STRUGGLE FOR PERFECTION IN JOHN GREEN’S NOVEL THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.

Struggles for Pe

rfections in John Green’s

novel

The Fault in Our Stars

A Thesis

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Attainment of Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Language and Literature

By

Agung Larsonianto 10211141026

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS

YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY 2017

MOTTOS

Power belongs to those who take it.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this thesis to my parents:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All the praise goes to Allah SWT, the God of all mankind, for the endless mercies and blessings that always enlighten me. Therefore, I could finish writing this thesis. It cannot be completed without some help from other people. My sincere gratitude is delivered to:

1. Dr. Sugi Iswalono, M.A., my first supervisor, and Rachmat Nurcahyo, S.S., M.A., my second supervisor, who have given me priceless and precious knowledge, attention, time, guidance, and patience so that I could finish this thesis;

2. the late Asih Sigit, M. Hum., my academic supervisor, who guided me during my study in this university;

3. all the lecturers of English Education Department of Yogyakarta State University for their valuable knowledge and support;

4. to my parents, bapak Lamidjo & ibu Rita Susanti and my little sister Tika for their never-ending attention, support, and love;

5. all my friends who always motivate and support me;

6. my triangulators. namely Damast Eskasari and Dita Pravita for their time, patience, and guidance to check and recheck this thesis;

7. all my friends in Linguistics Class 2010 for every amazing time and experiences; and

8. all people, whom I cannot mention by time, who helped me finish this thesis.

Writing this thesis would have been impossible without the assistance from the afore-mentioned people. Any suggestions and criticism are indeed welcome to improve my thesis since this thesis is not perfect yet. However, I hope this thesis will give some contribution to me and also the readers.

Yogyakarta, 20 December 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE ...i

APPROVAL SHEET ...ii

RATIFICATION SHEET ...iii

SURAT PERNYATAAN ...iv

MOTTOS ...v

DEDICATIONS ...vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...viii

LIST OF FIGURES ... x

LIST OF TABLES ...xi

LIST OF APPENDICES ...xii

ABSTRACT ...xiii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ...1

A. Background of the Study ...1

B. Focus of the Research ...3

C. Formulation of the Problems ...4

D. Objectives of the Research ...5

E. Significance of the Research ...5

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ...6

A. Notions of Individual Psychology ...6

B. Basic Assumption of Individual Psychology ... 7

1. Fiction Finalism ...8

2. Inferiority Feeling ...9

3. Striving for Superiority ...9

4. Style of Life ...10

5. Social Interest ...11

6. Creative Power ... 12

b. Safety needs ...14

c. Love and belongingness needs ... 14

d. Esteem needs... 14

e. Self-actualization needs... 14

D. The Fault in Our Stars novel ... 15

E. Previous Research Findings ...16

F. Conceptual Framework... 17

G. Analytical Construct ... 19

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ...20

A. Research Design ...20

B. Data and Source of the Data ...20

C. Research Instrument ...21

D. Data Collection Technique ...21

E. Data Analysis ...22

F. The Trustworthiness of the Data ...23

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ...25

A. Kinds of life perfection giving meaning to Hazel ...26

1. Knowing the ending of An Imperial Affliction ...26

2. Making her parents happy ...29

3. Minimizing casualties of her death ... 35

4. To be closer with Augustus Waters ... 37

B. Hazel’ struggle in getting her life perfection ...41

1. Hazel’s striving in knowing the ending of An Imperial Affliction. 41 2. Hazel’s struggles in making her parents happy ... 43

3. Hazel’s attempts in minimizing the casualties of her death ... 45

4. Hazel’s effort in order to be closer with Augustus... 47

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS ...52

Conclusions ...52

REFERENCES ...55

LIST OF FIGURES

Page Figure 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ... 15 Figure 2. Analytical Construct ... 19 Figure 3. The cover of The Fault in Our Stars ... 71

