Emma Franks
Asuncion
English 9 Honors
16
November 2015
The Fault in Our
Stars
The Fault in Our Stars is a about a sixteen-year-old
girl named Hazel who has lung cancer, and a boy named Augustus Waters who had osteosarcoma which
caused him to lose his leg. They meet at a cancer support group and they
quickly fall in love. This is a book that shows the reality of young people
living with, and dying of cancer, and still manages to convey a sense of humor
and romance. This book had me crying one minute and laughing the next, as I
believe every good book can make you do.
There are many deep, metaphorical
thoughts in this book, and some rather silly ones. I think this helps the book
appeal to all ages. “There was a time
before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be a time after. And
if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore
it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.” (John Green pg. 13). The main
character Hazel has several clever insights such as this that really make me
think.
This
book reminds me of a show called The Red
Band Society which took place in a children’s hospital and focused on many
of the same topics of childhood cancer, love, and death.
Jordi, one of the main characters has osteosarcoma
which leads to the amputation of one of his legs, just like Augustus Waters.
They also discuss the idea of not getting to close to someone when you’re dying
because you might do too much damage when you die. This is a big thing for
Hazel, who’s hesitant at first to start a relationship with Gus because she
doesn’t want him to be hurt if or when she dies.
“I'm a grenade and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like
to minimize the casualties, okay?” (Green 99).
This book is also very relatable for
me personally. Hazel isn’t some perfect girl with superpowers or anything like
that. She’s a normal girl who has cancer and an amazing romance. Everything
that happened to her, the good and the bad, is actually possible, and that
makes the whole story much more relatable to me. I love the fact that this book
is written for teenagers, and not to them. There are a lot of technical terms
used to describe their sickness, and in general, but it’s not dumbed down. John
Green quotes Shakespeare, and philosophers, and the next minute he’s talking about
basketball and videogames. And he does it seamlessly.
One thing about this book that I
think is very interesting is the title. It comes from a quote from one of
William Shakespeare’s plays called Julius Caesar. He says, "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." He is saying that it’s not fate that causes bad
things to happen, but people’s own mistakes. John Green appears to be
challenging this with his title The Fault
in Our Stars, saying that some things (like cancer) aren’t caused by our
actions, and certainly aren’t deserved.
The Fault in Our
Stars is a book that’s full of
figurative language. Metaphors especially play a large part. Hazel almost stops
talking to Augustus when he pulls out a cigarette, because she has lung cancer,
and says he’s paying for more cancer. He counters by saying, “It's a metaphor, see: You put
the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to
do its killing,” (Green 20).
Overall I believe that this is a captivating story
that takes you on a journey of life, love, and loss. Augustus and Hazel knew
that their love could end in nothing but heartbreak, but that did nothing to
stop them. As Augustus Waters said, “You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have
some say in who hurts you. I like my choices,” (Green 313).
Works Cited
Green,
John. The Fault in Our Stars. Print.
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