Narrative technique

Chapter division and title

In John Green’s novel Looking for Alaska, the division of the chapters into days creates a diary-like feeling. However, it is clear that the first-person narrator Miles knows the whole story and tells it only afterwards. Therefore, these are not diary entries that were kept on a daily basis. Also, not every day is listed. Sometimes days are skipped. Miles only reports the days on which something special or decisive for the story happened.

Only the important events on a day are reported. For example, there is a very short chapter that tells only about a short conversation with Dr. Hyde. Surely much more happened on that day. However, only this one event is outstanding and only this is reported to the reader. Sometimes, severa...