The Search for

At the end of Chapter 1, when explaining why he wants to attend boarding school to his parents, Miles says he's searching for "The Great Perhaps", and quotes the last words of French writer Francois Rabelais who lived and wrote during the turn of the 14th/15th Centuries. Rabelais (a pseudonym) was a former monk who, after leaving holy orders, embraced a life of humanism, of celebrating the pleasures of being alive. He poked satirical fun at the sort of self-restraint he left behind in the church and urged those who read his work to let themselves enjoy what there was/is to be enjoyed, and to embrace the possibilities of life rather than restrict themselves to narrow definitions of what was right and proper. His last words, as quoted by Miles at the end of Chapter 1 in explanation of his decision, were "I go to seek...