The Fault In Our Stars ~ Thematic Essay (rough draft)
In the book The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, there is a main character named Hazel, who has a type of lung cancer. This cancer has always caused her a lot of pain from the start, but after she lost someone she loved, Hazel felt the most pain she has ever felt before. In this book, there was a common theme throughout the story: “Sometimes, in the real world, there are no happy endings.”
Whether it’s physical or emotional pain, there’s nothing you can do to stop it once it has started. In the beginning of the story, one of Hazel and Gus’s friends had a type of eye cancer, and while he was going through a very tough breakup, Gus said this: “That’s the thing about pain, it demands to be
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In one spot of the book, the author decided to have Gus become sick again. “The world is not a wish-granting factory,” Gus said after he told Hazel his cancer was back. I think quote was a way the author was trying to communicate to the reader the theme that I’ve been writing about. Sometimes, there are no happy endings. There is death. There is pain and hurting. There is sickness, weakness and all things that cause people harm. In one particular part of the book, the John Green really showed us Hazel’s pain of losing Gus by using this specific wording to describe how Hazel felt: “I remember once early on when I couldn’t get my breath and it felt like my chest was on fire, flames licking the inside of my ribs fighting for a way to burn out of my body, my parents took me to the ER. A nurse asked me about the pain, and I couldn’t even speak, so I held up 9 fingers.” In this quote, the author used things such as personification and descriptive details to really show how much pain Hazel was in. And she only rated this a 9 out of 10. But now, the author says that after losing Gus, Hazel rated her pain a 10/10. This really demonstrates how much pain she was in, especially since this pain is worse than the “flames licking inside of her body” pain. “The waves tossing me against the rocks then pulling me back out to sea so they could launch me again into the jagged face of the cliff, leaving me floating faceup on the water, undrowned,” was one of the many ways John Green described Hazel’s pain of losing Gus. If Hazel could stop this pain, she probably would. But since she can’t she’s forced into living and feeling like this, knowing she’ll never see Gus again. The world is not a wish-granting factory. You can’t just decide what does and does not happen to you, even if it doesn’t seem fair or right. The world goes on, no matter
Augustus makes an impact on Hazel’s life. Augustus and Hazel meet at Support Group and grow a close bond. Augustus and Hazel fall deeply in love throughout the story. When Augustus’ cancer sprung up again, he asked Hazel to write him an eulogy. In Hazel’s eulogy she says, “My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life. Ours was an epic love story, and I won’t be able to get more than a sentence into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears”(Green 259). This shows that when Augustus dies he will leave a (mental) scar on Hazel, because Hazel will deeply miss Augustus when he dies. Augustus transformed Hazel
Despite the adversity they face, the characters in The Fault in Our Stars identity lies within their inner selves, and is not defined by societal expectations. Hazel expresses her frustration with the lesser standard that is expected of cancer patients, saying “According to Maslow, I was…unable to feel secure in my health and therefore unable to reach for love and respect and art…which is utter horseshit: The urge to make art or contemplate philosophy does not go away when you are sick” (Green 213). According to society, cancer patients, and those who are not “secure in their health” are restricted from experiencing life at its fullest. The outside world sees Hazel in singular terms, as “a cancer kid”, unable to reach for greatness;
The relatable personas of the characters are undoubtedly the strongest aspect of this novel. Readers are guided through the life of a cancer patient, hand-in-hand with Hazel, through the use of first person narrative perspective. Each of the characters have their own unique story which is beautifully portrayed in Hazel’s mind. Despite the lyrical and detailed descriptions, the novel has a wonderful pace, not lagging at
No matter how old you are, you might know what It feels like to lose a loved one. Hazel Grace has never been anything but terminal, until she meets Augustus Waters, and that’s when her story is about to be completely rewritten. The novel is an emotional roller coaster dealing with first loves, terminal illnesses, secrets, passion and trust. In the novel, The Fault In Our Stars, Hazel Grace must go through what any person with a terminal disease must go through and beyond that: overcoming a terminal disease, love, and fear.
