attended Pudge's going away party, and they only attended to be polite. This demonstrates that Pudge did not have any true friends at his current school and felt as if he did not have much hope in finding the Great Perhaps in his current location. The Great Perhaps is the stated cause of Pudge's journey.
The CHALLENGES AND TRIALS: Pudge faces several challenges on his quest to find the Great Perhaps. Of course, he encounters the usual trials one faces when one enrolls into a new school, such as finding his place among the social hierarchy, finding his classes, completing schoolwork, etc. Luckily, those problems are quickly solved when he meets Chip, whom everyone calls "The Colonel", his roommate and first friend, and he does well in his academics. Unfortunately, because he befriends the Colonel, he is spun into more and more problems. The Colonel is an avid smoker and drinker, and he ends up getting Pudge hooked on cigarettes and alcohol. This actually leads to an actual trial held by the Jury, which is a group of students elected by the administration to deal out punishments to nonexpellable offenses, when Pudge, the Colonel, and his other friends are caught smoking. He meets the charismatic Alaska Young, and as a result, becomes heartbroken over her death because he had fallen in love with her. Through Alaska, he also learns about girlfriends and sex. The Colonel and his group of friends are considered losers at the boarding school, and have made enemies with the other group of students, called the "Weekday Warriors". The Weekday Warriors are the rich group of adolescents who go home on the weekends to see their family and are considered to be much more pretentious by the Colonel and his friends. A prank war begins between the two groups when Pudge is nearly drowned by a few Weekday Warriors on his second day of attending the school and the Colonel wakes up to find his sneakers drenched in urine.
The REAL REASON: Thomas C. Foster claimed that the real reason for every quest is self-knowledge. This is true also for Pudge's quest. Pudge learned much more than trigonometry in his pre-calculus class and the passé composé in Honors French II class. He learned about the labyrinth, what it is, and the way out of it. By finding a way out of the labyrinth, Pudge is then able to answer the question posed by his World Religions teacher, "What are the rules of this game, and how might we best play it?" (32).
- a quester
- a place to go
- a stated reason to go there
- challenges and trails en route
- a real reason to go there
The QUESTER: The quester is obviously Pudge, the main character of the novel.
The PLACE TO GO: Pudge begins his quest at the Culver Creek Boarding School. This is the same boarding school that his father had attended for his high school years.
The STATED REASON TO GO: Pudge has always been interested in the last words of people. The "Great Perhaps" is the the place Pudge is aiming to reach. He says in the novel, "That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps... I wasn't going to find it with the likes of Will and Marie" (5). Will and Marie were the only two guests that attended Pudge's going away party, and they only attended to be polite. This demonstrates that Pudge did not have any true friends at his current school and felt as if he did not have much hope in finding the Great Perhaps in his current location. The Great Perhaps is the stated cause of Pudge's journey.
The CHALLENGES AND TRIALS: Pudge faces several challenges on his quest to find the Great Perhaps. Of course, he encounters the usual trials one faces when one enrolls into a new school, such as finding his place among the social hierarchy, finding his classes, completing schoolwork, etc. Luckily, those problems are quickly solved when he meets Chip, whom everyone calls "The Colonel", his roommate and first friend, and he does well in his academics. Unfortunately, because he befriends the Colonel, he is spun into more and more problems. The Colonel is an avid smoker and drinker, and he ends up getting Pudge hooked on cigarettes and alcohol. This actually leads to an actual trial held by the Jury, which is a group of students elected by the administration to deal out punishments to nonexpellable offenses, when Pudge, the Colonel, and his other friends are caught smoking. He meets the charismatic Alaska Young, and as a result, becomes heartbroken over her death because he had fallen in love with her. Through Alaska, he also learns about girlfriends and sex. The Colonel and his group of friends are considered losers at the boarding school, and have made enemies with the other group of students, called the "Weekday Warriors". The Weekday Warriors are the rich group of adolescents who go home on the weekends to see their family and are considered to be much more pretentious by the Colonel and his friends. A prank war begins between the two groups when Pudge is nearly drowned by a few Weekday Warriors on his second day of attending the school and the Colonel wakes up to find his sneakers drenched in urine.
The REAL REASON: Thomas C. Foster claimed that the real reason for every quest is self-knowledge. This is true also for Pudge's quest. Pudge learned much more than trigonometry in his pre-calculus class and the passé composé in Honors French II class. He learned about the labyrinth, what it is, and the way out of it. By finding a way out of the labyrinth, Pudge is then able to answer the question posed by his World Religions teacher, "What are the rules of this game, and how might we best play it?" (32).
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