One Breath Away

Too frequent do we try to grab on to what we cannot reach. In The Fault In Our Stars, John Green unites two star-crossed lovers, Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters, to fight against cancer, a disease which has taken away their physical ability to live carefree. The characters’ ups and downs, pains and laughters, absorbed me into another world, as if they were sharing their story with me only one breath away. To reflect the harsh reality of cancer, Green incorporates verisimilitude within his plots, yet painting in a ray of hope to illuminate the characters’ burning desire to outlive their reality.

As polar opposites with two distinct personalities, Hazel and Gus’ bond intrigues me; they appear to be two roads never meant to intersect. While Hazel deems depression as “a side effect of dying”, Gus believes he “[is] on a rollercoaster that only goes up” (Green 3) (11). Aware of how death could overtake life at any moment, Gus maintains an optimistic attitude, an outlook Hazel admires. In contrast, Gus looks up to Hazel’s unfiltered approach towards death, a view he himself conceals behind his mask of humor. However, as some would say, opposites attract. Hazel and Gus’ fates intertwine not just because of their similar circumstances, but also because they see in each other what they themselves lack: an ability to accept and face their inevitable fates in their own, true way.

What the two do share in common is hope – hope to live a fulfilling life with their parents, to become the “one in five” that survives the illness, and to not break their loved ones hearts with their deteriorating health (5). Nevertheless, Green does not disguise a saddening verity: “there’s no way of knowing that your last good day is your Last Good Day. At the time, it is just another good day” (253). No matter how far death seems, the shadow of demise looms just one step ahead of them, always ready to overcome life. Hazel and Gus, both aware of the fact, start to grow their affection through shared circumstances, becoming the support system for one another with their differing approaches on living.

In this journey of discovery, Green uses emotional appeal to absorb readers into the bittersweet lives of Hazel and Gus. Mentioning Hazel’s birthday celebration, the author indicates the importance of treasuring the moment: “Hazel! It’s your thirty-third half birthday!”, her mother exclaims happily, establishing an irony when considering the tragic reason for such a merry celebration (39). In desperation, not knowing when her last day would arrive, Hazel’s family could only cherish their moments together. Nonetheless, Hazel also starts to worry about her family: “I worry… that you’ll sit around here all day with no me… and want to off yourselves'' (297). When facing the ones dying, we fret over them, about their circumstances, their emotional wellbeing, and their health. However, those with the illnesses usually worry about our reactions regarding their conditions even more than their own wellbeing. For Gus, Green incorporates how Gus sees himself as the “pitiful boy who desperately wanted not to be pitiful... poisoned by an infected G-tube that kept him alive, but not alive enough”, depicting his concerns around his physical limitations, a side concealed by his humor (245). Creating multiple dimensions to his characters, Green portrays the lives of two young teenagers beyond their illnesses, exploring life with their daily hardships.

Although Green displays a beautiful, warming side to cancer, he never glorifies the characters’ struggles, instead opting to expose their prickling realities. Sculpting the character personalities to reflect those of real cancer patients, Hazel and Gus connect through their differing beliefs within a similar situation. Their lives rely on machines, but they rely on them together. Green then closes the distance between us and the characters through the appeal of emotion, highlighting the power of living in the now where one has the most control over. As the teenagers tiptoe on the verge of death, they learn to love, to cherish, and to accept, living a life not determined by their numbered days, but by their undaunted attitudes to relish life even when facing death.