Defying Oblivion

(second go, hope this works now) To be honest, I would love to read TFIOS with Augustus narrating it. It would be completely and utterly different. I think that if Augustus wrote it, TFIOS would be romanticized a lot more. To me, TFIOS is written to show how much Hazel believes in oblivion. She bases her entire narrative on her dry humor and how she knows that she is going to die. It is inevitable to her. Hazel is such a realist and only considers the most accurate possibilities. Hazel says, “There will come a time when all of us are dead. all of us. there will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything…everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught…and if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, i encourage you to ignore it. god knows thats what everyone else does.” (p.12-13).

Like all narrators, she bases her perspective off of what she believes. In reply, Augustus says, “Goddamn, aren’t you something else.” (p.13) He doesn’t argue or fight back or make some sort of remark about his perspective of oblivion because he doesn’t care as much. He is so infatuated by her and her brevity because she just defied oblivion. Hazel just made a mark on Augustus. Augustus will do anything for her, and as cheesy as that is, I’d love to read his POV. One thing that Augustus said to Hazel makes a mark on me more out of everything in the entire novel. “I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and i know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that were all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and i know the sun will swallow the only earth well ever have, and i am in love with you.” (p.153) sappy, yes, true, yes. Augustus is so greatly influenced by Hazel that I would want to see the whole novel in his perspective. Positive and sweet and truthful, but not in the way he is going to die, like Hazel.

Although i am “in love” with Augustus, Hazels’ narration is crucial. As we talked about in class, Hazel’s sarcasm and dry sense of humor and acceptance of her disease is the reason why the book is such a success; because she is honest. Even though we have such an emotional connection with Hazel, I believe that we would get just as amazing connection through Augustus. Yes, girls are more sensitive and have less of an issue sharing their emotions, but the entire book (thus far) Hazel yields to show and tell Augustus how she feels in fear of hurting him. She doesn’t want to hurt him the way Caroline Mather did. But Augustus says, “Oh, i wouldn’t mind, Hazel Grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.” (p.176) Augustus has such an emotional connection to the reader that, at least for me, draws me in.

If the novel was written in 3rd person, there would be less of a connection. In this book specifically, if i continued to read “Hazel does this, Hazel felt that..” I would not feel the same way as i do when she is personally telling her story. I think this tells us that Hazel as a narrator, although i am in favor of Augustus, there would be less of an emotional connect. Which is fair enough, this book is supposed to touch our hearts in a dry and sarcastic kind of way. Hazel’s briefness and sheltered emotions are the reason why we want to keep reading. She has us hooked.