The theme of this novel is self discovery. Because of the Colonel and Alaska, Miles becomes completely different and discovers his true self with their help. Alaska helps Miles discover a lot about himself. When Alaska dies, Miles discovers a new part of him filled with regret, guilt, love, sadness, bitterness and gets to understand himself better by experiencing all these new feelings and thoughts. The Colonel discovers a lot about himself after Alaska’s death also, parts of him he did not know he had.