I can imagine it would be hard to have faith once someone has diagnosed you with a terminal illness. I would have trouble having hope if someone told me I would die and that there was nothing to do. In the novel, The Fault in Our Stars, Augustus and Hazel are diagnosed with different types of cancer; Augustus is told he has “an eighty-five percent chance of cure” while there is not a cure to Hazel’s cancer. (166) But the fact of the matter is that both have faith.
Faith has a different meaning in this novel than what I had previously considered. I have always linked faith to religion, but this book convinced me otherwise. Each character in the novel has a different idea about afterlife and what happens after you die. This is religion. On the contrary, faith is present throughout the novel. We first encounter faith in the “literal heart of Jesus” at the first Support Group meeting.
Support Group was created so that ill kids (and Patrick!) could come together and simply support one another. We aren’t told about the appreciation of Support Group from many characters, but it is evident that Hazel doesn’t see its worth. She tells us that “the six or seven or ten of [them] walked/wheeled in, grazed at a decrepit selection of cookies and lemonade, sat down in the Circle of Trust, and listened to Patrick recount for the thousandth time his depressingly miserable life story...” (6)
Along with this faith comes comedy; the fact that the Support Group meets in a basement and Augustus and Hazel refer to it as the “literal heart of Jesus” says enough. When flirting at one point in the novel:
“We are literally in the heart of Jesus," he said. "I thought we were in a church basement, but we are literally in the heart of Jesus."
"Someone should tell Jesus," Hazel said. "I mean, it's gotta be dangerous, storing children with cancer in your heart."
"I would tell Him myself," Augustus said, "but unfortunately I am literally stuck inside of His heart, so He won't be able to hear me.”
The Heart of Jesus is a confining place where each character is defined by their illness. Perhaps that is why Hazel despises it so much. Maybe it is rebellion against her mother, too. But this “literal heart” becomes a comic relief in Hazel’s life of distress. Hazel continues to attend the Support Group throughout the novel. Part of me thinks that she wants to just please her mother, but another feels that she has faith that attending will be good for her.
Hazel has faith in many things. The “literal heart of Jesus” is one of many references seen in the novel to faith or religion showing that there is a presence of it but that it does not dominate the book’s story.
Faith has a different meaning in this novel than what I had previously considered. I have always linked faith to religion, but this book convinced me otherwise. Each character in the novel has a different idea about afterlife and what happens after you die. This is religion. On the contrary, faith is present throughout the novel. We first encounter faith in the “literal heart of Jesus” at the first Support Group meeting.
Support Group was created so that ill kids (and Patrick!) could come together and simply support one another. We aren’t told about the appreciation of Support Group from many characters, but it is evident that Hazel doesn’t see its worth. She tells us that “the six or seven or ten of [them] walked/wheeled in, grazed at a decrepit selection of cookies and lemonade, sat down in the Circle of Trust, and listened to Patrick recount for the thousandth time his depressingly miserable life story...” (6)
Along with this faith comes comedy; the fact that the Support Group meets in a basement and Augustus and Hazel refer to it as the “literal heart of Jesus” says enough. When flirting at one point in the novel:
“We are literally in the heart of Jesus," he said. "I thought we were in a church basement, but we are literally in the heart of Jesus."
"Someone should tell Jesus," Hazel said. "I mean, it's gotta be dangerous, storing children with cancer in your heart."
"I would tell Him myself," Augustus said, "but unfortunately I am literally stuck inside of His heart, so He won't be able to hear me.”
The Heart of Jesus is a confining place where each character is defined by their illness. Perhaps that is why Hazel despises it so much. Maybe it is rebellion against her mother, too. But this “literal heart” becomes a comic relief in Hazel’s life of distress. Hazel continues to attend the Support Group throughout the novel. Part of me thinks that she wants to just please her mother, but another feels that she has faith that attending will be good for her.
Hazel has faith in many things. The “literal heart of Jesus” is one of many references seen in the novel to faith or religion showing that there is a presence of it but that it does not dominate the book’s story.