The novel I read is “The Fault In Our Stars” by John Green. The main character in this story is a sixteen year old girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster. Hazel Grace has green eyes and short dark hair. She describes herself as having ‘chipmunk cheeks’ effects from steroidal treatment. She is forced by her parents to attend a support group for children with cancer every Wednesday held in a church basement referred to as ‘The Heart of Jesus’. There,she met Isaac and his close friend,Augustus "Gus" Waters.When Hazel first talked to Augustus, he took out a cigarette and put it between his teeth, but did not light it. He said the words; "It's a metaphor, you put the killing thing between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing."
Hazel Graze is very strong. She suffers from stage 4 thyroid cancer with metastasis forming in her lungs. She managed to live with her disease thanks to an experimental drug called Phalanxifor. For this reason, Hazel must carry an oxygen tank which she named Phillip and nasal cannulas wherever she goes. Despite her disease, she manages to pursue her education in college.
Hazel, herself opens the book with the fact that she is suffering with cancer.From the beginning,she wastes no time in laying out her situation without any self-consciousness.'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'.This is a girl who has no illusions about her state of health.Hazel knows that even though she's on a drug that keeps her tumors in check,she'll never be a typical teenage cheerleader.But don't get it wrong.She's also not sitting around feeling sorry for herself.
Hazel is known to be too passive to her parents.They are afraid that she is not seizing life by its horn and that she is depressed. Basically, they don't think Hazel is fighting hard enough for her life. But is that true? Hazel sure puts a lot of stock into trying not to hurt other people. Sure, she's a total eye-rolling teenager. But she tries to make things easier for her parents because she's afraid of hurting them.She even quite selflessly tries to deny her feelings for Augustus, just because she's afraid of hurting him if she dies. "I realized while listening to Kaitlyn that I didn't have a premonition of hurting him. I had a postmonition." But the thing is,you can't stop yourself from hurting anyone.It's just not possible.
Finally,Hazel is a normal girl who is in love. She's experiencing the stomach-churning madness that is first love, of course. When she first sees Augustus, her attraction to him is instantaneous. For starters, he's gorgeous. The way they are with each other is easy and drama-free. They just like each other, plain and simple, and Hazel finds herself giving into all the sweet, real feelings that she has for Augustus. "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." It was what is it.He was who he was and she loved him.
Personally,I find this story very inspiring as Hazel Grace live everyday of her life with a deadly disease knowing she will be dead anyday.It just proves that we should accept life as it is and live it to the fullest without any regrets
Anisha Thiruchelvam
4 Cergas
19 January 2014
19 January 2014
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