Writing Assignment 1

In the article “Young Adult Literature: Let It Be Hope” by Kristen Randle, Randle argues that it has become common today for young adult novels to be too “bleak,” with story lines that only focus on the negative reality of the world “in order to offer comfort to the wounded,” while ignoring the other reality of the world: kindness and compassion are “alive and well,” marriages can be great, and people really do care about each other (Young Adult Literature: Let It Be Hope). Randle states, “truthful storytelling has to allow that both aspects of reality exist” (Young Adult Literature: Let It Be Hope). Basically, Randle is saying that the best young adult novels are those that don’t just present a one-sided and thus inaccurate view of reality, but a more balanced one that shows that hope and despair coexist within the same reality. As the two main characters deal with terminal cancer and one of them wastes away by the end of the novel, The Fault In Our Stars had the potential to be part of the group of bleak novels that Randle references in her article. But the healthy relationships in the novel save it from being categorized as just another narrative on the hopelessness of a reality in which cancer can take away your loved ones at anytime and turn it into a more balanced view of reality like the one Randle believes needs to be in young adult novels. Hazel and Augustus’s relationship with each other and their respective relationships with their parents give the novel the aspect of hope that prevents it from sliding into the deep end of bleak novels. Each of these relationships represent what a healthy and loving relationship should look like, helping to add hope to the novel and counter the bleakness of Hazel’s and Augustus’s battles with terminal cancer. 

Works Cited:

Young Adult Literature: Let It Be Hope

Kristen Downey Randle