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Fault In Our Stars Essay: Cancer Inside A Young Mind

Decent Essays

Cancer Inside a Young Mind

Imagine, you are a teenager only to find out the horrific news that you have cancer. How would you choose to cope with this and what would be your motivation to get through such a terrible situation? This saddening scenario is exactly what has happened to a young girl Hazel, and her soon to be close friend Augustus Waters in The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. Hazel is met with this major obstacle and most saddening diagnosis of thyroid cancer at the age of thirteen with not a very good outlook for her future. Now just how will she cope with it and what path will she take to overcome this sadness. Finding her way into a support group and meeting Augustus who is also going through a similar battle is what …show more content…

“I just want to stay away from people and read books and think.” (Green 99) This is an example of Hazel not wanting to hurt other people around her. It is her goal to be as passive as possible in order to not be responsible for any pain inflicted on others. Hazel’s fear of getting close to anyone is that her eventually death will be much harder on those who she leaves behind. But she continues on and finally realizes that it doesn’t matter if she is a grenade because when you love someone you love them inside and out. Augustus’ character is very different than Hazel’s as he is always found trying to leave his mark on the world, while Hazel struggles to grasp and understand the importance of this. “That’s the one thing about pain,” Augustus said, and then glanced back at me. “It demands to be felt.” (Green 63) This was Augustus’ way to say that even though you may be brave through all of this, it doesn’t mean that you cannot still feel overwhelming pain. This can make you realize that by keeping your distance from others is not always the best answer. Augustus is very persistent in pushing the relationship forward with Hazel even though at first she is reluctant to get to close.
This book can appeal to just about any type of reader having many different interests. I enjoyed seeing the relationship evolve between Hazel and Augustus and watching it unfold as it leaves a very lasting impression on me. My sister was right that the roller coaster

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