Intertextual Study – The Art of Taxidermy and Looking for Alaska / How do the characters of The Art of Taxidermy and your chosen text represent ideas or themes? Arwen Stafford 11th Grade

The Art of Taxidermy (2018), written by Sharon Kernot, and Looking for Alaska, (2005) written by John Green both delve into the themes of escapism and guilt by developing them through characterisation. The Art of Taxidermy follows Lottie as she delves into taxidermy. She is pulled both ways as different characters tell her what’s wrong and right. Looking for Alaska follows Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter and his journey trying to find the ‘great perhaps’ at his new boarding school (p. 11). The characters he meets take him out of his reality and into theirs, but the unexpected death of one brings him crashing straight back down. While the protagonist’s outcomes are different, both books use their characters to showcase the themes of escapism and eventual guilt.

Kernot’s Annie and Green’s Alaska each represent the theme of escapism. The Art of Taxidermy begins with Lottie telling us how she “fell in love with death” (p. 1). This is her reality, one where she can be free to see these animals as forms of beauty spurred on especially by Annie. In Looking for Alaska, Miles is living through reality, not escapism, until he meets Alaska. She captivates him in a way he’s not used to, and he allows himself to be completely enveloped in her...