Hazel Grace Lancaster: "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls:: Augustus Waters: Julius Caesar

Simply as a quick disclaimer, I have not yet read the highly acclaimed book The Fault in Our Stars by author John Green. However, I have watched the movie version of this book about a dozen times, and ever since studying the play Julius Caesar in 10th grade and discovering my love for the 90s band Goo Goo Dolls in the same year, I have made an interesting observation. Hazel Grace Lancaster is like the song "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls and Augustus Waters is like Julius Caesar.

Throughout The Fault in Our Stars movie, Hazel Grace Lancaster has the belief of unavoidable oblivion of everything and everyone. This somber thought is challenged by Augustus Waters as he "intends to live an extraordinary life" and to be a hero known by all. To be known by the all who are apparently meeting oblivion at an unavoidable rate (thankfully the Gospel insists). But the question is, why does Hazel Grace Lancaster believe in this obsolete future? The answer is found in "Iris."

And I don't want the world to see me 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand When everything's meant to be broken I just want you to know who I am

Near the end of the movie, Hazel Grace Lancaster became frustrated with the *spoiler alert* dying Augustus Waters because he was upset with himself for never becoming a hero with a "grand story" to be known by all. Hazel Grace Lancaster then says, "I think you're special and is that not enough?...Because I love you, and I'm going to remember you." As she was comforting Augustus Waters, she was speaking a truth about herself that is poetically sung in "Iris." Hazel Grace Lancaster did not want to be known by many, but simply by one. And that one was Augustus Waters. He was the world to her; he understood the feeling of brokenness; he knew who Hazel Grace Lancaster truly was. Because of this, Hazel Grace Lancaster could accept oblivion with the memory of being remembered by the one she loved the most.

In the play Julius Caesar, the Roman ruler Julius Caesar dies a peculiar death of countless lethal stabs from a planned ambushing by the Roman Senate Body. While studying this dramatic play years ago, a specific line stood out to me.

"The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."

During the age of the Roman Empire, the stars were revered as gods that charted people's paths throughout their lives. The line above spoken by Julius Caesar to Brutus, the leader who orchestrated Julius Caesar's death, believed that our lives are not at fault due to the guiding stars but instead at fault in our submission to be under authority by something so powerless. This metaphor made by Julius Caesar foreshadowed his oncoming death which was death by the Senate Body. This Body had become frightened of Julius Caesar's growing power and heroism among the people, and therefore, his Body killed him. As observed in The Fault in Our Stars, Augustus Waters loved deciphering and coding metaphors, but he missed one. Himself. August Waters was determined to leave a destiny of legacies, but his own body ended the possibilities life had to offer him. His own body made of cancer destroyed him which eliminated his choice of a powerful destiny guided by no authority. As Julius Caesar's Body killed him, as did Augustus Waters' body kill him.

I do not endorse the morals and values of The Fault in Our Stars story, but I could not withhold this opportunity to share these written thoughts. I believe sometimes authors use, art, mysteries, classics, music, and so forth to hide secret meanings in plain sight. Whether it is intentional or unintentional or interpreted exactly or wrongly, the literary dots connected have purposeful meaning which I seem to find completely beautiful.

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Proverbs 3:6 (NASB) "In all your ways acknowledge

Him, And He will make your paths straight."

Emote - to give expression to emotion especially in acting