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The Fault in Our Stars

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The Fault in Our Stars

Is suffering necessary in our daily lives? Why do we have to suffer, why is it a part of our lives? These questions were always in the back of my mind while reading the novel The Fault in Our Stars. It is a tragic love story about two teenagers, who are both cancer recipients and their journey to falling in love. The two protagonists were constantly dealing with the theme of suffering. In the novel, the author John Green uses his protagonists Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters to develop the theme of ‘the necessity of suffering’ as he writes these characters to undergo the feelings of pain and suffering.

John Green uses the character of Hazel Grace to explore the theme ‘the necessity of suffering’ by writing Augustus Waters’ faith as destined to die. I admire Hazel because she shows tremendous strength and was able to handle it. Throughout the course of the novel, Hazel was constantly worried about dying first and not getting close to Augustus. She did not want to get close to Augustus because she made a connection between herself and a grenade. She believed that when she dies, she’ll be a grenade - injuring innocent others around her. However in actuality, Augustus was the grenade as he passed away first. I think that Green did this because Hazel was constantly worried about being a grenade, she did not comprehend the necessity of suffering. It was necessary for Augustus to suffer because he was able to go to a better place. Also, Green also uses the character of Augustus to further develop the theme. Green’s writing style when creating the character of Augustus shows that Gus does not suffer physical pain, more so emotional pain. Augustus says “without pain, we wouldn’t know joy” (Green, 177). This quote clearly shows that pain is necessary - according to Augustus, joy is only felt when there is pain. An example of this in the

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