Hazel’s Character Development in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Essay Example

'The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude' -Oprah Winfrey. In the novel, “The Fault In Our Stars” By John Green, the main protagonist, Hazel Grace Lancaster, gets diagnosed with stage IV thyroid cancer with metastasis forming in her lungs at 13 years old. Even though she has this condition, she has been able to live her life to 16 from an experimental drug called Phalanxifor. Hazel has developed and or changed throughout the novel in both positive and negative ways that have both impacted her and the people around her in various ways.

At the beginning of the novel, Hazel’s mother has decided that she has depression and sends her to a support group called “The Literal Heart Of Jesus” that meets every Wednesday in a church basement. This would become a great memory for Hazel as she will soon meet Augustus, who she would have strong feelings for, and Isaac who will undergo surgery in a few weeks to remove cancer in his eyes, making him go blind. Augustus and Isaac will help Hazel become more comfortable and even change her a little bit. She sees their habits and gets confused at first but realizes what they mean. “Hazel Grace,” he said, my name new and better in his voice. “It has been a real pleasure to make your acquaintance.” “Ditto, Mr. Waters,” I said. I felt shy looking at him. I could not match the intensity of his watery blue eyes.” (Page 36) Even though they just met, you can see that Augustus, or Gus, is making an impact on Hazel and Hazel is already starting to have feelings for Gus even though they just met. “I thought of telling her that I was seeing a boy, too, or at least that I’d watched a movie with one, just because I knew it would surprise and amaze her that anyone as disheveled and awkward and stunted as me could even briefly win the affections of a boy. But I didn’t really have much to brag about, so I just shrugged.” (Page 43) This is another great example of how Hazel is developing because she states how could someone as disheveled and awkward and stunted as her could win the affections of a boy. This shows that even though she thinks of herself very poorly, Gus still managed to like her for who she is after one day of meeting each other and that her life will change for the better.

Hazel has also changed in negative ways throughout this novel. For example, at the beginning of the book she was very nice to her parents, didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere, just an overall introvert. Towards the end of the book, she was always out seeing Agustus or doing something or driving somewhere. This has been a negative change because her pants want to see her more and she is never around. “We need you, too, kiddo,” my dad said. He took hold of my wrist, like I was a two-year-old about to dart out into the street, and gripped it. “Well, get a terminal disease, Dad, and then I’ll stay home more.” “Hazel,” my mom said. “You were the one who didn’t want me to be a homebody,” I said to her. Dad was still clutching my arm. “And now you want him to go ahead and die so I’ll be back here chained to this place, letting you take care of me like I always used to. But I don’t need it, Mom. I don’t need you like I used to. You’re the one who needs to get a life.” You can see here that she has changed, her parents want her to stay home and see them, but she wants to go out to a The Literal Heart Of Jesus support group meeting to see Gus. She gets very mad and frustrated and wants to just leave the house while her parents want her to stay with them at home. Hazel changing and going to that support group in the beginning and meeting Agustus has led up to this, which is a negative change over the story, in the beginning, she was lazy and didn’t want to do anything and was a homeboy, now she is arguing with her parents about how they didn’t want her to be a homeboy and do something, but now that she has taken action and started to do stuff, they don’t like it. 

Overall, Hazel has had some interesting interactions in the start that have led to some very great, and some very disappointing choices in the future. Going to the support group led her to meet Augustus, who would later become her boyfriend and they would hang out a lot. But also she became more active, got out of the house more often, saw her parents less, and overall just didn’t come home a lot. This has affected the parents of her very dearly and they argue with her about wh she has changed, even though they told her she should change and stop being a homebody, but when she stopped they got mad. Sometimes, change is for the better, other times change can have horrifying results. You just have to take the risk no matter what happens.