For this project, I decided to read “The Fault in Our Stars,” a novel written by John Green. This book is about 16 year old Hazel Grace, who is diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She attends weekly Cancer Support Group, where she meets Augustus Waters, a “very intelligent and hot” boy who is currently in remission. They both take a liking for each other, their relationship growing and developing throughout the book as they fight cancer together. Along the way, Hazel learns many important lessons about life.
Hazel grace was remarkably negative during her cancer battle. A quote from the book is, on page 99, Hazel says “I’m like. Like. I’m like a grenade, Mom. I’m a grenade and at some point I’m going to blow up. I just want to stay away from people… because there’s nothing I can do about hurting you” She was saying that she is going to die and she wants to stay away from people so they don’t end up being hurt.
Augustus realizes that a lot of people let their cancer identify them, which it seems at first like Hazel does. Through the novel Augustus mentions multiple times how he wants his life to mean something other than cancer. “I fear that I won’t be able to give anything in exchange for my life. If you don’t live a life in service of a greater good, you’ve gotta
To start off, neuroblastoma has changed the way she views the world. Throughout her story, Lauren endures an immense amount of physical pain, therefore she will never see anything as painful again. For example, in the passage it describes the effects of chemo on Lauren’s body, it states “She persevered even when the chemo made her so sick she couldn’t walk more than a few steps without
The book The Fault In Our Stars by John Green is about a teenage girl named Hazel who has had a type of lung cancer since she was thirteen years old. Hazel had always felt pain throughout her life, weather it was emotional or physical pain because of her cancer, or losing important things to her. After Hazel met Augustus though, her thoughts about life began to change. In this book, the author used a lot of figurative language and some symbolism to show the reader exactly how the Hazel and other characters were feeling, so the reader could almost feel what the character was feeling.
In conclusion, John Green uses the characters of Hazel and Augustus to portray the theme of ‘the necessity of suffering’. This novel has changed my perspective of terminal illnesses. Before reading the novel, I was not quite away of what it was like to live with an illness as severe as cancer, yet still carrying on with a normal lifestyle. Also, I was able to achieve insight about society’s view about cancer patients. Since Green has not ended the novel stating whether Hazel lives or dies, he stated in an interview that it was up to the readers to create Hazel’s ending with their imagination. I predict that Hazel will pass away. Her cancer was very severe and there were hints about Hazel becoming weaker. I would definitely recommend this book as it was an enjoyable, yet heart
“A flower bloomed already wilting. Beginning its life with an early ending.” (R.J. Gonzales). Hazel Grace Lancaster lives a very unusual life for her age. Hazel was diagnosed with cancer when she was young and has been going through aggressive treatment ever since. ☺Her life is like a tangled ball of yarn that gets even more tangled when she meets Augustus Waters. Augustus is a charming, romantic boy who can not keep his eyes off of Hazel. The twist is, Augustus also has terminal cancer, but there is no way they are going to let that stop them from falling in love. In the book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, the songs Stronger by Kelly Clarkson, If I Die Young by The Band Perry, and Save You by Simple Plan reflect Hazel, Augustus, and Mrs. Lancaster respectively.
Hazel had terminal cancer, she was quiet, stayed to herself, read and watched TV a lot and didn’t want to be around people until she met Gus. Gus was a good athlete who
Firstly, within the novel, it is clear that Hazel is a caring person and is fully aware of what her body’s condition does to her
In the world, over 12.7 million people discover they have cancer. The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green is a compelling novel that presents the story of a sixteen year-old girl named Hazel who suffers from thyroid cancer that spread to her lungs. Throughout the book, Hazel is battling her disease, causing her pain and suffering. In The Fault In our Stars, Green illustrates suffering is apart of life, therefore being human is to have the ability to overcome pain and become stronger.
Their relationship drives the plot forward because the story is about how they fall into love and support each other through hardships; it drives them to go see Mr Peter Van Houten together and to care for each other even as Augustus is dying. The story also explores the theme of dying as their relationship struggles to keep afloat with Gus suffering from terminal cancer, and Hazel has to deal with grief as she copes with her partner’s death. Most importantly, their relationship highlights the theme of love. Hazel and Gus are devoted to each other up till the very end of the story, as seen from… Their relationship illustrates the enduring and touching power of love.