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53. Eighty-Four Days After
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
Although Miles’ dad pretended to be Dr. Morse on the phone, the group hires a male stripper named Maxx to play him on Speaker Day. It takes a while to find a stripper that would agree, but Maxx finally agrees so on the condition that there won’t be any nudity in front of students. Miles and Takumi get every member of the junior class to contribute five dollars toward paying Maxx’s fee, so that the responsibility for the prank will be distributed evenly and no one will be expelled. The prank, which everyone has known about for two weeks, only works because of the strong no-ratting culture at Culver Creek.
The people who once played pranks on Alaska are now expending time and energy to pull a prank in her honor. This time, no one seeks retribution or payback. Instead, this prank is about making things better rather than making them worse. As a result, everyone works together to ensure that no one will be punished for the group effort.
Themes
When Maxx arrives that afternoon, the Colonel gives him the speech he has written him and pays his fee upfront. Miles accompanies Maxx to the gym, since he is supposed to be a friend of Miles’ father, even though Miles knows this means he runs the risk of getting in trouble. Maxx takes the podium and starts talking about how frequently boys objectify girls’ bodies, but notes that girls rarely do the same to boys. While he is talking, Lara stands up and says, “You’re so hot! I wish you’d shut up and take off your clothes.”
This prank is a fitting memorial for Alaska because it remembers her in two ways. First, the content of Maxx’s speech reflects Alaska’s feminist views. Second, Alaska loved mischief and challenging authority figures, so the spirit of the prank is very much in line with Alaska’s personality.
Themes
When Lara insists again that Dr. Morse take off his clothes, Maxx says, “Well, it is certainly important to subvert the patriarchal paradigm.” Then he shouts, “This one’s for Alaska Young.” Takumi puts on music and Maxx strips and dances in front of the entire student body until the Eagle asks him to leave.
Green pays less attention to Lara than he does to the other characters in the novel, but Lara’s willingness to publicly ask Maxx to take his clothes off suggests that she, like Miles, has changed and become much more comfortable with herself.
Themes
Students from the other grads can’t figure out who was responsible for the prank, and Miles tells everyone that it wasn’t him or the Colonel or Takumi, but Alaska. Alaska once told Miles that the worst part of pulling a prank was that you could never claim it as your own, and Miles enjoys being able to tell people that this one was her doing. Later that night, the Eagle shows up at Miles and the Colonel’s room and tells them he knows they are responsible. He warns them never to do something like that again, but adds, “Lord, ‘subverting the patriarchal paradigm’—it’s like she wrote the speech.”
The fact that the Eagle recognizes how perfectly the prank suits Alaska—without knowing that she planned it before her death—is a testament to just how well the prank serves as a memorial. The prank does not mourn her death, like the playground, but instead celebrates her life. Even though Miles and the Colonel did all the work to pull the prank off, they are happy to give Alaska the credit for it. They love her and want people to remember her correctly.
Themes
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