Plot Summary
Hazel Grace Lancaster is sixteen years old and has had cancer since she was twelve, lung cancer to be exact. She spends her days at home with her mom and reading as much as her mind lets her, until her mom convinces Hazel to go to a cancer support group. There she meets a seventeen year old boy named Augustus Waters who has an amputated leg. Augustus shows interested in the oxygen tank carrying, lung tumor possessing, and socially awkward "Hazel Grace." As Hazel and Augustus start to get closer, Augustus starts pushing Hazel to rethink how sickness, health, life and, death define each and every one of us. Hazel and Augustus bond over the love of one book called "An Imperial Affliction" by Peter Van Houten. When the two have the chance to fly to Amsterdam and meet their favorite author they jump at the chance. When Hazel and Augustus finally meet Peter Van Houten and start to ask him questions about the book that they have been dying to know, they soon realize that he is nothing that they imagined. He is a sarcastic, and vile old drunken man. They discover that they don't need the answers they came here for, but the fact that they are here together, and that is all that matters. Once Hazel and Augustus come to terms with their relationship, it quickly unravels when the doctors find that Augustus' cancer has returned and Hazel is forced to accept that not all love stories end happily ever after.
Tell Me Something I Don't Know About Themes
One of the most prevalent themes in the Fault in Our Stars is how
love triumphs through hardship. Hazel and Augustus bring out the
best in each other. Augustus shows Hazel that there is more to life
than staying at home and letting the cancer consume you. Also, when
Augustus had to stop playing basketball, he felt like something was
missing, and that missing puzzle piece turned out to be Hazel Grace.
Of course because of their immediate connection, it did not take very
long them to fall in love. Hazel and Augustus go through some pretty
difficult times that really no one should experience. Hazel passed out
from overexertion and was admitted to the hospital. Augustus had to
battle with his Osteosarcoma returning. In each of these situations, both
of them were side by side of each other never letting the other think they
had to go through the hardship alone.
love triumphs through hardship. Hazel and Augustus bring out the
best in each other. Augustus shows Hazel that there is more to life
than staying at home and letting the cancer consume you. Also, when
Augustus had to stop playing basketball, he felt like something was
missing, and that missing puzzle piece turned out to be Hazel Grace.
Of course because of their immediate connection, it did not take very
long them to fall in love. Hazel and Augustus go through some pretty
difficult times that really no one should experience. Hazel passed out
from overexertion and was admitted to the hospital. Augustus had to
battle with his Osteosarcoma returning. In each of these situations, both
of them were side by side of each other never letting the other think they
had to go through the hardship alone.
Oblivion
"I fear oblivion," he said without a moment's pause. "I fear it like the proverbial blind man who's afraid of the dark."
The fear of oblivion and "life" after death is another major theme in the Fault in Our Stars. With Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters both suffering from cancer and both unsure of how much time they both have to live, they are both in fear of what lies ahead of them... and what doesn't.
The fear of oblivion and "life" after death is another major theme in the Fault in Our Stars. With Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters both suffering from cancer and both unsure of how much time they both have to live, they are both in fear of what lies ahead of them... and what doesn't.
Infinities
"There is an infinite between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities... There are days, many of them, where I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You have me a forever within the numbered days, and for that I am grateful."
Hazel grows to understand that "infinities" are subjective. Even when both her and Augustus have passed on, they will continue to feel love for each other forever, because, as she learns, the end of an infinity does not eliminate your relation to someone, it only changes it slightly. Hazel's relationship with Augustus is in the present tense, forevermore.
Hazel grows to understand that "infinities" are subjective. Even when both her and Augustus have passed on, they will continue to feel love for each other forever, because, as she learns, the end of an infinity does not eliminate your relation to someone, it only changes it slightly. Hazel's relationship with Augustus is in the present tense, forevermore.
Cigarettes
Throughout the Fault in Our Stars, Augustus Waters
tends to use "smoking" as a metaphor for his struggle
with cancer. He had survived something that very well
could have killed him, his cancer, but he fought back rather
than let his cancer overpower him and get the best of him.
During times in which he is in need of confidence,
Augustus puts an unlit cigarette in his mouth to
remind him of this fact. This cigarette is used as one of
the prevalent symbols in the book.
tends to use "smoking" as a metaphor for his struggle
with cancer. He had survived something that very well
could have killed him, his cancer, but he fought back rather
than let his cancer overpower him and get the best of him.
