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12. Ninety-Eight 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
Days later Miles is still confused by what happened at the Jury, but then Alaska tells him that she has found him a girlfriend: Lara. The Colonel says that Lara has “great breasts,” a statement that provokes Alaska to yell about the objectification of women. He changes his assessment to “perky breasts,” which he says is a fact rather than a judgment. Alaska announces that her boyfriend, Jake, will be in town, so he and Alaska, the Colonel and Sara, and Lara and Miles are going to go on a triple date. Takumi is going to come too.
Alaska takes the objectification of women very seriously and feels the need to stand up for her gender. The fact that Alaska can find Miles a girlfriend without Miles ever having to interact with the girl beforehand, however, seems out of line with her otherwise feminist ideals—but it fits in with her sometimes condescending behavior. Alaska promised to find Miles a girlfriend, and now brings him his “prize.”
Themes
