Death and teenagersDeath has a way of changing people, whether it's the death of a loved one or the acceptance of one's own mortality, no one stays the same afterward having faced death. Some people cry in the face of death, while others are reborn and enlightened. In the novel The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, we meet two teenagers who have faced death and subsequently gained different perspectives on life. Faced with death, whether you are yourself or someone you love, there are two types of reactions, two types of people, that of the “Augustus” and that of the “Hazel Grace”. After losing his leg, Augustus Waters decided he wanted to leave his mark on the world before he died. He was afraid of dying and feared oblivion more than anything, but it was this very fear that drove him to live the most fulfilling life possible. “I decided a long time ago not to deprive myself of the simplest pleasures of existence” (Green 11). Instead of wallowing in the misery of having cancer, Gus wanted to enjoy life; he found beauty in everything, especially Hazel Grace. He lived his life through metaphors; he revolved many of his beliefs and actions around metaphors, one of his favorites was: "you put the thing that kills in your mouth, but you don't give it the power to kill you" (Green 13) . I think he loved that metaphor so much and having a cigarette between his lips, because unlike his cancer, which he had no control over, he could control whether or not he lit the cigarette. It made him feel like his destiny was in his hands and under his control. Gus's experience with death made him a more positive person, a "better" and inspiring person; he wanted to “drink stars” and live his life questioning everything. "Whilst... middle of paper ......llflower is the thought of 'feeling infinite.' Gus made Hazel Grace feel infinite; they were infinite together. Charlie felt infinite as he walked through the tunnel with his friends, “and in the moment, I swear we were infinite” (Chbosky 50). The feeling of being “infinite” is something many people desire and, contrary to the name, it can be one or more powerful moments strung together. The fact that Charlie, Hazel Grace, and Gus all claim to feel this powerful emotion is symbolic because of their experiences with death. These characters knew they weren't "stars" and that they weren't infinite, and yet they still felt that way. You would think that their experiences with death would make them more aware of the finitude of their life, but because they are or become strong, positive adolescents, they grow from these negative experiences..