“The Fault in Our Stars” introduces its characters through Hazel’s eyes. As a novel written from the first-person perspective, all characters face constraints to Hazel’s perception of their existence. Though most characters are fictional, John Green’s friend, Esther Earl, inspired the primary character.
Hazel
Role: Hazel Grace Lancaster is the primary protagonist and narrator of the story.
Key Info: She is a depressed sixteen-year-old novel addict suffering from thyroid cancer.
Navigating through a world filled with death and pain, Hazel tries to reject her doctor and mother’s suggestion of joining a cancer support group. However, she joins. She hides her resentment towards Patrick, the group leader, even though she wants to mock his overly optimistic worldview.
Finding solace in Peter Van Houten’s novel becomes a coping mechanism for Hazel because she realizes the story perfectly explains her life, and Van Houten understands the concept of dying.
Eventually, she becomes friends with Augustus, a seventeen-year-old boy, and after introducing him to her favorite novel, “An Imperial Affliction,” their relationship soars from friendship to love. However, Hazel’s life worsens as Augustus dies.
Although she felt helpless, a letter from Lidewiji, Van Houten’s assistant, changed everything. She discovers Augustus wrote an obituary for her. In the letter, he tells her he never regretted ever falling in love with her. Reading Augustus’s letter makes Hazel realize he is her best decision.
Augustus
Role: Augustus is Hazel’s love interest and a primary character.
Key Info: Augustus Waters, known as Gus, is a seventeen-year-old boy who becomes friends with Hazel.
Augustus invites Hazel to his house, where she meets his parents. He receives her favorite novel, “An Imperial Affliction,” and gives her his, “The Price of Dawn.” On completing “An Imperial Affliction” by Peter Van Houten, Gus becomes curious about the novel’s abrupt ending. He tracks down Lidewiji, Van Houten’s assistant, and with her help, starts talking to Van Houten himself. After conversing with Van Houten, he and Hazel get invited to Amsterdam.
On reaching Amsterdam, Augustus, and Hazel realize Van Houten is an alcoholic who gave no face to Hazel’s effort. Lidewiji apologizes and takes them to Anne Frank’s house. Though he protests against Hazel taking the stairs, she stubbornly climbs to the top, and they share a kiss. The same night, they lose their virginity to each other. After professing their love for each other, Augustus comes clean to Hazel. He tells her his cancer returned and spread throughout his body. Eventually, he dies.
Peter Van Houten
Role: Peter Van Houten is a writer.
Key Info: He wrote a novel called “An Imperial Affliction” which Hazel became obsessed with because of how the story understood the concept of dying.
Peter Van Houten was a writer Hazel loved. She admitted the story reflected her life. Out of her love for him, she decided to visit to get answers about the story’s abrupt ending. However, Van Houten acted rudely and insulted Hazel, saying people like her were errors of evolution. After Augustus dies, Van Houten seeks forgiveness for his actions, but Hazel refuses to forgive him.
Isaac
Role: Isaac is a seventeen-year-old member of Hazel’s support group.
Key Info: He is Augustus’s friend who has eye cancer.
As Augustus’s friends, he and Hazel become close. However, his girlfriend, Monica, breaks up with him before a crucial surgery. Heartbroken, Augustus hands his trophies to Isaac, telling him to smash them till he is satisfied. Isaac goes into surgery and comes out cancer-free. However, he loses his eye and goes blind.
Kaitlyn
Role: Kaitlyn is Hazel’s only healthy friend.
Key Info: She is Hazel’s classmate from her life before thyroid cancer.
Kaitlyn is Hazel’s classmate and only friend from Hazel’s life before cancer. She and Hazel maintain their friendship through her darkest times, and when Hazel falls for Augustus, she tells Kaitlyn. After Augustus dies, Kaitlyn tells Hazel that he may have left a written letter and sent it to someone; this leads to her discovering Augustus’s letter from Lidewiji.
Patrick
Role: Patrick is the leader of Hazel’s cancer support group.
Key Info: He lost his testicles to cancer and, ever since, became the leader of a support group that helped young people come to terms with the loss they will face from cancer.
After Hazel meets Augustus at the support group, Patrick asks what he fears. In response, Augustus states that his greatest fear is oblivion. However, Hazel objects to his thoughts, saying that humans will eventually die off, and all their advancement will fade into irrelevance.
Lidewiji Vliegenthart
Role: Lidewiji is Peter Van Houten’s assistant.
Key Info: Lidewiji was contacted by a seventeen-year-old boy named Augustus Waters, and after exchanging messages, she tells him that her boss, Peter Van Houten, would not mind a meeting.
She invites Hazel and Augustus to Amsterdam, but after Van Houten insults them, she resigns. Lidewiji takes them to Anne Frank’s house and pays for their dinner at Oranje. After Augustus dies, she sends his last letters to Hazel.
Caroline Mathers
Role: Caroline Mathers is Augustus’s ex-girlfriend.
Key Info: She died from brain cancer.
After Hazel learns that Augustus has an ex-girlfriend, she looks her up and discovers she died due to brain cancer. Augustus tells her that he wanted to leave her but could not because he felt it would be terrible to dump a dying girl.
Frannie Lancaster
Role: Frannie Lancaster is Hazel’s mother.
Key Info: After taking her to her doctor, Frannie persuades Hazel to attend a support group.
Frannie Lancaster is a kind-hearted woman who tried hiding the heartbreak from watching her daughter battle thyroid cancer. She wanted Hazel to feel every bit of love she needed and did not want her to be depressed. Besides wanting to shield her daughter from the world, Frannie wanted her to experience the life of a normal teenager. When she followed Hazel and Augustus to Amsterdam, she gave them distance to experience the city without any constraints.
Dr. Maria
Role: Dr. Maria is Hazel’s doctor.
Key Info: After Hazel visits her for a checkup, she suggests a support group for her depression.
When Hazel and Augustus decide to go to Amsterdam, Dr. Maria ensures that Frannie follows Hazel.
Other characters from “The Fault in Our Stars” include Monica, Julia, Martha, Graham, Dr. Simon, and Mr. and Mrs. Waters.
