'The Fault in Our Stars' offers bits of truth through fiction
Much like the fictional book An Imperial Affliction, The Fault in Our Stars ends abruptly enough that the reader will frantically sift through the pages afterwards looking for more to the story. Hazel Grace’s story of her friend is real enough that people will want to know how the rest of it goes. Alas, John Green leaves readers and fans hanging, even if the story has an ending, it doesn’t have the ending.
While Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters are exploring the art of living, they are doing so precisely because they are faced with death every day in a very real way. Cancer forces the teens to create a world that lives in the present and experiences great pain and joy while covering up most of what they are going through with expressions of “okay” and “a roller coaster that only goes up.” To explain more about how they feel would be fruitless for both them and the person they are interacting with. Fortunately, how someone with cancer may feel can be explained in the scope of a book. Their experiences can represent the experience of a life lived with cancer; however, what the experience of Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters should really show is how people, who are faced with death every day, should live – in the moment, experiencing what they can of life and feeling the pain. What the reader needs to remember is that everyone is faced with death every day whether he or she realizes it or not. Even those without a diagnosis can have a Last Good Day. The Fault in Our Stars will remind readers that sometimes the greatest truths can be found in works of fiction and that fictional characters can become friends. |
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