How we cite our quotes: (Daysbefore.Paragraph) and (daysafter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"So this guy," I said, standing in the doorway of the living room. "Francois Rabelais. He was this poet. And his last words were 'I go to seek a Great Perhaps.' That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps." (136before.18)
Miles is seduced by adventure and the idea of living in the now that adventure implies. He's no longer satisfied with a comfortable life… but now he's opened himself up to the suffering that is tied to a Great Perhaps. Does he realize what he's about to do?
Quote #2
"I must talk, and you must listen, for we are engaged here in the most important pursuit in history: the search for meaning. What is the nature of being a person? What is the best way to go about being a person? How did we come to be, and what will become of us when we are no longer here?" (126before.17)
The Old Man serves as a starting point for many of the musings Miles has about life and consciousness. What makes him such an important figure in Miles's exploration of life and the meaning of existence?
Quote #3
People, I thought, wanted security. They couldn't bear the idea of death being a big black nothing, couldn't bear the thought of their loved ones not existing, and couldn't even imagine themselves not existing. I finally decided that people believed in an afterlife because they couldn't bear not to. (4before.4)
Miles talks about "people" here, but does he include himself in this category? And does this mean he believes in the religious traditions? How does this idea about death and meaning connect to the Great Perhaps he has envisioned for himself?
Quote #4
"You can't just make me different and then leave," I said out loud to her. "Because I was fine before, Alaska. I was fine with just me and last words and school friends, and you can't just make me different and then die." For she had embodied the Great Perhaps—she had proved to me that it was worth it to leave behind my minor life for grander maybes, and now she was gone and with her my faith in perhaps. (20after.23)
Okay—so the adventure is worth the pain and suffering for Miles. But we have to wonder if Miles's "faith in perhaps" really dies with Alaska. We hope not and we don't think it did… How about you?
Quote #5
But even so, the afterlife mattered to me. Heaven and hell and reincarnation. As much as I wanted to know how Alaska had died, I wanted to know where she was now, if anywhere. I liked to imagine her looking down on us, still aware of us, but it seemed like a fantasy, and I never really felt it—just as the Colonel had said at the funeral that she wasn't there, wasn't anywhere. I couldn't honestly imagine her as anything but dead, her body rotting in Vine Station, the rest of her just a ghost alive only in our remembering. (21after6)
Miles is struggling to hold on to his belief in the afterlife. Now that he's faced with real death, he's got to reconcile what he wants to believe with what's actually running through his head, which is hard for anyone to do.
Quote #6
I was not religious, but I liked rituals. I liked the idea of connecting an action with remembering. In China, the Old Man had told us, there are days reserved for grave cleaning, where you make gifts to the dead. And I imagined that Alaska would want a smoke, and so it seemed to me that the Colonel had begun an excellent ritual. (46after.23)
Once again the Old Man helps Miles realize something about his life. The question is, will Miles and his friends continue to make rituals about Alaska to remember her, or will they accept their forgettings.
Quote #7
"Everything that comes together falls apart," the Old Man said. (51after.2)
There are so many ways to interpret and think about this statement—including what Miles thinks of Alaska, the relationship that he and Alaska had, life in general, and the meaning of "apart." It's all fair game, and it's all really deep stuff.
Quote #8
"Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism each have founder figures—Muhammad, Jesus, and the Buddha, respectively. And in thinking about these founder figures, I believe we must finally conclude that each brought a message of radical hope. …And so that is the question I leave you with in this final: What is your cause for hope?" (122after.4)
The question the Old Man asks parallels the path Miles is taking in his grief, and this essay assignment allows Miles to recover some of that youthful optimism that he started the novel with. What are his causes for hope?
Quote #9
"After all this time, it still seems to me like straight and fast is the only way out—but I choose the labyrinth. The labyrinth blows, but I choose it." (122after.12)
The Colonel thinks of the labyrinth differently than Miles. Instead of trying to figure out a way out of it, the Colonel chooses suffering—he thinks there's some value in suffering. Knowing what you know about the Colonel, why would he choose this way of living, and how could suffering and pain be productive?
Quote #10
But ultimately I do not believe that she was only matter. The rest of her must be recycled, too. I believe now that we are greater than the sum of our parts…There is something else entirely. There is a part of her greater than the sum of her knowable parts. And that part has to go somewhere, because it cannot be destroyed. (136after.16)
Even though Miles states that he's not religious during the cigarette ritual, this is a pretty religious thought about life and existence. How does this belief tie to his hope about Alaska and the idea of forgiveness?