Look for Alaska: Week of 9/8/14

Pages- 1-50
Prompt- Analyze the impact imagery and figurative language have on the meaning and tone of the text.

     I just started reading Looking for Alaska and so far it's incredible! The story uses imagery frequently throughout the novel. Figurative language, not so much. Though, both are used to get a certain point across by the author. Usually to describe what something really looks or feels like. I would think there is a lack of figurative language because there is a lot of dialogue used in the story. Also because, (I would think,) John Green would much rather just describe in more detail. He throughly describe what something looks, feels, tastes, smells, or sounds like. Green does this more often than using figurative language like similes, metaphors, hyperboles, etc. We can conclude he would much rather take the time to describe what it actually looks like. This conclusion is based on this lack of figurative language. So far in the book, I don't think that any imagery or figurative language has really related to the bigger picture of the novel. It won't particularly have an impact on the plot. These details may just be provided to describe something specific. They may not have any meaning or importance later in the novel. Considering I've only read the first fifty pages, there is not much imagery and figurative language. Most of the imagery and figurative language the author has inserted into the novel, is to describe the setting. It's also used to evoke or conjure up what something looks like. This has mostly used to describe certain characters. Though, most of the imagery described, I think may help us to understand something greater later in the story. Maybe the description of a characters ways or actions (hint, hint) or how they look, will mean something more. 

     There are only two real pieces of figurative language that I could detect so far in the story. One is a metaphor, and the other is a simile. On page 19, Miles Halter describes the beautiful Alaska Young's eyes. He says, "But even in the dark, I could see her eyes were fierce emeralds." You may think that this isn't very important, and he's only describing what her eyes look like. Though I think this may have a larger meaning later in the story. People's eyes can tell a story. You can tell if someone's in pain, or excited, or disappointed,. You can see this,  just by looking at their eyes. We learned from this metaphor that Alaska's eyes are like emeralds, so I can imagine that they are very distinct, and beautiful. Because they are so easily noticed, and distinguished from the rest of her face, I can infer that her eyes will be able to tell a story. We will possibly be able to tell what she is feeling. I think if the author were to put in that small, but seemingly important detail (in my opinion) it may matter! The feature emphasized may play a part in something much bigger later. The other place in the story where I can see use of figurative language is when Miles describes a situation with the Colonel. His Girlfriend stormed out of the dorm room, and he says, "Sara slammed the door so hard that a sizable biography of Leo Tolstoy fell off of my bookshelf and landed with a thud on our checkered floor like an echo of the slamming door." This comparison shows that when Sara left the room, she must've slammed the door pretty hard! I mean a book fell of of the shelf because the door was slammed so forcefully. You could hear an echo from how loud it was. I think this may lead to us discovering something bigger later in the story as well. I think The Colonel may have a hard time being understanding and considerate of others. He was kind of, okay, he WAS fighting with Sara before she stormed out. From what he tells us later, they fight quite often. It shows that The Colonel must not be really good with people. Sara slammed the door so hard, that she had to have been pretty angry with him. I think the fact that Sara did this, shows us more of who The Colonel is as a person. He is not as pleasant to people as you would expect. This simile shows that, (using the context clues,) that Sara was mad at the Colonel for being rude to her. Also because the Colonel was being almost "unruly" in front of her parents. That's why she stormed out and slammed the door extremely hard. This shows us overall that the Colonel can sometimes be very inconsiderate. Those are the two pieces of figurative language I found in the novel. I think they will have an affect later in the story, but who knows? It's still a bit early to tell.

     There are many pieces of imagery used in the story to emphasize important things. They are also included to get the point across of what certain things look like. Again, because I am only towards the beginning of the novel, the imagery doesn't all connect to show the bigger picture. The descriptions may not  have an affect on the story later. Though the imagery does describe important things that we need to understand. It helps us to understand where the story takes place, who the character's really are, etc. The first piece of imagery I found was used to describe the feeling of the hot, Alabama weather. Miles says, "But each time I took those few steps to unload the what now seemed like so much stuff, the sun burned through my clothes and into my skin with a vicious ferocity that made me genuinely fear hellfire." This piece of imagery helps us to imagine what the Alabaman heat really felt like. It also introduces us to to the weather that the, (I would expect) the whole story takes place in. Also, the fact that it's extremely hot outside, leads to other events that come later in the story. Another piece of imagery that the author uses, provides for us the setting of the dorm room. The dorm that Miles, and the Colonel will be living in. This is also where a majority of the story so far has taken place. Miles describes the dormitory when he says, "With cinder-block walls coated thick with layers of white paint, and green and white checkered linoleum floor, the place looked more like a hospital than a dorm room." This shows us that the dorm is pretty basic and plain. It's ultimately very boring and old fashioned looking. Obviously, the author needs to explain this in great detail. So much of the novel so far has taken place in the dormitory. If we don't have a good idea of what it looks like, then it's harder to imagine what's going on. It would be harder to get a feel of the mood that the room might bring. In this case, the room brings a lifeless, dull, tiresome feel. The colors are very plain and unexciting, and the room doesn't have a lot going on. We need to know what the different settings look like, so we can begin to think about what mood that setting may evoke. Now we've seen how imagery can help us to understand settings and feelings. Though imagery can also help us to understand people. One last piece of imagery I'm going to talk about is when Miles describes himself. When he was called out in front of the class for not paying attention he thinks, "I sat still, my pen resting in my hand, my notebook open, my face flushed, and my jaw jutting out into an underbite, an old trick I had to keep from looking scared to crying." This gives us a lot of insight about Miles, that we haven't explicitly read about. Considering he said that he had an old trick to keep himself from looking sad or crying, I would assume that he's had to use it before. He said "it was an old trick I had..." This leads us to infer that he may have had problems with getting in trouble, or being embarrassed before. Whether that be through school, or an extra curricular activity, we don't know. Though we can assume that he's used that to stop himself from looking sad about something, or stop himself from crying before. This description has really helped us to think about Miles' past, and how it may have influenced who he is now. We just don't know what it is about his past that has caused him to have to learn this trick, and use it. Because the author so clearly describes what he was doing, and why, we now have gained a little more knowledge about Miles. We are one step closer to figuring out the secrets of the novel Looking for Alaska.

So, this is how I analyzed some of the pieces of imagery and figurative language that I believe may have/have and impact on the meaning and tone of the text.