During times in which he is in need of confidence,
Augustus puts an unlit cigarette in his mouth to
remind him of this fact. This cigarette is used as one of
the prevalent symbols in the book.
Isaac
Isaac is the only friend Hazel makes in her cancer support group until the acquaintance of Augustus. Isaac has eye cancer, one eye was cut out when he was just a kid. When Isaac gets the news that he needs a surgery for the other eye, the real one, he discovered that he was going to be blind. When his girlfriend, Monica, hears this she immediately starts isolating and ignoring him, leaving him heartbroken. He spent most of his days wallowing in his sadness and coping with being blind. It was hard being blind, he needed his mom to do everything for him but by the end of the book he embraced it and went on living a life as he if he never had the surgery.
Isaac's Eulogy for Augustus:
"Augustus Waters is a self-aggrandizing bastard. But we forgive him. We forgive him not because he had a heart as figuratively good as his literal one sucked, or because he knew more about how to hold a cigarette than any nonsmoker in history, or because he got eighteen years when he should of gotten more. I'm telling you Augustus Waters talked so much that he'd interrupt you at his own funeral. And he was pretentious: Sweet Jesus Christ, that kid never took a piss without pondering the abundant metaphorical resonances of human waste production. And he was vain: I do not believe I have ever met a more physically attractive person who was more acutely aware of his own physical attractiveness. But I will say this: When the scientists from the future show up at my house with robot eyes and they tell me to try them on, I will tell them to screw off, because I do not want to see a world without him. And then, having made my rhetorical point, I will put on my robot eyes on, because I mean, with robot eyes you can probably see through girls shorts and stuff. Augustus, my friend, Godspeed."
"Augustus Waters is a self-aggrandizing bastard. But we forgive him. We forgive him not because he had a heart as figuratively good as his literal one sucked, or because he knew more about how to hold a cigarette than any nonsmoker in history, or because he got eighteen years when he should of gotten more. I'm telling you Augustus Waters talked so much that he'd interrupt you at his own funeral. And he was pretentious: Sweet Jesus Christ, that kid never took a piss without pondering the abundant metaphorical resonances of human waste production. And he was vain: I do not believe I have ever met a more physically attractive person who was more acutely aware of his own physical attractiveness. But I will say this: When the scientists from the future show up at my house with robot eyes and they tell me to try them on, I will tell them to screw off, because I do not want to see a world without him. And then, having made my rhetorical point, I will put on my robot eyes on, because I mean, with robot eyes you can probably see through girls shorts and stuff. Augustus, my friend, Godspeed."
He's Blind for a Reason, You Know
In How to Read Literature like a Professor, Thomas Foster
makes it clear that when an author makes a character blind,
it's for a specific reason. Clearly the author wants to
emphasize other levels of sight and blindness beyond the
physical. In the beginning, Isaac can see by using glasses
that make both his fake eye and his real eye look abnormally
huge. However, he is blinded by what he calls love, Monica.
When Monica leaves him after he has his surgery and is
completely blind, Isaac realizes It was hard being blind,
because he needs his mom to do everything for him but
by the end of the book he embraces it and goes on living
a life as he if he never had the surgery. This makes Isaac a
person that can truly see what's important because he is
able to accept his disability, which most victims aren't
able to do.
makes it clear that when an author makes a character blind,
it's for a specific reason. Clearly the author wants to
emphasize other levels of sight and blindness beyond the
physical. In the beginning, Isaac can see by using glasses
that make both his fake eye and his real eye look abnormally
huge. However, he is blinded by what he calls love, Monica.
When Monica leaves him after he has his surgery and is
completely blind, Isaac realizes It was hard being blind,
because he needs his mom to do everything for him but
by the end of the book he embraces it and goes on living
a life as he if he never had the surgery. This makes Isaac a
person that can truly see what's important because he is
able to accept his disability, which most victims aren't
able to do.
Hazel's Eulogy for Augustus
"My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of 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. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because like all real love stories, it will die with us. As it should. I'd hoped that he'd be eulogizing me, because there is no one I'd rather have. I can't talk about our love story, so I will talk about math. I am not a mathematician, but I know this. There is an infinite between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many days of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You have me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful."
Fix You
Lyrics:
When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I...
Tears stream down on your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I...
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I...
Tears stream down on your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I...
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you