They say love is blind. I disagree. Infatuation is blind, love is all-seeing and accepting” In the novel Looking for Alaska written by John Green, the main character Miles claims to be in love with one of his best friends Alaska. This however, is an incorrect statement as he is not aware of who she truly is as a person. Miles has a version of Alaska in his head but it is not the full picture of what a human being is allowing him to only know her on a surface level. He has an infatuation with her which he mistakes as love. Miles does not know everything about Alaska in fact he only knows the front that she put up for her friends. This is not his fault but is a true statement. Alaska was opening up to Miles in ways that he was not able to comprehend. There were parts of her life that when showed to Miles he did not think about enough to effectively come to understand her. Through their friendship, Miles comes to know a fun, outgoing, and unashamed Alaska. She seems to be the perfect embodiment of what Miles feels he is missing in his life. This causes him to have feelings for Alaska that are somewhat misplaced. Alaska tried to express her sadness to Miles a few times, “What you must understand about me is that I am a deeply unhappy person”. Miles never thinks more of it because he thought she was only talking like he and many other teenagers do. Alaska however says similar things to this quite often and he is unable to pick up on the fact that she is sad and struggling with something that has or is altering her life. Additionally, Alaska states herself multiple times that she does not think Miles knows who she is and if he does he only likes the exciting and adventurous parts of her, “Don't you know who you love, Pudge? You love the girl who makes you laugh and shows you porn and drinks wine with you. You don't love the crazy, sullen bitch.” Alaska expresses that there are parts of her that Miles does not know and would not enjoy as opposed to what she usually shows him. There are multiple times throughout the novel where Alaska states that nobody knows who she is. It is not the fault of her friends who love her for what they see because they would love her no matter her flaws. The fault was within Alaska herself who could not move on from grief and was too scared to open up to get close with her friends. Finally, Miles could not love Alaska because he was never in the moment. Miles was in search of something better at all times. He put his friends, including Alaska on a pedestal thinking they had reached what he was hoping to in the future. Alaska tried to give him advice that he was living in the great perhaps but he could not see that until it was too late. Due to the fact he did think more of the people he maintained friendships with it was hard for him to recognize their struggles rather than just his own. Because of this he did not know that Alaska was suffering. In conclusion, it is not entirely Miles’ fault that he was unable to love Alaska because he did try but he also overlooked many aspects of what a relationship is. A relationship will never be successful if one only focuses on the image they have of someone in their own head. Alaska purposely did not allow people to get close to her. This affected all of her relationships as well as her life in general. Love is not something which overlooks flaws it stares those flaws in the face and accepts them no matter what they are.