Republic of the Philippines

UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PHILIPPINES

University Town, Northern Samar
Web: http://uep.edu.ph ; Email: uepnsofficial@gmail.com

FINAL PAPER
IN
MAJOR 14 EL 116

Life and Death:

Fear reflected in John Green’s
The Fault in Our Stars

FRAGA,MARY ROSE M.
BSED-ENGLISH III
2020 – 2021
INTRODUCTION:

“I could feel everyone watching us, wondering what was wrong with us, and

whether it would kill us, and how heroic my mom must be, and everything else.

That was the worst part about having cancer, sometimes: The physical

evidence of disease separates you from other people.

- Hazel Grace Lancaster, The Fault in Our Stars

Some people live devoid of joy, happiness, and pleasure but no one escapes

the experience of fear and fear’s companion, pain. We are born in fear and pain. Our

lives are profoundly shaped by them, as well as our afforts to avoid them. We die in

fear and pain. Fear of death, disease, injury, poverty, and countless other fears mold

the most mundane aspects of our existence: what we eat, how we drive, where we

work. Yet fear also molds our highest nature and the grandest tides of world history.

By facing and overcoming our fears, we mature and fulfill our deepest human potential.

Fear can be learned by experiencing or watching a frightening traumatic

accident. For example, if a child falls into a well and struggles to get out, he or she

may develop a fear of wells, heights (acrophobia), enclosed spaces (claustrophobia),

or water (aquaphobia). There are studies looking at areas of the brain that are affected

in relation to fear. When looking at these areas (such as the amygdala), it was

proposed that a person learns to fear regardless of whether they themselves have

experienced trauma, or if they have observed the fear in others

“The Fault In Our Stars” is a tragic love story that deals with the sufferings

and deaths of cancer patients. Green borrows the title of the story from Shakespeare’s

Julius Caesar, wherein Cassius says, “The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars but in

ourselves that we are underlings.” But contrary to what Cassius says, this story

establishes the conundrum that we are helpless before our destiny. In Green’s novel,
Hazel and Augustus are lovers, not unlike “Antony and Cleopatra”, and “Romeo and

Juliet.” But what separates them from the legendary lovers is the fact that they are

born with cancer in their cells. Their story, although of great love and compassion, will

not be written in the pages of history.

The Fault in Our Stars is written by John Green and Middlesex by Jeffery

Eugenides who are contemporary American novelists. Remarkably they have

contributed to modern American literature by their works. Basically, both are

discussing an important issue; disease. The protagonists in The Fault in Our Stars are

two characters who suffer from cancer and Middlesex is telling about a hermaphrodite

character. The authors intentionally choose teenagers to discuss the importance and

power of being adolescent to cope up with the vital problems such as diseases, life

and death. All conflicts are reflected through the adolescent perspectives. They are

also prone to consider the problem of identity from their own viewpoints. In this paper,

the power of adolescence in fighting against vital issues is argued throughout making

an overall analysis

The Fault in Our Stars main characters in the novel are forced to confront

death in a way that the young and healthy are not. Although everyone will eventually

die, as Hazel points out in Support Group, death's immediacy to the terminally ill

means they can't avoid considering what comes after death, and the potential that all

that's waiting for them is oblivion. It's a very present fear for Hazel and particularly for

Augustus, and in fact it's the first thing they share when they meet at Support Group.

Augustus, in response to Patrick's question about what he fears, replies right away

with “oblivion,” and Hazel, who rarely ever speaks in the group, picks up immediately.

She points out that everyone will, some day, die which means everything humanity

has ever built could all be for naught, and that just as there was a time before
organisms experienced consciousness, there will be a time after as well. She says if

the thought is disturbing one should just ignore it, but her tone implies that it's

something that can't be ignored, at least not forever. What the novel ultimately

suggests is that one person's death doesn't consign their significance and

relationships to oblivion, and that what makes our lives matter are the relationships we

form.

The reasons why writer takes this tittle are first is the author of the novel is very

attractive and popular, it is also very weighted with emphasis on fear. Second,

because there are many cancer patients living with fear can cause humans to have

broader insights. Third, we can also reduce stress and daily boring activities by

following an issue about fear. Fourth, we will also have a soul that is more type and

cause of fear in life. The last reason is John Green describes the character, setting,

plot, style, and point of view in The Fault in Our Stars clearly.

Objectives:

Conducting this paper, this study sets to achieve three objectives:

1. To describe the psycholgical and mental state of the lead character/s.

2. To identify and discuss what concepts about fear are reflected in the film.

3. To identify and discuss cinematic elements that aided in the portrayal of fear.

Limitation of the study

This study focuses on analyzing the Life and death: Fear reflected in John

Green’s The Fault in Our Stars by using Psychoanalytic approach.

Significance of the Study

This study has theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, this

research can increase knowledge about Psychoanalytical approach that can be used

to analyzed the social and personal problems in the novel

 Practically, this study gives inspiration for the society especially for the family

or the people who have to fight against cancer, and to overcome the struggles,

difficulties and fears that they’ve went through.

