labyrinth - [noun] an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one's way or to reach the exit
The labyrinth was mentioned several times throughout Looking For Alaska, but what is the labyrinth, what is it a symbol for? Why is it important? The answer is this: The labyrinth is a symbol for pain, suffering, and wrongdoing, and the labyrinth is significant because it leads our protagonist, Pudge, to answer the main question, "What is the best way to go about being a person... What are the rules of this game, and how might we best play it?" (32). Miles interprets this question, which was asked by Dr. Hyde, as the nature of the labyrinth, and how to get out of it. He knew that he needed to get out of the labyrinth, whatever it is, "Before I got here, I thought that the way out of the labyrinth was to pretend that it didn't exist, to build a small, self-sufficient world in the back corner of the endless maze and to pretend that I was not lost, but home. But that only led to a lonely life accompanied by the last words of the already dead, so I came here looking for a Great Perhaps, for real friends and a more-than-minor life." (219).
The labyrinth is first mentioned by Alaska when she tells Pudge about Simón Bolívar's last words were, "How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!" When he asks her what exactly the labyrinth is, Alaska challenges him to figure it out himself. However, she eventually gives him the answer, "'It's not life or death, the labyrinth.' 'Um, okay. So what is it?' 'Suffering,' she said. 'Doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. That's the problem. Bolívar was talking about pain, not about the living or dying. How do you get out of the labyrinth of suffering?'" (82). By exploring the Alaska's labyrinth, Pudge is able to figure out how to escape the labyrinth himself, which leads him to answer the central question asked by Dr. Hyde.
The labyrinth is also a minor metaphor for Alaska herself, when Pudge first describes her in detail, "I realized the importance of curves, of the thousand places where girls’ bodies ease from one place to another, from arc of the foot to ankle to calf, from calf to hip to waist to breast to neck to ski-slope nose to forhead to shoulder to the concave arch of the back to the butt to the etc. I’d noticed curves before, of course, but I had never quite apprehended their significance" (19). He focuses on Alaska's curves, such as the curves of a labyrinth.
So how do we escape this labyrinth of suffering? Alaska found her answer: straight and fast. However, the answer Pudge found was forgiveness. He figured that the reason Alaska died was because she could not forgive herself for not calling 911 when her mother was dying. He realized that he blamed himself for Alaska's death, since he did not stop her from getting into the car while drunk. He needed to forgive, "She forgave us, and that we had to forgive to survive in the labyrinth. There were so many of us who would have to live with things done and things left undone that day. Things that did not go right, things that seemed okay at the time because we could not see the future. If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we can’t know better until knowing better is useless" (218). His final essay question was asking him, "What is the best way to go about being a person? What are the rules of this game, and how might we best play it?", he answers the following, writing his way out of the labyrinth:
"She will forgive my forgetting, just as I forgive her for forgetting me and the Colonel and everyone but herself and her mom in those last moments she spent as a person. I know now that she forgives me for being dumb and scared and doing the dumb and scared thing. I know she forgives me, just as her mother forgives her" (219). The way out of the labyrinth, according to Pudge, is to forgive. Forgive yourself and do not blame yourself for things that are beyond your control. Forgive yourself and forgive others for the wrongdoings in your life.
The labyrinth is first mentioned by Alaska when she tells Pudge about Simón Bolívar's last words were, "How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!" When he asks her what exactly the labyrinth is, Alaska challenges him to figure it out himself. However, she eventually gives him the answer, "'It's not life or death, the labyrinth.' 'Um, okay. So what is it?' 'Suffering,' she said. 'Doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. That's the problem. Bolívar was talking about pain, not about the living or dying. How do you get out of the labyrinth of suffering?'" (82). By exploring the Alaska's labyrinth, Pudge is able to figure out how to escape the labyrinth himself, which leads him to answer the central question asked by Dr. Hyde.
The labyrinth is also a minor metaphor for Alaska herself, when Pudge first describes her in detail, "I realized the importance of curves, of the thousand places where girls’ bodies ease from one place to another, from arc of the foot to ankle to calf, from calf to hip to waist to breast to neck to ski-slope nose to forhead to shoulder to the concave arch of the back to the butt to the etc. I’d noticed curves before, of course, but I had never quite apprehended their significance" (19). He focuses on Alaska's curves, such as the curves of a labyrinth.
So how do we escape this labyrinth of suffering? Alaska found her answer: straight and fast. However, the answer Pudge found was forgiveness. He figured that the reason Alaska died was because she could not forgive herself for not calling 911 when her mother was dying. He realized that he blamed himself for Alaska's death, since he did not stop her from getting into the car while drunk. He needed to forgive, "She forgave us, and that we had to forgive to survive in the labyrinth. There were so many of us who would have to live with things done and things left undone that day. Things that did not go right, things that seemed okay at the time because we could not see the future. If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we can’t know better until knowing better is useless" (218). His final essay question was asking him, "What is the best way to go about being a person? What are the rules of this game, and how might we best play it?", he answers the following, writing his way out of the labyrinth:
"She will forgive my forgetting, just as I forgive her for forgetting me and the Colonel and everyone but herself and her mom in those last moments she spent as a person. I know now that she forgives me for being dumb and scared and doing the dumb and scared thing. I know she forgives me, just as her mother forgives her" (219). The way out of the labyrinth, according to Pudge, is to forgive. Forgive yourself and do not blame yourself for things that are beyond your control. Forgive yourself and forgive others for the wrongdoings in your life.
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