The Fault In Our Stars
Making connections between modern literature and greek myths
WARNING: I HAD TO INCLUDE A BIG SPOILER TO MAKE A CONNECTION. IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN PAST PAGE 260 of tfios I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS PRESENTATION.
What is The Fault in Our Stars about?
The Fault in Our Stars is about 16 year old Hazel Grace, who suffers from thyroid cancer. She attends a support group where she meets the charismatic Augustus Walters, whom she eventually falls in love with. Both have to deal with the sad but realistic truth that Hazel will never be completely cancer free; the doctors don't expect her to live very long.
Main Characters
Hazel- The books's narrator and main protagonist. She is terminally ill with thyroid cancer, but is taking a drug that will lengthen her life by an unknown amount of time.
Augustus Walters- Hazel's love interest. Was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (I cannot pronounce this and I swear if any of you even snicker at my attempt to say it out loud I will throw this laptop at you) when he was young and lost his right leg to the disease.
Isaac- Augustus's best friend, befriends Hazel once she and Augustus begin to get close.
Connections
Connection #1
Isaac shares a connection with the cyclops Polyphemus. Isaac starts off in the novel with having one working eye, but eventually loses the other one as well. Polyphemus starts off in the myth as having one working eye, but Odysseus blinds him, thus making him have no eye sight left.
Connection #2
Hazel's friend Kaitlyn is known for going from guy to guy; she gets bored easily and never settles down. She shares this characteristic with Zeus, because Zeus also goes from girl to girl, wooing them for a short while before moving on to the next one.
Connection #3
The way Hazel describes Augustus is similar to how the Greek God Apollo is described. Augustus is described as tall, beautiful, and athletic. Apollo is described as "the most Greek of the Greek Gods" meaning the most beautiful (besides Aphrodite). In most pictures he is portrayed as muscular and having boyish charm, as is Augustus in fan drawings. Augustus is also similar to Aphrodite, because he is very attractive and allures people to him without trying. Hazel falls for him like almost every mortal falls for Aphrodite.
Connection #4
Hazel and Augustus share a trait with the Greek lovers Orpheus and Eurydice. When Augustus dies, Hazel is not who she was. She's very distant from everyone and mourns for her love. She still loves him, even after death, and she always will. The same is for Orpheus. When Eurydice dies, Orpheus find living without her to be unbearable. Even the God Hades couldn't deny the man his chance to get his love back, for he was that hurt without her.
Opinion on the book/ do all books connect to Greek myths?
This is one of my favorite books of all time. I'm a huge fan of dry humor, and I enjoy a well written teenage love story. Also, I have been a fan of John Green's works for quite awhile, and I've watched his YouTube videos for even longer. The characters are original and likable and the plot is just so interesting. I recommend this book to everyone of all ages. However, it will make you cry, so have tissues ready.
While I cannot say ALL books connect to Greek myths, (unfortunately, I haven't read every book ever written) I can say a vast majority of the books I have read have at least one connection to Greek mythology. Literature is timeless, so of course some themes and ideas will be repeat themselves. Even Shakespeare took some ideas from Greek mythology!