It is the end of the year, and I have not only made it through another year, but my last year in middle school. One skill I had yet to refine was "Conflict Resolution" so I decided to write my last essay of middle school on it in an effort to try and score a 10/10 in this area in our schools's writing rubric.
“The fault, dear Brutus,
lies not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” Julius
Caesar, William Shakespeare. as John Green explained in an interview after
writing his book, The Fault In Our Stars, he modeled the title of his
Novel, after the quote from the play Julius Caesar. Green states that
the quote means that we cannot blame fate for any misfortune we may have in
life, but we only have ourselves to blame. However, this is not the case in
Green’s novel. He gave the novel that name that name, because he meant it to be
a misnomer. The entire focus of the novel is living life with cancer, and you
cannot choose to have cancer. Thus they were dealt this hand in fate, and the
fault does lie in their stars, giving off a “person vs. self” style conflict.
No matter what, whether the fault lies in our stars, or not, this novel
beautifully demonstrates “person vs. self” style conflict
The initial situation of
The Fault In Our Stars is not the happiest of beginnings. Essentially,
the story surrounds the topic of “What is it like to have cancer as a
teenager?” So, as our story begins, we can assume that this novel is not for
those faint of heart, or for those looking for a “feel good” novel. The story
follows that of Hazel Lancaster, a sixteen-year-old girl without any purpose in
life, except to wait for her stage IV Thyroid Cancer to force her to expire.
She is a reclusive person, and her parents fear that she is becoming severely
depressed. (Though depression is common among teenagers, and is normal with
growing up, with the cancer added, it is a recipe for disaster.) Hazel later
recounts in the novel that, “I’m a grenade, 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,” meaning that with her cancer, she is like
a grenade that could potentially detonate at any given moment, and she wants to
have as few casualties and people hurt when she goes as possible. With this,
her parents fear for her, and have decided: Hazel will be attending a cancer
support group. This decision of Hazel attending “Support Group” (as it is
simply referred to) is the “explosion” of the novel (a.k.a. the Initial
Situation), and sets the stage for the rising action.
Once Hazel starts
attending support group, she is immediately bored out of her mind. She is
forced to sit through an hour of hearing other people’s stories, and listen to
other people’s problems, so she usually tunes out. However, things begin to
pick up one day when Hazel’s friend Isaac brings his friend Augustus Waters
with him to support group. Hazel is entranced with him, and even strikes up a
conversation with him after support group. This is known as the “rising action”
or conflict of the story. Though this novel does not have an antagonist, the
story does have a type of conflict. They type of conflict in this novel is
“person vs. self” meaning it is the person inwardly fighting with oneself. This
is demonstrated when Hazel says “My body is slowly trying to kill itself. The
cancer cells inside of my body are made from the same cells as the rest of my
body, and my body made these cells.” Now, the more conventional way to
interpret “person vs. self” style conflict is typically thought of a
moral/emotional conflict, however, it can be taken as a physical conflict in
this case. With this constant feeling of her body slowly trying to kill itself,
she becomes introverted and closes off to the world. However, when she meets
Augustus, she begins a relationship, romantic or otherwise, with a person for
the first time in her life. Soon after, they are sharing, books, picnics, and
late night phone conversations that dwell on into the wee hours of the night.
Hazel’s meeting Augustus, and her relationship with him is known as the “rising
action” of the Novel, which is then followed by the “climax.”
The rising action in a novel/story is typically followed by the “climax” of the story. Now, by stating what the climax of this story is, I would be giving away the plot of the novel, and it would be pointless to read. However, the author does hint at what will happen throughout the novel. When Hazel first meets Augustus at support group, the topic they are discussing is what they fear. Most of the other people said they worried about losing their cancer battles. However, when asked, Augustus states he “fears oblivion.” It is then proceeded to be explained that what he means is that everything, life, and humanity will end, and after humanity is gone, there will be no one left to remember any of the accomplishments of humanity. Augustus fears that after he dies, there will be no one left to remember his accomplishments. This concept of no one remembering you is similar to that of “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand. Howard Roark strives to leave his mark on the world, just as Augustus, and often is faced with difficult decisions, which could be considered the “person vs. self” conflict found in The Fault In our Stars.
Though her body may be trying to destroy itself with a “person vs. self” style conflict, Hazel remains strong throughout the novel. The fault in her case, as in every other cancer patient’s case, does lie in her stars, and not in her actions. The “person vs. self” style conflict is clearly demonstrated in the initial situation of Hazel’s parents sending her to support group, because of her inward struggle of not only trying to protect people she loves from herself, but from her cancer being a part of her, trying to destroy her. Nevertheless, whether the fault lies in our stars, or not, this novel beautifully demonstrates “person vs. self” style conflict
No comments:
Post a Comment