DISCUSSION:

The young people in The Fault in Our Stars confront the issue of dying

on a daily basis. Although the characters try to live by their support group mantra,

“Living our best lives today”, every action, relationship, and experience is cast in the

shadow of their impending mortalities. The theme of life and death unfolds through

Hazel’s relationship with Augustus. It is no mistake that Hazel first forms a bond with

Augustus through a dialog about death and oblivion during their support group. Both

Hazel and Augustus are particularly sensitive when it comes to their own mortalities.

They are forced to confront questions that most young people do not have to face, but

their concerns revolve around common existential dilemmas, for example, how do you

find meaning in life and death? How do you leave behind a legacy? How does one’s

death affect others? Is there an afterlife, and if not, what is there? Their development

as characters occurs through the exploration of these questions.

Their personal concerns around death develop along different

trajectories. Augustus is afraid of fading into oblivion after he dies, that his life will be

meaningless, and nobody will remember him once he is gone. After bringing this fear

up in the support group, Hazel responds by intellectualizing the fact of her

impermanence. She states that everything will die, that there was a time before

consciousness and there will be a time after it. Despite her intellectualization, however,

she is still deeply conflicted around the issue of her own looming mortality. Unlike

Augustus’ self-centered fear of fading into oblivion, Hazel views her approaching death

as an event that will severely damage those around her—like she is a grenade waiting
to explode. She is primarily concerned with protecting those around her from the pain

of her death. This concern causes her to distance herself from her peers and family,

which limits her desire to do the things normal teenagers do. Her fear of hurting others

through her passing leads to her obsession with the fictional novel, An Imperial

Affliction. She identifies with the book because it presents an accurate portrayal of

death and dying, but Hazel becomes obsessed by what happens after the novel's

abrupt ending. Hazel longs to know the fate of the family in An Imperial Affliction after

the main character passes, believing this knowledge will give her insight into the

impact her death will have on her family.

Hazel and Augustus come to terms with their impermanence through

their relationship. Augustus is able to realize his one act of heroism by sacrificing his

wish from “The Genie Foundation” to take Hazel to Amsterdam. In a meta-textual

sense, this act allows him to survive after death, as his story is told in the novel and

will continue being accessed by readers of The Fault in Our Stars. Within the text,

however, his legacy lives on with Hazel and her parents. Hazel also develops new

understandings of life and death through her relationship with Augustus. Through their

relationship, she is able to step out of her isolation and live her life for the first time,

even in the face of her impending death. When Augustus’ cancer comes out of

remission and he passes away, she is able to experience what it is like to lose

someone you love and work through it, which allows her to come to terms with the fact

that her family will be able to make it through her own death. Hazel also comes to

understand that death is an event that allows us to value life. She demonstrates this

understanding during Augustus’ eulogy when she says, “without pain, we would not

know joy,” she understands that death is an event that allows us to live and love to the

fullest. In the end, it becomes clear that life is defined by our relationships with others,
and the importance and meaning of these relationships is demonstrated through the

pain felt when a loved one dies.

Unsurprisingly for a novel about kids dying of cancer, suffering is a

prominent part of the character’s lives. Hazel and Augustus, all endure quite a bit of

physical and emotional pain. The buildup of fluid in Hazel’s lungs deprives her of

oxygen, leading to a bout of intense pain that lands her in the emergency room.

Augustus physically deteriorates to the point that he has to take pain medication strong

enough to leave him nearly incoherent, and he suffers to know he’ll never accomplish

any of the heroic things he wanted to do in his life. In the eyes of the novels’s

characters, specifically Hazel and Augustus, all these types of pain are simply a part

of living, a side effect of it as Hazel might put it. That doesn’t mean they’re desirable,

just that they’re inevitable.

But the most thematically significant type of pain in the novel is that caused

by the death of a loved one, and it’s this variety that the novel suggests is the most

necessary. Hazel worries a great deal about inflicting this kind of suffering on those

around her when she dies, leading her to come up with the metaphor of the grenade

that explodes and injures everyone nearby. It turns out she becomes the victim of this

kind of pain when Augustus begins to weaken and finally succumbs to his cancer.

What Hazel comes to understand is that this type of pain can’t be avoided. Since dying

is certain and universal, all people will experience it. But as Hazel comes to recognize

over the course of the novel, it isn’t necessarily something one should avoid. She

wouldn’t take back the love she feels for Augustus for anything, even though that love

is the precise cause of her pain. It’s a blessing and a curse, so to speak. The reason,

as Augustus suggests in his letter to Van Houten that Hazel reads at the end of the

novel, is that the pain you cause others when you die is a mark that you mattered.
Augustus says happily that he left his “scar” on Hazel, meaning he hurt her but he also

had an effect on her life that she’ll carry with her always. That type of pain, the novel

suggests, is necessary, and in fact it’s a part of joy. Hazel touches on this idea in her

eulogy for Augustus. The first thing she says to the gathered crowd is that there’s a

quote hanging in Augustus’s that always gave the two of them comfort: “Without pain,

we couldn’t know joy.”

