As human beings, it is not always our faults to be suffered because sometimes sufferance starts from a young age or we were even born with it.
Shakespeare had stated “the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but ourselves, that we are underlings.” (Shakespeare) However, John Green opposes this statement by giving his book the title The Fault in Our Stars which states that our stars are responsible for our sufferance. According to science, more specifically astrology, everyone has an astrological star that represents them completely. Since our stars define who we are, John believes that our sufferance has nothing to do with us, but our stars.
The Fault in Our Stars, unlike other romantic stories, is a tragic story about two teenagers, Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters who had diagnosed with cancer in their early lives. Hazel was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer, and Augustus was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. This story takes place mainly in Indianapolis in the 21st century in hospitals, support groups in a church, and other homes.
John Green in his interview with Pacific Northwest Writers Association gave the purpose behind writing his book. He has been writing the book since he was working as a student chaperone at a children hospital about twelve years before he finally published the book. However, he could not finish his story during this time even though he had known a lot of people who were diagnosed with cancer. Finally, Green had a close friend named Esther Earl who ended up dying from cancer, so he was able to continue writing his book. Hazel represents that woman in The Fault in Our Stars with different personalities. “Hazel and my friend were two different people,” said Green (John Green Interview).
Hazel’s mother believes that Hazel was showing signs of depression because she barely “left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death” (1:25). Her mother believes she needs treatment, so she went to see Hazel’s Primary Doctor Jim; he also agrees that Hazel is veritably heading into a total clinical depression, therefore she becomes in need of an adjustment of medications and should also attend a weekly Support Group, therefore Hazel’s parents decided to send her to the Support Group (2:56).
The Support Group meets every Wednesday in the basement of an Episcopal church that shaped like a cross. The teenagers who were diagnosed with cancer sat in a circle right in the middle of the cross, where the two boards would have met, and the heart of Jesus would have been. They start off by introducing themselves with name, age, diagnosis, and current condition or feeling. After they have been going to the Support Group, Augustus asked Hazel for her full name and talked about necessary things related to their diagnosis. Later, he invites her to watch a movie at his house.
While Hazel and Augustus are talking, Augustus pulls out a box of cigarettes and took one then he put it between his teeth. Thus, Hazel got mad and called his decision a stupid decision. Augustus gave Hazel a moral lesson about the cigarettes. “It’s a metaphor, see you put the killing object between your teeth, but you do not give it the power to make its killing,” said Augustus (Green, chapter 1, last paragraph).
Sigmund Freud is the inventor of psychoanalysis and considered a great thinker of the twentieth century. He made his reputation by studying hysteria and used hypnosis as a method of care for mental disorders. But he focused on psychoanalysis as speech therapy and studied the unconscious, thus addressing the dream theme. There was an encounter between Freud and Carl Jung, talented, productive and stimulating for both, is an indisputable fact. They collaborated intensively for six years, during a decisive period in the history of psychoanalysis. During this time, they shared a friendship of deep psychological complexity, the best witness of which is undoubtedly in the collection of the 359 letters they exchanged between 1906 and 1913. It is likely that psychologically speaking, their deep personal relationship was more or less based on a father-son relationship (Jung being 19 years younger than Freud).
Jung is not just a rival psychiatrist of Freud or his successor. It is foremost witness to an inner realization that his psychological method and are the fruits. This adventure brings back into the scientific domain the old Grail quest and Faust's daring descent into hell. Jung met on his teenage path the fascinating figure that had led to the folly Friedrich Nietzsche, like him from Basel, that of Zarathustra, the messenger of the superhuman. To his lap, he was forced by fate to confront what is, ultimately, the only problem of the modern soul: the man can be overcome and in what way? Happier his predecessor, he was given to ward off the perils of this Herculean enterprise and make it possible again. At the end of his career, this model, not the hero he named Siegfried Faust or Superman, but peaceful couples of old men, Philemon and Baucis, humble and blessed hosts of the gods, promised by them immortality.
Augustus Waters is the male main character in The Fault in Our Stars. He is Hazel’s boyfriend and Isaac’s best friend. As for Hazel Grace, she does not let cancer define who she is. “Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying” (1.2).
