"Humans can share poverty but no richness." ...

As Thanks Giving is near, all of Culver Creec's students leave campus in order to celebrate with their families. All of them, except from Alaska and Miles. Miles has decided to stay on campus to bear Alaska company. During his time alone with her Miles realizes that he really loves Alaska and that it is all the same to him in which problems he can get roped into. However, he also realizes that if people were rain he would be less than “drizzle”(page 92 line 17) and Alaska would be a strong “hurricane” (page 92 line 17).
On Thanks Givings day, at sometime in the afternoon, the Colonel comes back to campus and invited the two of them to Thanks Giving dinner. His mum could not bear the thought of leaving people somewhere family-less on Thanks Giving evening. Chip's family lives in a small trailer.
Nonetheless it was one of the best Thanks Givings for all of them.


Alaska's character traits – if you ask me she is close to schizophrenia in this chapters - would definitely be a suitable and interesting theme to write about in this entry. However, there is something that astonished me still more. I guess there is a Chinese saying which says “Humans are able to divide poverty, but no richness.” These chapters are very good examples for this Chinese saying. Not one of the richer mums, but one of the poorest cannot suffer the thought that two to her completely unknown teenager spend Thanks Giving family-less and alone somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
She takes care of them, even if there are not enough places to sleep and even if it means that her own son has to sleep Thanks Giving's night outside in a tent. She lets them take part in their meat. A family which has in reality not even enough money to pay the rent for a small flat and who need to live in a trailer, shares the few they have with two strangers. I can really understand the Colonel's deep hate and it's really astonishing that a school like Culver Creec which contains this two contrast can exist without greater problems.


Marc