Tfios Literary Device Essay

TFIOS Literary Device Essay

Among one of the most important and prominent moments in John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars remains when Hazel explains to her parents, using a simile, “ I’m like. Like. I’m like a grenade, Mom. I’m a grenade and at some point I’m going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay? ” This impacts the story in many different ways, such as the plot/conflict, setting/mood,^[a] and characterization.

Hazel ^[b]comparing herself to a grenade is essentially what is the conflict at the beginning chapters of this story. After looking at Caroline’s memorial website, Hazel remarks “ For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why something a stranger had written on the Internet to a different (and deceased) stranger was bothering me so much and making me worry that there was something inside my brain- which really did hurt, although I knew from years of experience that pain is a blunt and nonspecific diagnostic instrument. ” Hazel sees all of the comments on Caroline’s website and realizes how much the death of a loved one can hurt others. She feels as if she has to avoid intimacy with Augustus in order to avoid hurting him if she dies.^[c]

This quote also helps contribute to the mood of the story. Hazel overhears her parents saying “ It kills me, that’s exactly what she doesn’t need to hear.” This helps create a melancholic mood for the story. This is obviously not a positive thing to say, and hearing this come from Hazel upsets her parents. Hazel was also very upset after coming to the realization that her death would hurt so many people.^[d]

Lastly, this quote is essential to the characterization of none other than Hazel Grace Lancaster. Green opens the book with Hazel’s narration, saying “ Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death. ” This quote combined with the literary device I have chosen shows how Hazel feels about life and living as a cancer kid. There are also many other times in the book along with these that show that she lives a nihilistic lifestyle and believes that nothing really matters at all.^[e]