Death and Adolescents
Death has a way of changing people, whether it is the passing of someone close to you or coming to terms with your own mortality, no one remains the same after dealing with death. Some people mourn in the face or death, while others are re-born and enlightened. In the novel The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, we are introduced to two adolescents that have faced death and gained different perspectives on life after doing so. When facing death, whether you’re own or someone you love, there are two types of reactions, two types of people, the “Augustus’s” and the “Hazel Grace’s”. After losing his leg, Augustus Waters decided that he wanted to make his mark on the world before he died, he was terrified of dying and feared oblivion more than anything but it was that very fear that compelled him to live the most fulfilling life possible, “I decided long ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence”(Green 11). Instead of wallowing in misery over having cancer, Gus wanted to enjoy life; he found beauty in everything, especially Hazel Grace. He lived his life through metaphors; he revolved many of his beliefs and actions around metaphors, one of his favorites was, “you put the killing thing in your mouth, but you don’t give it the power to kill you”(Green 13). I think he liked this metaphor and having a cigarette dangle between his lips so much, because unlike his cancer, which he had no control over, he could control whether or not he lit the cigarette. It made him feel like his destiny was in his own hands and under his control. Gus’s experience with death made him a more positive person, a “better” and inspirational person; he wanted to “drink stars” and live his life questioning everything. “While...
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...llflower is the thought of “feeling infinite”. Gus made Hazel Grace feel infinite; they were infinite together. Charlie felt infinite while he was going through the tunnel with his friends, “and in the moment, I swear we were infinite” (Chbosky 50). The feeling of being “infinite” is something that many people desire and contrary to the name can be a moment or several powerful moments strung together. The fact that Charlie, Hazel Grace, and Gus all claim to feel this powerful emotion is symbolic because of their experiences with death. These characters knew that they were not “stars” and that they were not infinite, yet they still felt this way. One would think that their experiences with death would make them more aware of the finiteness of their lives but because they either are or become strong and positive adolescents, they grow from these negative experiences.
A horrific aspect of life that many people have a difficult time dealing with is death. The thought of death scares people because as humans we do not have a way to comprehend something that we cannot test, see or even have a grasp of. When a person loses a loved one they get scared by this reality of that they do not know where they are going and when they make it there how will it be for them. In William Faulkner's book, As I Lay Dying, we go through the process at which a family loses a “loved” one and we follow the family all the way until the deceased, Addie Burden, is buried in Jefferson. In As I Lay Dying you see the steps of grieving are different for many people and some of the people will come out destroyed and others without a scratch. The character Cash goes through a process of grief, odd to most in his way of grief we do not see pain because of the pressure he puts on himself to finish the journey for the family. Cash’s brother, Jewel, seems to snap from the pain of losing his mother and he let the pain ingulf his life. Finally, the last
... loss of loved ones like Junior in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Andi in Revolution or faced your own inevitable passing like Hazel Grace in The Fault in Our Stars, you are not alone. In confronting and facing death, these characters learn that death is merely a small part of living. It is an element of the human experience. To return to the wise words of the late Steve Jobs, “Almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important…There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Living is the adventure. In facing their fears and sadness, these characters learn how to be courageous, how to hope, how to love, and how to live. Join them on their journeys by checking out one of the spotlighted books at your local library.
This paper will focus on the two different sides of adolescents and their choice concerning end of life care. The first section will be adolescent centered and will help to provide a backbone to reinforce the choices they legally should be able to make using their right to autonomy. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Institute of Medicine did a very helpful study, that is pro adolescent choice that will be discussed in the first section of the paper. The second section will focus on Paternalism and the ethics behind the health care team making the ultimate decision that will benefit the patient. As well as information and studies in regard to an adolescent’s decision making process, and their tendency to be impulsive.
Death has feelings as much as any human, imagining, getting bored, distracted, and especially wondering (350, 243, 1, 375 respectively). Odd, one could say for an eternal metaphysical being. But then again, not that queer once having considered how Death spends his time. He is there at the dying of every light, that moment that the soul departs its physical shell, and sees the beauty or horror of that moment. Where to a human witnessing a death first hand (even on a much more detached level than our narrator) can easily be a life changing event, Death is forced to witness these passings for nearly every moment of his eternal life. Emotional overload or philosophical catalyst? Death gains his unique perspective on life through his many experiences with the slowly closing eyelids and muttered last words. Yet in this...
The main argument in this article is that there needs to be more ways to help people that are suicidal. The main point of this article is that they want to people to be more aware of how to help someone, and it is also full of information. The topics that are covered in the article are the issues at hand, the background with suicide in teens, and the next step that society needs to take. This article is about helping people that are suicidal and how to help them and let us know the next step that we need to take.
Shock, anger, numbness, denial, acceptance, and fighting for one’s life, are the general phases of grief through one’s experience with cancer (cancersurvivors.org). Although discovering about one’s cancer can be excruciating, an additional agonizing reaction to a sick person is how the others are affected and their one-on-one reaction to the person. Feeling overly pitiful to one’s illness can impair the situation for the one who is ill by emotionally making the tragedy feel additionally worse. Although the extra sympathy, empathy, and compassion Hazel Grace Lancaster is treated with in The Fault In Ours Stars are intended to comfort, these exaggerated emotions have the opposite effect, further isolating and reminding her of her limited existence, but concurrently, the reality of condolences is pivotal to Hazel’s life.
