Looking for Alaska Miles Halter Quotes

Miles Halter

Quote 61

"How drunk was she?" I asked. "Like, did they test her?"

"Yeah. Her BAL was point twenty-four. That's drunk, certainly. That's a powerful drunk." (13after.20-21)

That is incredibly drunk. Alcohol impairs judgment, and Alaska feels so guilty about missing the anniversary of her mother's death, so we can't help but wonder how much of Alaska's death can be attributed to her drinking and how much can be attributed to guilt.

Miles Halter

Quote 62

Alaska displayed two of those warning signs. She had lost, although not recently, her mother. And her drinking, always pretty steady, had definitely increased in the last month of her life. (14after.3)

This complicates matters a lot. Why did her drinking increase? That is, what about her life or thinking changed so that her behavior changed?

Miles Halter

Quote 63

It was worse than the Duct Tape Incident, because I already knew that the Kevin Richmans of the world didn't like me. But my teachers had always been card-carrying members of the Miles Halter Fan Club. (110before.11)

Miles ends up kicked out of class and he hates it. He still hasn't gotten used to how the rules at the Creek function, and he's struggling to discover who he wants to reinvent himself as. To some extent he's content to reject the popular social order of students, but he doesn't want his rule-breaking behavior to alienate the teacher he most respects. It's hard to balance on this beam.