Flashback: Hazel explains to Augustus how she found out she had cancer and how she almost died. "I had a surgery called radical neck dissection, which is about as pleasant as it sounds. Then radiation. Then they tried some chemo for my lug tumors. The tumors shrank, then grew. By then, I was fourteen. My lungs started to fill up with water. I was looking pretty dead--my hands and feet ballooned; my skin cracked; my lips were perpetually blue. They've got this drug that makes you not feel so completely terrified about the fact that you can't breathe, and I had a lot of it flowing into me through a PICC line, and more than a dozen other drugs besides. But even so, there's a certain unpleasantness to drowning, particularly when it occurs over the course of several months. I finally ended up in the ICU with pneumonia, and my mom knelt by the side of my bed and said, "Are you ready, sweetie?" and I told her I was ready, and my dad just kept telling me he loved me in this voice that was not breaking so much as already broken, and I kept telling him that I loved him, too, and everyone was holding hands, and I couldn't catch my breath, and my lungs were acting desperate, gasping, pulling me out of the bed trying to find a position that could get them air, and I was embarrassed by their desperation, disgusted that they would't just let go, and I remember my mom telling me it was okay, that I was okay, that I would be okay, and my father was trying so hard not to sob that when he did, which was regularly, it was an earthquake. And I remember wanting not to be awake" (Green 25). Hazel was recalling how she had almost died and she was replaying the scene to Augustus. I thought it was a very touching moment and you can find a lot about Hazel from this moment.
Plot Twist: Augustus tells Hazel something very important. Something that will change her life. " ' Just before you went into the ICU, I started to feel this ache in my hip. '
'No,' I said. Panic rolled in, pulled me under.
He nodded. 'So I went in for a PET scan.' He stopped...
He flashed his crooked smile, then said, 'I lit up like a Christmas tree, Hazel Grace. The lining of my chest, my left hip, my liver, everywhere' " (Green 214). Augustus has cancer again, and he doesn't know he will be able to survive. Augustus getting cancer again wasn't anticipated at all. It was a huge shocker for me.
Red Herring: The biggest red herring in this book was when Hazel was in pain and you thought she had cancer again. "I screamed to wake up my parents, ad they burst into the room, but there was nothing they could do to dim the supernovae exploding inside my brain, an endless chain of intracranial firecrackers that made me think that I was once and for all going, and I told myself--as I've told myself before--that the body shuts down when the pain gets too bad, that conscious is temporary, that this will pass. But just like always, I didn't slip away. I was left on the shore with the waves washing over me, unable to drown" (Green 105). I thought that Hazel wouldn't live through it . I thought that she was going to die for sure. But, she didn't and I realized that I had been fooled.
Imagery: I thought the description that Hazel gives of her hotel in Amsterdam is very real. "Our room was small: a double bed pressed against a wall with my BiPap machine, an oxygen concentrator, and a dozen refillable oxygen tanks at the foot of the bed. Past the equipment, there was a dusty old paisley chair with a sagging seat, a desk, and a bookshelf above the bed containing the collected works of Soren Kierkegaard. On the desk we found a wicker basket full of presents from the Genies: wooden shoes, an orange Holland T-shirt, chocolates, and various other goodies" (Green 157). I could easily imagine the room and to me that is good detail and imagery.
Plot Device: A major plot device in this piece is Peter Van Houten. He is the author of Hazel and Augustus's favorite book. They go to Amsterdam to meet them. " 'So you like my book,' he said to Augustus after another sip. 'Yeah,' I said, speaking up on Augustus's behalf. 'And yes, we--well, Augustus, he made meeting you his wish so that we could come here, so that you could tell us what happens after the end of An Imperial Affliction.'
Van Houten said nothin, just took a long pull on his drink.
After a minute, Augustus said, 'Your book is sort of the thing that brought us together' " (Green 185). Peter Van Houten is only used to move the plot forward and bring Hazel and Augustus closer together. He turns out to be a horrible person and Hazel gets very upset by how he acts. Augustus then consoles her and that brings them closer together.
Plot Twist: Augustus tells Hazel something very important. Something that will change her life. " ' Just before you went into the ICU, I started to feel this ache in my hip. '
'No,' I said. Panic rolled in, pulled me under.
He nodded. 'So I went in for a PET scan.' He stopped...
He flashed his crooked smile, then said, 'I lit up like a Christmas tree, Hazel Grace. The lining of my chest, my left hip, my liver, everywhere' " (Green 214). Augustus has cancer again, and he doesn't know he will be able to survive. Augustus getting cancer again wasn't anticipated at all. It was a huge shocker for me.
Red Herring: The biggest red herring in this book was when Hazel was in pain and you thought she had cancer again. "I screamed to wake up my parents, ad they burst into the room, but there was nothing they could do to dim the supernovae exploding inside my brain, an endless chain of intracranial firecrackers that made me think that I was once and for all going, and I told myself--as I've told myself before--that the body shuts down when the pain gets too bad, that conscious is temporary, that this will pass. But just like always, I didn't slip away. I was left on the shore with the waves washing over me, unable to drown" (Green 105). I thought that Hazel wouldn't live through it . I thought that she was going to die for sure. But, she didn't and I realized that I had been fooled.
Imagery: I thought the description that Hazel gives of her hotel in Amsterdam is very real. "Our room was small: a double bed pressed against a wall with my BiPap machine, an oxygen concentrator, and a dozen refillable oxygen tanks at the foot of the bed. Past the equipment, there was a dusty old paisley chair with a sagging seat, a desk, and a bookshelf above the bed containing the collected works of Soren Kierkegaard. On the desk we found a wicker basket full of presents from the Genies: wooden shoes, an orange Holland T-shirt, chocolates, and various other goodies" (Green 157). I could easily imagine the room and to me that is good detail and imagery.
Plot Device: A major plot device in this piece is Peter Van Houten. He is the author of Hazel and Augustus's favorite book. They go to Amsterdam to meet them. " 'So you like my book,' he said to Augustus after another sip. 'Yeah,' I said, speaking up on Augustus's behalf. 'And yes, we--well, Augustus, he made meeting you his wish so that we could come here, so that you could tell us what happens after the end of An Imperial Affliction.'
Van Houten said nothin, just took a long pull on his drink.
After a minute, Augustus said, 'Your book is sort of the thing that brought us together' " (Green 185). Peter Van Houten is only used to move the plot forward and bring Hazel and Augustus closer together. He turns out to be a horrible person and Hazel gets very upset by how he acts. Augustus then consoles her and that brings them closer together.