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Recommended: Death essays
Taking a class in Death and Dying never sounded like a fun endeavor, but I still enrolled in the class with the hope that it would help me better understand how people deal with death. I have had a positive experience with this course, and was lucky enough to solidify some of the themes we discussed in class while reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. The story follows a young girl named Hazel Grace, who has a fatal form of cancer. The book follows not only her view of the story, but also involves her family, her cancer support group, and a boy named Augustus.
The story begins with introductions from Hazel and a brief overview of her life. She is 16, and was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. However, the cancer eventually spread to her
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When they arrive, they discover that Van Houten is extremely rude and not what the pair had imagined. Van Houten’s assistant had orchestrated the whole visit, as she thought Van Houten would benefit. Van Houten turns out to be a drunk and pompous, and full of himself. Hazel continues to try to get the answers she so desperately needs, but Van Houten is rude and makes mean remarks about Hazel and Augustus. The trip goes horribly and none of Hazel’s questions are answered.
Van Houten’s assistant apologizes for Van Houten, and takes Hazel and Augustus on a trip to the Anne Frank house. This scene is a momentus triumph, as Hazel’s trouble breathing almost makes her black out a number of times, but she overcomes to climb all the stairs in the house and see the final level of exhibits. They kiss and the people in the room cheer for them. Following their kiss, they go back to their hotel room and make love for the first time.
The next day Augustus makes a huge confession to Hazel: he is sick again, and pet scans have revealed cancer has spread all across his body. He tells Hazel though, that he is going to fight it and win and be around for a very long time to annoy her. They discuss Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the meaning of dying and illness with each
... scenes of the story, he is driving to the South to get pecans, Hazel, Baby Jason, and Hunca Bubba have come along to help. Hazel enjoys her trips with Granddaddy Vale because he lets her sit in the front seat and navigates, and calls her "Scout," "Peaches," and "Precious." Granddaddy is calm and supporting of the children and the grandchildren's decisions even when the other adults do not; he tries to reason with Hazel in the face of Hunca Bubba's betrayal. His calm, and focus on driving and getting proper directions, only makes Hazel angrier.
Do we control the judgments and decisions that we make every day? In the book,
Frank starts dating Vicki, a young southern nurse who has recently divorced her first husband and behaves naively, even though Frank knows that she has seen terrible things in her career and therefore could not be as clos...
Augustus joined Hazel's quest for the book's author, Peter Van Houten, to deliver the answers which they needed. Augustus even relied on a wish foundation to help fly him in addition to Hazel to Amsterdam, the location where the author lived, to discuss with him in person. While Hazel was the one that was doomed to die, Augustus ended up telling Hazel of his recent scan; the doctors had found that his entire body was filled with cancer. Hazel spent the final months of Augustus's life...
...or George and Augustus cares for Hazel. George cares for Lennie and Hazel cares for Augustus.
Hazel Grace, is a teenage girl who unfortunately suffers several of the cruelties of life, yet she is shining symbol of hope. Even though since she got diagnosed she quit school, her friends don’t exactly treat her like the girl she used to be she is as smart as can be, and kind at the same time. She has stayed alive lo...
There are two main conflicts in this book. The first is cancer vs people (man vs body). It is easily the most evident conflict in the story. Although it is the means by which Hazel and Augustus meet, it is also slowly devouring them. It is the reason Hazel has to carry oxygen with her wherever she goes. It is the reason Augustus only has one leg, and it even causes his untimely death. It is because of his lost battle with cancer that Isaac is blind. It also changes and conflicts Hazel and Augustus’s relationship by weakening them and limiting the time that they can spend together. Unfortunately, it is a conflict that no one can do anything about. All they can do is wait for it to run its
Hazel is a fiery little girl. She is strong-willed and openly opinionated, and believes that “when you got something on your mind, speak up and let the chips fall where they may” (Bambara 297). Although she is still very young, she has principles of what she believes to be wrong and right. She believes that her Hunca Bubba is not who he used to be since he has fallen in love and become engaged. Hazel feels betrayed by Hunca Bubba because when she was a little girl, he promised he would marry her. He is no longer Hazel’s Hunca Bubba; now, he is Jefferson Winston Vale. Hazel is befuddled with the entire situation. She is heartbroken that he seems to undermine the importance of his promise, by saying, “I was just teasin’” (298). He seems to be completely unaware that by breaking this promise, he has distorted Hazel’s entire outlook on trustworthiness. Hazel expresses her concrete belief that people should follow through with what they say, when she is commenting on the incident at the movie theater, “ I mean even gangsters in the movies say My word is my bond. So don’t nobody get away with nothing far as...
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.
In the contract of life, there are numerous requirements. Every living being must be able to reproduce, practice homeostasis, consume energy, and adapt. However, there is one component of life that facilitators don’t include in their lesson plans: death. While all living organisms must have the ability to perform certain tasks in order to be considered living, all life must come to an end. Death is not a matter of if, but when. Many humans share a common fear of losing a loved one, yet authors utilize death to convey a profound meaning within their novel. In the first paragraph Bill Barich’s novel, Laughing in the Hills, he uses the inevitability of death to supply the reader with insight on the theme of his writing.
Cancer limits her chances at being a normal teenage girl with a normal life. As reluctant as she was to go to support group, she meets other teenagers going through the same stuff. Hazel gets to experience the flirting, adventure, and excitement of teenage life. She allows herself to be immature and careless. Gus’s death reminds her how unfair the world is but she doesn't regret her choices. In her eulogy at the funeral, Hazel says “I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.” (Green 260). This quote shows she doesn't regret becoming close to him; even with the unfortunate fallout she’s thankful for the time and experiences. Hazel matures because of her relationship. She got the chance at “normal” and love. Caring for someone with cancer helped her mature.
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...
On the boat, Hazel remembers her first life, before she was brought back from the dead. They head up the coast and encounter the army of Polybotes. The get
Divergent is set in a futuristic Chicago were everyone is separated into 5 sections of Chicago. Throughout the story the characters take trips to the Ferris Wheel of Navy Prier, the Hancock building, the Willis (formally Sears) Tower, and Millennium Park.
In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel distanced herself from her friends and family. Her mom thought she was depressed since she rarely socialized with others and took her to see a doctor who recommended she join the Support Group (Green, pp. 4). In the Support Group, participants offer each other help. Hazel did not like the Support Group. She often dreaded not going and when she did go, she rarely paid any attention. It just so happens that on one of the days she did not want to go, she meets Augustus Waters. She feels self-conscious when she sees him staring at her during one of the Support Group meetings. Hazel befriends Gus and eventually falls in love with him. She trusts Gus and finds that she can share and relate to him. They both have changed