The Fault In Our Stars
John Green
The points that caught my attention while reading it, as well as the messages that the writer has conveyed through his words and symbols.
John Green's The Fault In Our Stars was published in January 2012 and it was his 6th novel. The story was written in the First Person Point of View; Narrated by Hazel Grace, which contributed to the story's authenticity and approach to reality in a way that makes the reader sympathize with both characters,Hazel Grace and Augustus "Gus" Waters. These two teenagers ( aged between sixteen and seventeen) who are both struggling against their long-lasting disease; a terminal form of thyroid cancer and osteosarcoma.
Though they are closer to death than life, they were able to overtake the calamities that befell their lives. In other words, they shaped an instance of strength, hope and determination. With a strong love that ties them together, they managed to get a normal life. In addition, they conveyed a great message that is to say that love does cure the diseases that science says it cannot be healed yet. Even if it would be a temporal cure. Indeed, these characters engender a new hopeful spirit, especially when it comes to a reader who suffers from such a disease, which is widespread within all the corners of the world. People holding the worst sicknesses are supposed to face them with the best attitude. That is the moral that this novel foreshadows.
Talking about the attitude, we cannot neglect the way Augustus's being open to life, funny and cheerful. He could spend all that time with Hazel without her knowing that he suffers from a deadly malady. He managed to stand by her side and support her during her weakest moments. For instance, In his “That’s the thing about pain [ ... ] It demands to be felt.”(1), he shows that they both need one another; they represent something like complements to each other. It is okay to feel the pain, but the principle they agree on is that it should be felt from the two of them.Moving to symbolism, and on purpose, I will be starting with Augustus' cigarettes, which made me appreciate the novel more and more. Actually these cigarettes that he calls them a "metaphor" are a metaphor of his attempt to face his fears. When he puts them between his lips without lighting, he tries to persuade himself that he can control his disease, the way he controls his cigarettes. This idea is further explained in these words he says “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.”(2) by the end of the novel when he is in the gas station, he is actually seeking cigarettes,and as he starts vomiting, he cannot get the thing he is there for. Which is symbolic of his inability to control the malady that is spreading over his body at the time. Another great symbolic motif that we cannot disregard is the grenade. which sheds light on the fact that life might blow up at any moment, as if it were a grenade. Hence, it symbolizes the fluidity of life.Especially, Hazel and Augustus'. When it comes to these two lovers, life is a nonsense if one of them would die. When a grenade blows up, it destroys all the things around it. And when someone dies, the closest people around will be destroyed as well, and that is the link between death and the grenade. In Hazel's "I'm a grenade," I said again. "I just want to stay away from people and read books and think"(3) which reveals Hazel's trying not to hurt anyone. She does not want to cause any pain to people when she dies. The last symbol is the word "Okay", which was the word that I strongly believe that all the readers loved. Indeed, it serves as the expression of their love, respect, secrets and all of the beautiful things they had lived together. Hence, "Okay" is their own way to say "Always".
All in all, The Fault In Our Stars was a novel that has generally tackled different aspects of our existence , and the social aspects specifically. John Green was able to link between life, death and love, which is something that actually reminds me of Greek Tragedy. Those old stories where the characters are enclosed in vice circle of determinism. They both know that they will die, still, they are fighting together against the enemy,which is in this case their sickness. In the sense that Augustus and Hazel embody the features of an old tragic hero with the dimensions of a modern fiction protagonist.
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Seven lessons you can learn from this novel:
Everyone you meet is fighting their own battle.
It's okay to feel your feelings.
You are not defined by your illness.
You cannot always get what you want.
Thing will never work out the way you want, and it's okay.
You matter.
Experience life.
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
References:
(1) Chapter 4 page 63.
(2) Chapter 1 page 20.
(3) Chapter 6 page 72.
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Sources:
http://www.bustle.com/
https://images.google.com/
https://www.tumblr.com/
http://www.litcharts.com/