The Fault in Our Stars has three major core issues. They are:

Fear of Intimacy

Fear of intimacy is the chronic and overpowering feeling that emotional

closeness will seriously hurt or destroy us and that we can remain emotionally safe

only by remaining at an emotional distance from others at all time. Hazel seems to be

heavily inflicted by this fear of intimacy that she always tries to maintain a safe

emotional distance to anyone around her.

“I’m a grenade,” I said again. “I just want to stay away from people and

read books and think and be with you guys because there’s nothing I can do about

hurting you; you’re too invested, so just please let me do that, okay? I’m no depressed.

I don’t need to get out anymore. And I can’t be a regular teenager, because I’m a

grenade.”

Calling herself a grenade, Hazel realizes how dangerous she is for others

when it explodes. She has an incurable illness and believes that she can die anytime

and anywhere. She, therefore, avoids people at all times and tries not to be too close

emotionally to anyone of them. In addition, in Hazel’s case, there are two reasons as

to why she fears intimacy. The first reason is that she is afraid she might get hurt when

someone leaves her. The second thing she fears about is the possibility that people

might get hurt if she explodes, i.e. dies and leaves them.
Fear of Abandonment

Fear of abandonment is the unshakable belief that our friends and loved

ones are going to desert us (physical abandonment) or do not really care about us

(emotional abandonment). In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel is constantly and acutely

inflicted by this kind of fear. She is “haunted” by the thought that when she dies she

abandons her parents and Augustus, his boyfriend.

Just before the miracle, when I was in the ICU and it looked like I was going

to die and Mom was telling me it was okay to let go, and I was trying to let go but my

lungs kept searching for air, Mom sobbed something into Dad’s chest that I wish I

hadn’t heard, and that I hope she never finds out that I did hear. She said, “I won’t be

a mom anymore.” It gutted me pretty badly. I couldn’t stop thinking about that during

the whole Cancer Team Meeting. I couldn’t get it out of my head, how she sounded

when she said that, like she would never be okay again, which probably she wouldn’t.

The citation above is an example which suggests that Hazel is afraid that

her mother will not become her mother anymore after she dies. When Hazel abandons

them, i.e. when she dies, her mother and father will never be fine. They will just sit

around the house all day, staring at the walls. Hazel’s intense fear of abandonment is

also expressed in her dreams. One day, for example, she dreams of being alone in a

huge lake. Through this dream, we know that Hazel is afraid of being abandoned and

being alone.

“I woke up the next morning panicked because I’d dreamed of being alone

and boatless in a huge lake. I bolted up, straining against the BiPAP, and felt mom’s

arm on me.”
 From two textual evidences above, we can conclude that Hazel has

constant fear of abandonment. She is both afraid of abandoning people around her

and of being abandoned by people around her.

Fear of Oblivion

The main characters in the novel are forced to confront death in a way

that the young and healthy aren't. Although everyone will eventually die, as Hazel

points out in Support Group, death's immediacy to the terminally ill means they can't

avoid considering what comes after death, and the potential that all that's waiting for

them is oblivion. It's a very present fear for Hazel and particularly for Augustus, and in

fact it's the first thing they share when they meet at Support Group. Augustus, in

response to Patrick's question about what he fears, replies right away with “oblivion,”

and Hazel, who rarely ever speaks in the group, picks up immediately. She points out

that everyone will some day die, which means everything humanity has ever built could

all be for naught, and that just as there was a time before organisms experienced

consciousness, there will be a time after as well. She says if the thought is disturbing

one should just ignore it, but her tone implies that it's something that can't be ignored,

at least not forever.

CONCLUSION

John Green’s the Fault in Our Stars is regarded as a real gem that has

presented an interesting case of the two main characters that can be analysed by

psychoanalytic approach. Analyzing a literary character using psychoanalysis is made

possible because literary characters represent real human life. Understood this way,

literary characters act as imitations of reality

After analyzing the whole of The Fault in Our Stars novel in detail and

analyzing all the facts of the main character’s fear, the researcher comes to the

conclusion. The structural analysis of The Fault in Our Stars novel involves the

character and characterization. The themes of this novel are the he main characters’

effort in facing fear also physical and emotional pain.

REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Freud, Sigmund. 1938. The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud. New York: Modern

Library.

Green, John. 2012. The Fault in Our Stars. United Stated: Dutton Books.

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. London: Penguin Books, 2011

Hjelle, Lary A, and Ziegler, Daniel J. 1992. Personality Theories (Third Edition)Basic

Assumption, Research and Application. WA: Mc Graw Hill International Edition.

Murtiyasa, B., Sutama, Thoyibi, et al. 2014. Pedoman Penulisan Skripsi. UMS: BP-

FKIP.

Power, Mick. 2010. Emotion-Focused Cognitive Therapy. UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Taylor,

Shelley E. 2012. Health Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary, 8th ed, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.