THE FAULT IN OUR STARS - CHAPTER XIII

EXTRACT
The next morning, Hazel and Augustus talk about their meeting with Van Houten to
Hazel's mother then she goes for a walk, while Augustus, somewhat ominously,
suggests that Hazel return to the hotel with him. Along the way, Hazel reflects on
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which says that certain physiological needs must be
met before a person can care about other needs such as love, self-esteem, and
creating art, the reason why Hazel remains stuck in Maslow's second hierarchy,
where she did not feel self-confident when they back at the hotel, Hazel realizes that
something is wrong and Augustus confesses that he is sick. Before the trip her hip
hurt and in her last positron emission tomography his body appeared lit up like a
Christmas tree and that night Hazel was admitted to the ICU, Hazel's mother may
have suspected that Augustus' cancer had already advanced. Augustus says that he
will fight cancer and he will be around her to bother her for a long time. As Hazel
believes, he kisses her and points out that she had an apparent hamartia the whole
time.
They lie in bed together and talk about treatments, and Augustus laments that he
doesn't even have a battle. Hazel says that cancer is his battle and his war, but
Augustus responds that the tumors are made of him the same way his heart and his
brain are. It is a civil war with an inevitable outcome. He says that before he left he
saw the Rijksmuseum online and that, despite all the heroic martyrs, there was not a
single painting celebrating someone who died of illness. Augustus concludes that
there is no glory or meaning in dying of illness. Hazel thinks about how Augustus,
whose body is dying but still needs meaning, refutes Maslow's Hierarchy.

300 Word.

Source: Green, J.(2012). The Fault in our Stars (pp. 209-218). USA: Penguin Group