Volunteers at Squad for Change were invited to share what lessons they have taken away from their favourite novels. Read on to find out what Priesha took back from reading John Green’s The Fault in our Stars…
John Green’s novel The Fault in Our Stars is about a love story between two teenagers who meet in a cancer support group. A young girl named Hazel and her friend Augustus are cancer patients. They meet at a cancer support group. As they grew, they fell in love. The ending was a bit tragic though. Augustus dies because of cancer.
I have learned many things such as everyone you meet is fighting their own battles such as Hazel had cancer so did Augustus but still they were with each other when they needed the other most. You can’t be defined by your illness. Hazel had cancer but still, she did everything a normal human could.
Everyone matters. There are so many people in this world that it is almost impossible to reach out to all, even half. Hazel encourages us to ignore the inevitability of oblivion for it will come no matter what. Each one of you is important and whether you make an impact on one person or one thousand people, you will make a difference. You are important, don’t you forget that. It’s okay to be loved deeply instead of widely. Some people would even argue that it’s better.
You have one life and live it to the fullest make sure you have no regrets. Sometimes the world is not always a wish granting factory, Hazel hadn’t wanted Augustus to see her in the intensive care unit. In fact, the circumstances surrounding her entire relationship with Augustus were not what she wanted at all. Peter Van Houten did not turn out to be the sane author Hazel and Gus had hoped for; and in the most unfair move the literary universe has ever witnessed, Augustus lit up like a Christmas Tree when he went in for his PET scan. Why? Because you don’t always get what you want. “The world is not a wish granting factory.” Life is so often unfair at best, but Hazel and Gus teach us to try and turn the unjust ways of the universe into a punch line; to turn the negative into a beautiful inside joke that can be cast aside, relieving us of our incessant need to rationalize the irrational or make sense of things that will never be fair. Some infinities are bigger than others.
In possibly the greatest pre-emptive eulogy ever delivered, Hazel Grace poignantly explains the mathematics behind infinities, ultimately teaching us that while some are bigger than others, it is the substance of your personal infinity that makes your days’ worth living. These are the things I learned from The Fault in Our Stars.
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