How we cite our quotes: (Daysbefore.Paragraph) and (daysafter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" the Colonel asked, his voice soft.
"It never came up." And then we stopped asking questions. (2before.74-75)
And here it is, Alaska's huge deception: for years she's kept her mother's death from her friends. The question is, what does it say about her ability to trust and her relationships with her friends?
Quote #5
"She got drunk," I told her. "The Colonel and I went to sleep, and I guess she drove off campus." And that became the standard lie. (2after.42)
People lie for different reasons, and Miles and the Colonel lie to others about their role in Alaska's death. So we wonder if they also lie to themselves about the extent to which they were involved in her death.
Quote #6
And I almost said, She buried it in the woods out by the soccer field, but I realized that the Colonel didn't know, that she never took him to the edge of the woods and told him to dig for buried treasure, that she and I had shared that alone, and I kept it for myself like a keepsake, as if sharing the memory might lead to its dissipation. (7after.20)
Miles decides to keep a secret about Alaska. More than the memory, why might he want to share something with Alaska that no one else had? What does this reveal about the extent to which Miles has accepted the lies and deceit that are sometimes part and parcel of friendship?