Hazel does not talk about her illness in self-pity or regret at all; instead, she tackles it with a healthy dose of humor: “I didn't tell him that the diagnosis came three months after I got my first period. Like: Congratulations! You're a woman. Now die” (2.13). Hazel's attitude catches Augustus's attention. “I enjoy looking at beautiful people” (6:36 ). Plus, she seriously exists in her little world, bossy attitude and all. When Augustus first meets her, he is struck by how bibliophile she is and how she does not even go to school with other teenagers. "A college girl," he said, nodding. "That explains the aura of sophistication" (2.21). On top of that, Hazel does not care about what is cool. Instead, she cares about what she likes. What she likes may be sitting with her parents to watch reality TV shows. "I take quite a lot of pride in not knowing what's cool," said Hazel to her mother (3.28). Even though her parents think she does not fight enough and she is depressed, she tries to make things easier for her parents because she is afraid of hurting them.
“There is only one thing in this world sh*ttier than biting it from cancer when you're sixteen, and that's having a kid who bites it from cancer” (1.28). She does her best to avoid showing the hurt or damage she could cause. She even quite selflessly tries to avoid her feelings for Augustus, just because she is so afraid of hurting him if she dies: “I realized while listening to Kaitlyn that I did not have a warning of hurting him. I had a
Hazel has the personality of a ruler which is someone who has responsibility and leadership. She is known as a leader, a boss, and a role model. She likes to take control. She seems to be authoritarian. In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel is the friend to make sure things are going well. When she first sees Augustus, her attraction to him is instantaneous. For starters, he is gorgeous. But they also connect on a more cerebral level. They get each other, as rare as that is. "I almost felt like he was there in my room with me, but in a way, it was better like I was not in my place and he was not in his, but instead, we were together in some invisible and tenuous third space" (5.67).
They interact with each other smoothly and drama-free. They like each other, and Hazel finds herself giving into all the genuine, uncontrollable feelings that she has for Gus. "He wasn't perfect or anything. He wasn't your fairytale Prince Charming or whatever. He tried to be like that sometimes, but I liked him best when that stuff fell away" (25.13). Hazel is also the Hero because she was courageous, competent, a superhero, and a soldier who had fought cancer. Overall, Hazel is a lover, an explorer, a creator, and a shapeshifter. Hazel reflects this in how she displays her love for Augustus, her family, and her friend Isaac, she shows her creativity as she is sitting with Augustus in the ambulance and to calm him down she recites a poem; but when the verse ends she adds to it, also she displays her shapeshifting when she changes her perspectives as Augustus shows her a different side of life, a more extrovertic personality meaning that she is dynamic, not static. Hazel is an introverted person at the beginning of the story, but when she met Augustus he challenged her and made her take leaps out of her comfort zone, but after meeting Augustus she becomes extrovert and continues to receive jumps now that she realizes what she has been missing, hiding in her bedroom reading books. The character does not take chances, instead she
Augustus was the mentor serves some purposes: a source of wisdom, gift giver, and conscience. Along with that, they can also act to motivate the protagonist and help overcome their fear. I think Augustus Waters is a mentor because he does not only support and motivate Hazel to overcome her doubt, but he stops her from giving up. He prevents her from thinking that she cannot defeat cancer, and shows that her life means a lot to many people. He motivates her to keep enjoying her life and living life to the fullest.
The explorer or shapeshifter changes roles or personalities, often in significant ways, and is hard to understand. That changeability is the essence of this archetype. The shapeshifter's alliances and loyalty are uncertain. The shapeshifter is sometimes a catalyst whose changing nature forces changes in the hero. Not only that but a shapeshifter often provides an unpredictable love interest of the opposite sex, to the Hero. I think Augustus Waters is a shapeshifter because at the start of the novel he is this extremely loveable, care-free, and healthy teenager and he loved to change the world. By the end of the story all this changed, Augustus was no more a healthy teenager, but precisely the opposite, and he stopped believing he could change anything. Another reason he is a shapeshifter is that he turned Hazel in many ways. He made her feel in herself to get through her obstacle. Not only that but Hazel and Augustus were in love. Their love story cannot be described in words; it was too beautiful.
The Jester or the Trickster who is a clown, a mischief maker. He provides the comedy relief that a story often needs to offset heavy dramatic tension. The trickster keeps things in proportion. I think Augustus is a trickster because he always makes Hazel laugh and neutralizes the drama with which she is dealing. Augustus always jokes around to make Hazel happy. He is comedy relief. Augustus has many archetypal characteristics. Those are the three that stand out to me. No matter what his tendencies are, he will always be there for the protagonist, Hazel. He will do anything for her, and she is fortunate to have someone in her life like Augustus.
To conclude, the title of the book refers to the struggle the teenagers and their families have to go through due to cancer, and it also states the reason of their sufferance come from their stars or DNA.
