If you grew up in the legendary days of 2012, chances are you probably have read or heard about John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. In this dramatic romance, a 16-year-old cancer patient finds a strong connection with someone because of their love of books. They received a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the author and head to Amsterdam. Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, the book takes you to an emotional rollercoaster wishing that the two characters remain together even if medical circumstances do pull them apart.
Hazel, the protagonist, is more than a lung cancer patient. She, like many teens, experiences life in the most simplest ways when it comes to texting loved ones and reading the books she lives; although, she lives in a constant reminder that she will die very early in life. Every second spent is worth a lifetime for this character, and she connected with Augustus, the love interest, so well because of their shared suffering.
Often defined by the disease, Hazel’s character shows so much more. Instead of introducing herself with the diagnosis, Augustus encourages Hazel to tell her own story – the likes, dislikes, dreams, fears, and hobbies.
One of the significant phrases from Hazel was “The world is not a wish-granting factory.” Used repeatedly, Hazel accepts that death is coming soon and that not all the amount of love she gets will let her escape her fate.
Another quote from Hazel shattered the hearts of many: “I’m like. Like. I’m like a grenade, Mom. I’m a grenade and at some point I’m going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, Okay…I just want to stay away from people and read books and think and be with you guys because there is nothing I can do about hurting you; you’re too invested, so just please let me do that, okay?” Hazel sees herself as a grenade that will obliterate everything in her path. When she dies, she feels that she will hurt most of the people she loves as they are most affected by her death.
Augustus symbolizes a form of hope that Hazel has been looking for all this time. Without Augustus’s charming presence and optimism that a better day will come tomorrow, Hazel is left just breathing and waiting for her days to count down. There is an urgency that all should learn, that life is impertinent whether you have a diagnosis or not, and life can be so much more meaningful if you live in the moment.
