John Green writes many many books with many many themes, and there are many arguable themes in the book The Fault in Our Stars. I think the theme that is most prominent to me in the book is living life to the fullest.
There was a news article that listed ways about how to live life to the fullest, one of the ways was to not hide your true feelings especially love and compassion. Gus never hid his feelings from Hazel from the beginning, even on the first day they met. On the first day he had told her how beautiful she was, when they had no idea who each other were. Gus had always told her how much he cared and loved for her, and always tried to win her heart. Hazel had hid her feelings from Gus and her mom & dad because she was afraid of compassion and love, she was afraid of living.
Love conquers all – something that goes along with living your life is falling in love. A man was told that his wife was going to die when she was hit by a semi, but he refused to believe the doctors and waited with his wife. Love can bring us through the hardest times, love brought Hazel through Gus’s death. Gus also fought until his last breathe to make Hazel happy, to make her believe in love.
Living your life to its fullest potentional means over coming your fears, and becoming a fearless person in many forms. Be that falling in love, or even going on a roller coaster when you are afraid of heights. Hazel was afraid of becoming attached to people because she had felt like a “grenade” that was about to “explode”. Which, is understandable. She was a cancer patient, the people she gets attached to would be crushed if she died, just like she was when Gus died. Eventually, she learned to over come these fears of attachment, thanks to Gus.
The Fault in Our Stars has many themes, and everyone can interpret them in their own ways. I interpret living life to the fullest by falling in love and overcoming your fears, which is exactly what Hazel did throughout the story. Gus taught her not to be afraid of life, which is what we need to do in reality. Learn to love life, and not be afraid.