Does Alaska Young have bipolar? (+3 Main reasons)
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This brief blogpost will be answering if Alaska Young has bipolar. We will also be checking out the various signs and symptoms of Alaska Young’s bipolar and additionally looking at some of the reasons which may have contributed to this mental illness.
Does Alaska Young have bipolar?
Yes, Alaska Young has bipolar. In the book, ‘Looking for Alaska’, Alaska Young is portrayed as a charming and likable girl who suffers from many emotional and mental issues. This causes her to drive while intoxicated which ultimately led to her demise.
‘Looking for Alaska’ not only tells the story of Alaska, but also her close friends and confidantes from Culver Creek. In the book, Alaska Young is shown to be very unpredictable in nature with a very mysterious personality.
It is this personality that grabs the attention of Miles Halter who is nicknamed ‘Pudge’. Despite her flirting with him, Alaska does not go beyond this since she is in a long-distance relationship with a college student named Jake.
Apart from her relationship with Miles, the story also covers her friendships with others like Chip Martin who is also called ‘The Colonel’, Takumi Hikohito who is an MC and Lara Buterskaya who is a Romanian student.
Alaska Young is also shown to be very reckless in nature and often stashes wine and cigarettes. However, she also has a traumatic past where her mother suffers an aneurysm and dies in front of her.
For eight-year old Alaska, this incident was too painful. She additionally feels guilty for not calling 911 when her mother was suffering. As a result of this incident, Alaska develops a very reckless personality.
At a party with Miles, she gets too intoxicated but leaves after an abrupt phone call. She drives recklessly and crashes her car which instantly kills her. The story then follows the rest of her friends and how they cope with their grief.
Signs of Alaska Young’s bipolar disorder
Alaska Young’s bipolar disorder, along with her other mental health issues are clearly portrayed in the ‘Looking for Alaska’ novel and series. In this section of the blogpost, we have discussed a few signs of Alaska Young’s bipolar disorder, along with her other mental issues.
She is very reckless in nature
The highlighted part of Alaska Young’s personality is that she can be very reckless in nature. While she is known to be a very charismatic and friendly person, she is also shown to be impulsive and reckless.
This not only shows in her addictive habits to cigarettes and wine, but even in her relationships with her friends, and even in the pranks she throws along with her group. However, this reckless behavior was what got her killed in the end.
She does not have a stable relationship
All the while in the story, Alaska Young says that she is in a long-distance relationship with someone named Jake who goes to college. However, she does not show much satisfaction in the relationship, although she says that she loves him.
She states that Jake leads a very different life from her and finds it difficult to communicate with him. All the while, she can be seen flirting with Miles or ‘Pudge’. This ultimately leads Mike to feel that she is genuinely interested in him.
Towards the end, at a party, Alaska makes out with Miles, even though she is in a relationship with Jake. She also does not show any remorse or guilt for cheating on her boyfriend. These instances show that the character is not stable in her relationships, especially romantic ones.
Apart from her romantic relationship, Alaska also does not enjoy that great of a relationship with her own father. Despite him being the only parent she has after her mother’s death, she feels that she and her father do not share an amicable relationship. Thus, she is not used to stability.
She is too interested in other people’s relationships
Alaska Young is also a self-professed matchmaker and often teases others with potential romantic partners. She in fact, sets up Lara and Miles and even tries to set up many others. It can be seen that she is far too interested in the relationships of others rather than focusing on hers.
She is addicted to cigarettes
Alaska Young is also definitely addicted to cigarettes. She is often shown to be smoking and also encourages others to pick up this dangerous habit. She also does not show any sign of stopping or quitting the habit.
In fact, she goes on to say that others smoke to enjoy the cigarette, but she smokes to die. This shows that she definitely knows the risks and dangers of smoking every day. But she still chooses to do it.
She may be addicted to wine
Apart from cigarettes, the character also shows an incredible liking of wine. In particular, she loves Strawberry Hill wine. She also uses a fake ID to purchase wine for the entire semester while at school.
While in the beginning, Alaska’s wine drinking is portrayed to be a harmless teenage behavior, the amount of wine being consumed increases dangerously bit by bit. In fact, the accident which led to her death was a result of her being intoxicated by wine.
She got her roommate expelled
Alaska Young was also the reason for the expulsion of her roommate Marya, along with her boyfriend Paul. The news of the expulsion was the reason why Miles was thrown into the lake by the ‘Weekday Warriors’.
Marya and Paul used drugs and Alaska thought it was fair to rat them out to the dean of the school. While this may seem right, Alaska did not perceive that she was also in the wrong to consume so much wine and smoke cigarettes.
She always needs to be with friends
Alaska can also be seen to be surrounded by people all the time. It is more like she actively seeks out her friends to hang out with. She more or less shows a phobia of being alone and enjoying her own company.
She does not have a stable home
The main reason for her mental health issues is because of her mother’s tragic death. However, despite the fact that she still has one living parent, her father, Alaska still feels that she does not have a stable home. She also actively stays away from going home during the holidays.
She expresses her guilt over her mother’s death
Alaska Young also clearly expresses her guilt over her mother’s death, as she felt that she should have called 911. She also goes into depression whenever she talks about it, and finally, it is the guilt that sent her into panic mode, killing her in an accident.
Reasons for Alaska Young’s Bipolar
It is clearly evident that Alaska Young suffers from mental health issues, most likely Bipolar Disorder in the story. The main reasons which may have contributed to Alaska Young’s Bipolar Disorder are:
- Due to her guilt over her mother’s death: This guilt deeply traumatizes Alaska Young to the point where she seeks comfort in addictions to smoking and wine to get over it.
- Because of her shaky relationship with her father: After her mother’s passing, Alaska finds no relief in the relationships with her father. As a result, she feels that she definitely does not have a place that she can truly call ‘home’.
- Due to her rocky romantic relationships: Apart from her relationship with her father, she also does not share a proper relationship with her own boyfriend. This further leads to more stress and insecurity for Alaska.
Conclusion
This brief blogpost has answered if Alaska Young has bipolar. We have also checked out the various signs and symptoms of Alaska Young’s bipolar and additionally looked at some of the reasons which may have contributed to this mental illness.
If you like this blogpost, please leave your comments and questions in the space below.
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