The book “The
Fault in Our Stars”, by John Green, is a heartbreaking story about Hazel Grace,
a girl with a terminal lung cancer, who meets an amazing boy, Augustus Waters,
who has a history of cancer, which caused the loss of his leg. They go on a
crazy adventure to Amsterdam to meet the elusive writer of Hazel’s favorite
book, which eventually ends in an unexpected tragedy. One of the themes that I
felt most important to the book is mortality. We all will die eventually, but
for Hazel and Augustus it will happen much sooner. Death is around every corner
for them, through too much activity and even the common cold.
Near the middle of the book hazel is
rushed to the ER when she wakes up to unbelievable pain. “I screamed to wake up
my parents, and they burst into this room, but there was nothing they could do
to dim the supernovae exploding inside my brain, an endless chain of
intracranial firecrackers that made me think that I was once and for all
going.” (Page 105) We find that this happened because her heart was
over-worked; just because she was too active this happened.
In Amsterdam, Hazel goes up a very
steep flight of stairs in Anne Frank’s house. “I finally crested the staircase
mostly blind and nauseated, the muscles in my arms and legs screaming for oxygen. I
slumped seated against a wall, heaving watered-down coughs.” (Page 200) This quote happens
after she knows that she probably can’t make it up the stairs, but feels like she owes
Anne Frank something and does it anyway. This is why I love Hazel’s character,
when she has set her mind on something, nothing is going to stop her.
After Hazel and Augustus go to
Amsterdam, Augustus is given terrible news that his cancer has returned he is
going to die, this is completely unexpected because throughout the book the
author gives us clues that Hazel is going to die. This unexpectedness brings up
this mortality theme again. Although it was a surprise, death is everywhere for
a cancer patient or a post-cancer patient. Their mortality is cut short.
When I finished reading this book, I was up all
night thinking about it and researching cancer on my phone and I was surprised
to find that many of cancer deaths in humans happens in a relapse of the
disease, which Augustus had. To think about how terrible it is to wake up
everyday and think to yourself, “I could die today.” Mortality is a thing humans respect, no one
lives forever, you just live your life and then it’s over. But how can you live
well when death could come at any moment? Well if you live each day as you would your last then how could your life be better?
Your response was very interesting and I couldn't stop reading it. I was interested because I never read the book and wanted to hear what it is about. You wrote the response very well, especially the conclusion.
ReplyDeleteYour response shows me that you don't have to write a lot, as long as it is in depth and you focus on the main idea a response can be great. Good job.