The Fault in Our Stars: Quotes

It's A Metaphor

My favorite scene from The Fault in Our Stars!

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Augustus Waters pushed himself out of his chair and strided over to me. His gait was crooked like his mischievous smile. He towered over me, but kept his distance so that I wouldn't have to crane my neck to look him in the eye. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Hazel."

"No, your full name."

"Um, Hazel Grace Lancaster." 

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Augustus half smiled, his teeth barely showing. "Because you're beautiful. I enjoy looking at beautiful people, and I decided a long time ago not to deny myself the simple pleasures of my existence." A brief awkward silence ensued. Augustus continued to plow through: "I mean, particularly given that, as you so deliciously pointed out, all of this will end in oblivion and everything."

I half scoffed, half sighed or exhaled in a way that was vaguely coughy and then said, "I'm not beau—" 

Augustus Waters reached into a pocket and pulled out, of all things, a pack of cigarettes. He flipped the top open and put a cigarette between his lips, which curled into a smile.

"Are you serious?" I asked. "You think that's cool? Oh, my God, you just ruined the whole thing."

"Which whole thing?" he asked, turning towards me. The cigarette dangled unlit from the now unsmiling corner of his mouth.

"The whole thing where a boy who is neither unattractive nor unintelligent or seemingly in any way unacceptable stares at me and points out incorrect uses of literality and compares me to beautiful actresses and asks me to watch a movie at his house. But of course there is always a hamartia and yours is that oh, my God, even though you HAD FREAKING CANCER you give money to a corporation in exchange for the chance to acquire YET MORE CANCER. Oh, my God. Let me just assure you that not being able to breathe? SUCKS. Totally disappointing. Totally."

"A hamartia?" he asked, seemingly confused, the cigarette still in his mouth. It tightened his jaw. He had one hell of a jawline, unfortunately. 

"A fatal flaw," I explained, turning away from him. I stepped toward the curb, leaving the handsome Augustus Waters behind me, and then I heard a car start down the street. It, of course, was Mom. She'd been waiting for me to, like, make friends or whatever.

I felt this weird mix of disappointment and anger begin to well up inside of me. I don't even know what the feeling was, really, just that there was a large amount of it, and I wanted to smack Augustus Waters and also replace my lungs with lungs that didn't completely suck at being lungs. I was standing with my black Chuck Taylors on the very edge of the curb, the oxygen tank ball-and-chaining in the cart by my side, and right as my mom pulled up, I felt a hand grab mine. 

I yanked my hand free but turned back to him.

"Ya know, They don't kill you unless you light them," he said as Mom arrived at the curb. "And I've never lit one. It's a metaphor, you see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing." 

"It's a metaphor," I said, dubious. Mom was just idling, obviously waiting for me to enter the car.

"It's a metaphor," he said.

"You choose your behaviors based on their metaphorical resonances . . ." I said.

"Oh, yes." He smiled. A big, goofy, real smile, only Augustus Waters could pull off. "I'm a big believer in metaphors, Hazel Grace." 

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The feels!!! Please comment your thoughts on the scene! Comment #augustuswaters if your in love with him as much as we are!! :)