The Fault In Our Stars Theme Essay

What does it really mean to be in love? Love is characterized by having butterflies in your stomach and your heart skipping a beat when they are nearby, but it also means to stay with them through the worst of times and keep reminding them that nothing will hinder that. This thing called love was prominent throughout John Green’s two novels, Looking for Alaska and The Fault In Our Stars, but also in the author’s life as well.
John Michael Green was born on August 27, 1977 in Indianapolis. When he was young, he went to Lake Highland Preparatory School and Indian Springs School. John then continued his education at Kenyon College where he graduated with a double degree in English and Religious Studies. His goal was to become an Episcopal Priest. While working at a Children’s Hospital as a student chaplain, Green got to see children with terminal-illnesses, and this is what caused him to pursue a passion in writing (Green 1).
In the beginning, John was a publishing assistant for Booklist and focused on writing reviews about conjoined twins and the religion of Islam. While working for Booklist, this was when he started writing his

own book, Looking For Alaska. He then published Looking For Alaska in 2005. Everyone believed John Green has changed the young adult writing world with introducing a more “philosophical approach to issues in a teenager’s life” (Green 2). With this philosophical approach, it gained John the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz Award in 2006 and also achieved a great record by staying on New York Times best seller list for 7 years. John then wrote many successful novels throughout the years, including: An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Town. Finally, John quit his job at Booklist in order to keep pursuing his talents as a professional writer. His biggest novel came about in 2012 named The Fault in Our Stars. It has now been adapted into a movie that was released in June of 2014 and was a very successful movie. The Fault in Our Stars did so well due to John Green’s approach in writing the novel. He used themes of grief, pain, death, love, oblivion, and coming of age to gain interest from not just young adults, but everyone else; with the use of these themes helped young adults gain an understanding of such serious subjects.
The two themes that was prominent in his two works, Looking For Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, was love and living life to become who one is today. With that being said, they were also very much embodied into his own life. John had a fortunate life, as he would say, but he thought of himself to be “isolated and alone and scared” (“Biographical Questions” 1). He also believed that he was quite nerdy and his insecurity and anxiety made it difficult for him to have social interactions with others. This is where the coming of age them comes into play. Even though he was a littler nerdy or was insecure, this made him into the person and writer he is today. Being an outcast and being alone, made him have a lot of free time on his hands, which caused him to read a lot more and have an appreciation for literature. There was also the theme of love that was shown throughout the two novels. Love had happened to John and his wife Sarah. They were both witty and nerdy and were made for each other. Their love was awkward, but also very endearing. After a couple of years of marriage, came their son, Henry and daughter, Alice. John and Sarah vlog their daily lives with Alice and Henry on youtube on a channel called, Vlogbrothers.
The love between Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters was undeniable. They were two teenagers; Hazel had thyroid cancer while Augustus was in remission for Osteosarcoma. They both had many things to do and see and had the rest of their lives to figure everything out, but having cancer made it extremely difficult for them to do those things. They were restricted to what they could physically do, due to Hazel’s lack of oxygen in her lungs and Augustus’ prosthetic leg, but none of these obstacles stopped them from being in love. “”You realize that trying to keep your distance from me will not lesson my affections for you,” he said” (“Fault” 122). Augustus showed that no matter what Hazel had thrown at him, he was not going to easily give up. Later in the book, Augustus discovers that he was no longer in remission. His cancer had progressed to the point where nothing could have been done. This news does not stop him from living his life to the fullest, especially with the love of his life. Unfortunately, the cancer was so aggressive that in the end, it had won. Hazel was asked to give a speech during his mock funeral where he was still alive and wanted to hear what she was going to say at his real funeral and had said, "My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life" (“Fault” 259). They both loved each other beyond what words could describe, but unfortunately fate did not allow them to be in such happiness and bliss for a long time.
In The Fault in Our Stars, Augustus and Hazel had a huge obstacle to overcome. They were still young so they had their entire lives to live, but could not physically do so. With that being said, Hazel and Augustus still lived their lives as fully as they possibly could and no one could tell them no, including Hazel’s doctor, Dr. Maria shrugged. "It would increase some risks," she acknowledged, but then turned to me and said, "But it's your life" (“Fault” 117). Augustus also believed that "If you don't live a life in service of a greater good, you've gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good, you know?” (“Fault” 168). He had feared that if he did not live his life as fully as possible nor did he impact anyone than he did not do any good. Without even knowing it, falling in love with Hazel had impacted her and his life immensely. He had done something in service of the greater good so he had nothing left to fear.
The next work that he embodied the theme of love and living is Looking for Alaska. It was two teenagers, Miles Halter and Alaska who had developed a complex relationship. This relationship had many ups and downs and jumps and turns, but they were both madly in love with each other. They had a rather intimate relationship, but it never went too far as Miles would explain, “we didn't have sex. We never got naked. I never touched her bare breast, and her hands never got lower than my hips. It didn't matter. As she slept, I whispered, "I love you, Alaska Young" (“Looking” 131). It was not about the sex or whatever teenage boys wanted at the time, it was about getting to know her and understanding where she came from. We know that Miles was madly in love with her, but we were never told that Alaska felt the same way, but one could conclude that she did; otherwise, she would not have bothered spending so much time with him. Later in the book, we find out that she had been in a horrendous car accident. It is unsure that she had committed suicide or it was just a horrible accident, but with the hints and foreshadow given in the book, many conclude that she committed suicide. Unfortunately, she did not make it easy for Miles to get to know her or understand her and she never will. “I still did not know her as I wanted to, but I never could. She made it impossible for me” (“Looking” 212).
Even though love was a very important theme in Looking For Alaska, there were other important themes in the novel as well; such as coming of age.

The theme coming of age is very important in all of Green’s novel, not just Looking For Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars. In Looking For Alaska, Miles and Alaska were both teenagers, exploring life and getting to know their own body and mind. In school, their teacher questioned their mind, "I must talk, and you must listen, for we are engaged here in the most important pursuit in history: the search for meaning. What is the nature of being a person? What is the best way to go about being a person? How did we come to be, and what will become of us when we are no longer here?" (“Looking ch 4). He wanted to have them question themselves and get to know themselves before getting to know

others.
John Green’s writing brings a different view to young adults and makes them question about the perspective of life and how we all come to think. Green has always wanted to bring issued to young adults who do not really seem to ask questions about such issues. By writing these novels, he gives an insight to his life, but also helps young adults realize problems we are facing today. The themes love and coming of age was prominent in Looking For Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars and as well as John Green’s life.