Blog Post #2: Questioning Character

Throughout 'Looking For Alaska' I noticed that Pudge has a round side to his character. Pudge's character is often persuade as mischievous, loyal and guilty.

Before the passing of Alaska when it was just her and Pudge at school over the break, they both got into some mischievous activities. They went on an adventure from room to room to 'discover people's secrets' while they were away, looking for things such as hidden alcohol, inappropriate magazines and anything else that could be used against people later. -(86-88) Throughout the book, Pudge always seems to be the good doer, never drinking or smoking, somewhat religious until he met Pudge and Alaska and that was the beginning of his character changes from flat to round.

Loyalty is one of the biggest attributes to Pudges character and is something that never changes from his character throughout the book. He is always loyal to his friendships and will help them out in any situation no matter how drastic. The night of Alaska's death although he knew that it wasn't right to let Alaska leave while under the influence, he was loyal to their friendship and helped her anyways. Him and the Colonel were the ones that set off fireworks to distract the Eagle so that she never got caught and that just shows that he is a loyal character to the people that mean the most to him.-(132-133) This makes him a round character as he is both loyal and mischievous.

The guilt within Pudge's character didn't become visible until after Alaska passed away. His feeling of guilt was triggered upon him not stopping Alaska and instead helping her leave which then resulted in her getting into a car accident. The guilt is also what made Pudge go into a denial faze where as I mentioned in my first, he started to convince himself that she committed suicide and drove into the truck on purpose and that in fact it wasn't his fault. "He knelt before a coffin at the front of the chapel. The coffin was closed. Closed. Never going to see her again. Can't kiss her forehead. Can't see her one last time. But I needed to, I needed to see her, and much too loud." -(151) This is just an example of the quilt that Pudge is feeling towards his decision to help Alaska.