John Green as a Hero Essay Example

John Green is a compelling and influential American author. He was born on August 24th, 1977, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Throughout his early childhood, John Green moved a lot, each time he moved he started at a new school. Young John was bullied due to being called a social outcast. John Green is a hero because he overcame his early life problems: and has shown vulnerability by bringing awareness to mental health issues. He has made a significant impact on Young Adult (YA) literature through his books, and he has educated thousands of kids through his Crash Course videos (Literary Devices). 

The first reason John Green is a hero is through his openness when bringing awareness to mental health issues. An example of this is found in his book Turtles All The Way Down, his book shares his experience with anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), but spoken through the character, Aza Holmes. Before writing this book, John Green was struggling with his anxiety and OCD, and this book was one of the ways he overcame these issues. Turtles All The Way Down was by far his most personal book and he even said “Coming out of that, it was difficult to write about anything else. The topic demanded itself” (Alter).

Another example of his heroism is his courage to speak out about mental illnesses. In an interview with the New York Times, John Green said, “I want to talk about it, and not feel any embarrassment or shame, because I think it’s important for people to hear from adults who have good fulfilling lives and manage chronic mental illness as part of those good fulfilling lives.” John Green showed a great deal of courage through his words. He was not going to hide his mental illnesses anymore; instead, he used this opportunity to raise even more awareness about mental illness. He didn’t let his mental illnesses stop him from writing incredible YA books (Alter).

The last piece of evidence that proves John Green is a hero is his ability to turn abstract ideas into well-written books. His book, Turtles All The Way Down is an example of this; he discussed with the New York Times “how difficult it is to talk about his experience of obsessive compulsive disorder, in part because language so often fails to capture abstract feelings.” Not only does he manage to turn abstract feelings into a book, but he also manages to turn abstract feelings into a very well-written and relatable book (Alter). 

The second reason John Green should be considered a hero is because of the impact he has made on the world of YA literature. One example of how influential his books are on the YA literature is his book The Fault in Our Stars sold more than 23 million copies worldwide, has been translated into 47 languages, was made into a movie, was on the NY Times bestseller list, and was nominated the TIME Magazine's #1 Fiction Book of 2012 (John Green Books). 

Another example of how John Green’s books have affected literature is his unique writing style. He uses a style of fictional writing but with realistic and relatable obstacles.  His books, although they do include heart-breaking events, also include themes of self-fulfillment and personal happiness. For example, his book Abundance of Katherines follows the story of a child prodigy, Colin. The story is all about how Colin learns he has to be there for people who care about him and his progression to be a better person. These traits or feelings are very understandable to middle and high school students (John Green Books). 

The last reason his books have impacted YA literature is that his books often share a human triumph, spirit, and perseverance. For example, in his book, Paper Towns, the main character Quentin goes on an endless quest to find Margo, a missing friend. He never lets his spirits go down even when it gets hard, and along the way, he made some hilarious memories with his friends (John Green Books). 

The last reason that John Green should be considered a hero is that he educates and brings joy to youth or anyone who watches his Crash Course videos and social media platforms. The first example of this is his Crash Course Youtube channel. John and his brother’s Crash Course videos teach a wide variety of topics such as history, chemistry, anatomy, economics, and more. These videos are fairly brief and pack a whole lot of information that students might not have been excited to learn about. Crash Course also uses diagrams, montages, pictures, activities, and animations to make the topics at hand easier to understand and digest. The Crash Course Youtube Channel has 13.4M subscribers and over 1.4K videos and is free for everyone to view (John Green Books). 

An additional piece of evidence that John Green is bringing people all over the world is through his videos on Vlogbrothers, with his brother Hank Green. On this channel, the two brothers cut off text communication completely and instead made silly vlogs that sometimes included songs sung by Hank or books read by John. This channel has 3.43M subscribers and 2k videos, the two exchange videos almost every day. When looking at the comment sections on the vlogs, these videos fill people’s hearts all over the work with joy and happiness (John Green Books). 

The last piece of evidence that John Green educates people nationally is through his social media platform. According to Book Report, “In 2007, Green created the Project For Awesome, an annual Youtube project where users are encouraged to create videos promoting charities and non-profit organizations. In the year 2012 alone, the project raised almost $500,000 for charity, and in 2015 they raised over 1 million.” The Project For Awesome program works by anyone submitting a video describing and giving details about their favorite charity on Project For Awesome weekend (President’s day). Then, other people can vote on their favorite video and charity, and that's the charities that will receive funding. The Project for Awesome is part of the Foundation to Decrease World Suck, Inc. In 2019, The Project For Awesome raised $1,423,470 for charity (John Green Books, Book Reports)

Some might say that John Green’s books use too much profanity and have a lot of mature content in them. Even though his books do use quite a bit of profanity and mature content, his books are openly directed toward older groups of people. Generally in the range of middle to high school or above students. The same could be said about his Crash Course videos, the videos cover a large variety of topics, some very grim and serious not set for a younger audience. The videos are also very quick-moving and can sometimes be hard to comprehend. Just like the books, the videos are very explicitly directed toward older teens who are working in a more fast-paced environment (Scholastic Parents Staff).

In conclusion, John Green should be considered a hero because he exhibits numerous hero-like qualities. For example, he is continually fighting for mental health awareness by being open about his struggles with mental health issues. He has and still is greatly influencing and changing the world of young adult literature through his multiple novels. Lastly, he is educating the adolescents of today through his academic videos, thriving social media platforms, and charitable programs that anyone can help with and learn about. 

Bibliography

"John Green Bio." John Green Books, www.johngreenbooks.com/bio. Accessed 28 Apr. 2022.

"John Green." Book Reports, www.bookreports.info/biography/john-green/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2022.

 "John Green." Literary Devices, literarydevices.net/john-green/. Accessed 28 Apr. 2022.

"PROJECT FOR AWESOME." John Green Books, www.johngreenbooks.com/project-for-awesome. Accessed 28 Apr. 2022.

"John Green Tells a Story of Emotional Pain and Crippling Anxiety. His Own." The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/books/john-green-anxiety-obsessive-compulsive-disorder.html. Accessed 28 Apr. 2022.

"Books for When Your Child Is Too Young for "The Fault in Our Stars"." Scholastic , www.scholastic.com/parents/family-life/social-emotional-learning/families-relationships/books-when-your-child-too-young-fault-our-stars.html#:~:text=The%20book%20may%20be%20too,Try%20these%20readalikes%20instead!&text=John%20Green's%20novel%20The%20Fault,mature%20for%20your%20tween%2C%20though. Accessed 29 Apr. 2022.