Thematic Essay On The Fault In Our Stars

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Augustus also says “that’s the thing about pain [...] it demands to be felt” (Green, 63). The author must be a sad person because I could emotionally feel how the characters were feeling, and it appears as if Green provides a lot of insight through Augustus’ perspective about pain and sadness. I was able to connect this story to a movie, My Sister’s Keeper. Hazel is like the character Anna in the movie because they were both affected directly by the illness that is cancer. In Anna’s case, her parents’ conceived her because her older sister had cancer and Anna was to donate her organs. Hazel on the other hand, is a recipient of cancer.

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

“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

Imagine having the disease, cancer. Or, feeling like a social outcast who carries around an oxygen tank to stay alive. Imagine your world was pretty much pointless until finding someone equally sick and equally corky as yourself. This is how 16 year old, Thyroid Cancer patient, Hazel Grace Lancaster lived her life. When her mother see how depressed Hazel is she forces her daughter to attend a cancer support group. She goes through the motions and shares that her lungs are weak but Gus Waters ,Osteosarcoma patient, is not interested in learning about her sickness, but is interesting in her. ¨What? I asked. Nothing, he said. Why are you looking at me like that? Augustus half smiled. ¨Because you're beautiful.¨ (Green 16)

Augustus gives Hazel a reason to enjoy life. A new friend she can relate to, have long philosophical conversations with and share interests in books. Even though Hazel and Augustus experience some cliche aspects of teenage relationships, their relationship is complicated by their medical statuses. Augustus diagnosed with osteosarcoma, but in remission, and Hazel who is diagnosed with Stage 4 Thyroid cancer with metastasis forming in her lungs. Even though both characters are faced with the conflict of cancer, it is the common bond that brought them together.

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;

Hazel flawlessly describes her pain at multiple points in the book. One definition is, “Even then, it hurt. The pain was always there, pulling me inside of myself, demanding to be felt” (Green 142). Pain is an underlying condition that damages one from the inside out and hides itself until it’s expressed. Pain can represent itself physically, mentally, or psychologically. In this way, it destroys a person; it doesn’t matter how or where the pain started. All humans experience pain and suffering, creating the concept that pain is humanly impossible to avoid. At some point, people must overcome pain to survive which is what Hazel is trying to do with her cancer. Overcoming suffering is a difficult process, especially when it’s always there, however one must cope with pain to live.

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.

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.