Alaska Young

Alaska Young is the titular character in John Green's debut novel, Looking for Alaska. She is not the narrator of the story, but instead serves as a friend to the other characters, most noteably the main protagonist, Miles "Pudge" Halter. Pudge becomes fascinated with her mysteriousness, and eventually falls in love with her. Her death is the turning point of the novel. According to Green, her name was inspired by The Velvet Underground song "Stephanie Says".
Appearance and Personality
Alaska is described by Pudge as petite but curvy. She has emerald green eyes, a ski-slope nose and mahogany hair that is the "same color of her coffin". Green purposely focuses less on Alaska's physical descriptions in order to "indicate how incompletely Pudge sees her".
Alaska is spontaneous and a prankster. Around Culver Creek, she is "famous for pranking" and is often the mastermind behind Culver Creek's legendary pranks, including putting a Volkswagen Beetle in the school's library. Alaska loves to read; her room is full of books though she's "only read a third of 'em". Her self-destructive behavior is due to the intense guilt she carries for the death of her mother. She sees herself as a "deeply unhappy person".

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