Joseph Connelly Gazzola used to be a Northeastern University football star. He has since taken his own life, and it has hit everyone he knew very hard.
The character Augustus strives to not allow the cancer become his identity, rather to be remembered for something bigger than his illness. Augustus changes a lot from when he is first introduced at the beginning of the book till the final chapters before his death. When Hazel Grace first meets Augustus Waters at the support group she describes him as an attractive, strong and normal boy. It’s later during support group she finds out that he Augustus, once suffered from cancer and is now in remission. He attends the support group only as a companion for his friend Isaac who is a few days away from losing his eyesight. As the support group discussions go on, Augustus is asked what his fears are and he replies “Oblivion” (Green, 12) Augustus wants his life to mean more, rather than to just be forgotten when he dies. After each support group meeting a prayer is said with the list of all the members who have passed away added at the end. “And we remember in our hearts those whom we knew and loved who have gone home to you; Maria and ...
Margaret Atwood is the Canadian author of "Death by Landscape" which is a short story pulled from her novel, Wilderness Tips. This story highlights a huge problem in today's society, teenage suicide. Wilderness Tips was published in 1991, which is during the time of suicide "clusters" in the teenage population. These so called clusters began in the late 80's. Some experts indicate that suicide has always been a problem but was never seriously acknowledged until the late 1980's. Ms. Atwood incorporated this real life epidemic in her short story. Margaret Atwood is known for her effort to discuss real life matters in her writings. She believes that expressing oneself is not the goal to writing. The writer should strive to express the story and keep the reader interested (Atwood 1425). She reaches her goal in "Death by Landscape."
In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established that 6.3% of high school students have attempted suicide in the preceding year. Given the lethal consequences of suicide attempts, determining risk factors among adolescents becomes especially important. Generally speaking, psychiatric disorders and substantial psychosocial impairments are known to be associated with suicide attempts. However, previous research attempting to identify specific risk factors in adolescents is somewhat ambiguous. Nonetheless, one thing is consistent. When measuring the risk of an adolescent committing suicide, information must come from a variety of sources and perspectives. These sources may include but are not limited to a clinical interview with the adolescent, information provided by the parent or guardian, standardized assessments and previous psychiatric documents from the individual.
How Children Deal with Death Death is hard to deal with for everyone, but for children especially; they view death in various ways at different ages. At these ages children need help and guidance from their parents. The first step is to help them feel a part of the whole experience, doing this will allow them to deal with the death.
The community impact, which includes national, state, and community level, is crucial for suicide prevention in adolescents. By having the community involved, it allows a more effective prevention plan, along with measures on how to properly handle the situation more efficiently. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Surgeon General and National Action Alliance for Suicide, revised the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP) in 2012. In which, they classified suicide prevention interventions into two categories: prevention targeted at the level of the individual and prevention targeted at the level of the population. (HHS, 2012). To target at the level of the individual, the NSPP emphasized the role every American can play in protecting their loved ones from suicide. To target prevention at the level of the population, the NSPP provide a framework for schools, businesses, health systems, clinicians and many other sectors by learning from their conducted research and teaching ways to identify patterns of suicide and suicidal behavior throughout a group or population. There is also the Best Practices Registry Suicide Prevention (BPR) which is a a registry for the best practices in a specific area. The BPR is maintained by the collaboration of the Suicide Prevention Center (SPRC) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The registry is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which identifies, reviews, and disseminates information about best practices that address specific objectives for the NSSP (“Suicide Prevention”, 2009). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Surgeon General and National Action Alliance fo...
From a 2011 CDC survey, 7.8% of teenagers in grade 9-12 in the United States and it’s territories had attempted committing suicide one or more times in the past (CDC 2011)*. The risk factors involved with youth suicide include being bullied, drug use and a lack of a safety and stability. Strain theory contributes to youth suicide as when the kids are bullied or do not do as well in school despite hard work, they may turn away from it and instead seek a way out (___)*. How can being aware of the risk factors and strain theory be used to create ways to prevent youth suicide? What types of programs would allow kids to feel more confident in their goals as well as themselves and thus lower their risk? There needs to be increased focus placed on at-risk youths at home and at school in addition to the creation of suicide prevention programs where youths can feel safe.
In the novel, The Fault In Our Stars, Hazel Grace Lancaster is a sixteen year old girl living with thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs. Because of her cancer she carries around a mandatory oxygen tank named “Philip” and take doses of a drug Phalanxifor to help her. Hazel is a lonely teenager who spends her days watching TV, rereading the same book, and is forced to attend a support group. Hazel thinks deeply about life and death, until she meets Augustus Waters who changes her perspective on life. With meeting Augustus she goes on adventures and experiences things she never would have. Throughout the novel Hazel’s character develops differently, and encounters changes.
Did you know that suicide is currently the third leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States? (4). In 1992, more teenagers and young adults died from suicide than those who died from stroke, cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, pneumonia, influenza and chronic lung disease combined (4).