Essay Sample: Why "The Fault in Our Star" Should Be Included in the Booklist

Introduction

This novel like no other starts with a sixteen-year-old girl with stage four cancer living in Indiana, this book shows us how she lives and what she deals with. As evident in this novel (The fault in our stars), the author (John Green) goes over serious topics like mental health and cancer which are topics that don’t relate to me necessarily but I still thought that this book was incredible and could connect to a lot more people compared to other books. Sadly lots of people suffer from cancer and others suffer from depression but worse some suffer from both. As read in the book Hazel Grace developed depression due to having cancer and not being able to do what non-cancer kids could. The conflict in the book that I will be talking about was person vs self-conflict and how it can be dealt with in the real world. The reason I chose to discuss this element of fiction is that I thought that was a huge part of this book and without this part throughout the book, it just simply wouldn’t feel the same, I also chose to discuss this part of the book because it can be a good example of how other grade 9’s feel about themselves and be a good example towards other readers dealing with similar struggles. I will be discussing the characterization of Hazel (the protagonist) and how Hazel’s actions can influence others around her including loved ones and her friends, and also how she thinks about others. I chose to discuss the characterization of Hazel because I wanted to explain how Hazel behaved throughout the book and how it can represent what other future readers can be dealing with as well. Therefore the fault in our stars should be offered as a choice novel in grade 9 because it teaches readers the importance of how readers can deal with mental issues on a daily basis.

Body Paragraph #1

The topic I will be discussing in this paragraph is person vs self.  Throughout the book, it is evident that Hazel struggles with depression and thinks about death every now and then along with dealing with cancer, she is constantly thinking to herself, talking to herself (in her head). The person she spends the most time with is herself just like all of us. If you read this book, you probably knew that Hazel had depression as quoted from the book: “Depression is a side effect of cancer” - (Green 2). Another quote that I found that shows a bit of person vs self-conflict is her thinking represented in this quote: “I rarely 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.” More Specifically the death part is an example of toxic thoughts and can harm a person’s mentality especially when already knowing they are on the verge of dying and are dealing with depression as well. The main reason I chose this quote is that Hazel’s mom thinks she has depression and in response to her mom saying that Hazel told us (the readers) about why this is a possibility but a big reason for this thinking is how tough her everyday life is dealing with her cancer which is a huge setback and causes a lot of problems for her. This book does a great job of representing the possible struggles a person may be dealing whether they are dealing with physical health, mental health or both. I think this novel should be included in the booklist because it gives other grade 9’s an example of how mental health can be dealt with not only that but show how a teenage girl with cancer deals with her mental struggles as well.

Body Paragraph #2

Hazel’s characterization throughout the book is represented by her actions and behaviour, for example how she thinks about her death and trying not to hurt anyone, or how she cares deeply about Augustus and misses him a lot. A quote from the novel showing that Hazel truly cared about Augustus was when he died and Hazel did this “Finally I did call him. His phone rang five times and then went to voice mail”. (Green 248) Hazel wanted one last phone call with Augustus as he had died the day previously which of course would have left anyone in grief and mourning, witnessing a loved one die is one of the worst things a human can experience especially in Hazel’s case, Hazel mentioned she didn’t have many friends, she had Katherine and her parents but when Augustus came along she felt happier and the reader was able to feel this sense of happiness and hope through Hazel whenever she thought about Augustus. Augustus dying also made Hazel realize how much she would hurt her family members and friends when she died too which is an act of self-awareness and self-consciousness which of course is something tough to realize but this fact is true. Hazel was very self-conscious throughout the book and in a way selfish because she would close herself off from others when she felt sicker. I want to dive deeper into this quote because there is more meaning behind it than a reader would think. As mentioned before the readers are aware of how much Hazel loved her phone calls/ texting with Augustus because of how much they did it but another reason why this quote is so important is because Hazel said she felt the last couple of weeks with Augustus weren’t what she wanted them to be especially because they didn’t hang out as much as they usually did. So, in an act of “desperation”, you may say Hazel called Augustus one last time for him to not pick up which must’ve felt terrible but this must have made Hazel realize that she and Augustus were over and that she will never talk to him again. Situations like this when you have lost a loved one can be tough and maybe something that readers may hate to bring up or talk about because it was hard for them and I could relate to what Hazel felt, other readers could relate to this as well and might make them feel a little better. I think this book should be included in the booklist because readers can relate to various topics throughout the book, especially the one I just mentioned throughout this paragraph, not only this but the mental health struggles Hazel deals with is also super important and can make other readers feel more comfortable about their situation mentally or physically.

Conclusion

The novel that I read, the fault in our stars taught the readers the importance of realizing how tough others' lives can be on a daily basis. The first paragraph I wrote about was basically just the characterization throughout the novel and how Hazel behaved and acted. The second paragraph I wrote about was the person vs self-conflict throughout the novel and how it was shown through Hazel’s eyes. My reasoning behind the essay is that I think the fault in our stars should stay on the booklist is because this book covers topics not talked about enough, and how serious these topics are. The main topics that I covered were depression and cancer and these disorders/diseases aren’t talked about often in the world of literature this book did a great job representing what a teenager who has both of these can live on an everyday basis and the challenges she faces throughout.