LIST OF TABLES

Page Table 1. Kinds of life perfection that gives meaning to Hazel ... 58 Table 2. Hazel’s struggle in getting her life perfection ... 67

xii

LIST OF APPENDICES

Page Appendix 1. Summary of the novel ... 57 Appendix 2. The Data ... 58 Appendix 3. Surat Pernyataan Triangulasi ... 72

xiii

STRUGGLE FOR PERFECTION IN JOHN GREEN’S NOVEL THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

Agung Larsonianto 10211141026 ABSTRACT

This study is under the field of psychological studies. Specifically, it is a psychological study which explores the relationship between life perfection of a girl as a socialized entity. The aim of this study is to analyze the psychological developments called life perfection performed by Hazel Grace Lancaster, the main character in The Fault in Our Stars. This study has two objectives, they are to identify the life perfection and find out how the character’s struggle to reach it.

This study is a qualitative research employing content analysis method. The main source of this research is a novel entitled The Fault in Our Stars by John Green which was published in 2012 by Dutton Books. The data were some expressions used to show the kinds of life perfections and character’s struggle in the novel. The researcher was the primary instrument and the data sheets were the secondary instrument. Data analysis was conducted through four steps: organizing and preparing the data, reading and re-reading the data, sorting the data, interrelating the description, and interpreting the meaning of description. The trustworthiness of the data was gained by providing rich, thick description; reading and re-reading the data; and conducting triangulation.

This study revealed 2 findings. First, there were four kinds of life perfections found in this research. They are: knowing the ending of An Imperial Affliction, making Hazel’s parents happy, minimizing casualties of Hazel’s death and to be closer with Augustus Waters. Second, there were four categories of struggle related in gaining the life perfection. They are Hazel’s striving in

knowing the ending of An Imperial Affliction, Hazel’s struggles in making her parents happy, Hazel’s attempts in minimizing the casualties of her death and

Hazel’s efforts in order to be closer with Augustus.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the study

Human beings in this world want perfection in their life. Life perfection is a condition where someone is able to gain maximum state of happiness in their life. It is fulfilled by anything that maximizes their state of mind. The perfection of life depends on human mindset, so it is explains the differences of perfection in

people’s minds.

Perfection is one of the important factors in someone’s life, means everyone deserves perfection in their life even though they have to struggle and do everything as a form of sacrifice. Most of the people search for it without knowing what it looks like. Some of them know the perfection they dream of but they do not know how to get it. They pursue their own perfection to reach the maximum happiness of life. As perfection of life is a complex feeling inside human minds, it cannot be measured or bought by anything. From this definition, the idea of perfection is complicated as it requires a hard work and sacrifices to gain. Commonly, people attempt to gain this need in different ways, as they dream about it in a different meaning.

Based on human nature, they want to fulfill their needs, to the maximum possibility of perfection. Unfortunately, fulfilling a need is not easy because the nature of human need is unlimited. To be successful in fulfilling the unlimited needs, someone must have a high understanding of efforts in developing their way

to get their perfection. Perfection is a state of mind that is constructed by personality developments. Adler (1971:2) states that

I should like to emphasize first of all that striving for perfection is innate, this is not meant in a concrete way, as there were a driver which would later in life be capable of bringing everything to completion and which only needed to develop it.

The above statement explains that personality developments define

someone’s characterization, which makes every person unique and different from the other. As stated by Allport (1961:28) personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics behavior and thought. His theory of personality emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual and the internal cognitive and motivational processes that influence behavior, for example, intelligence, temperament, habits, skills, attitudes, and traits.

Adler (in Fredenburgh, 1971:2) states that each person has a unique psychological structure and traits that are possessed by only one person; and that there are times when it is impossible to compare one person with others. He believes that personality is biologically determined at birth, and shaped by a person's environmental experiences. The experiences themselves can be good or bad, depending on his capabilities in facing her daily problems. The person’s bad experiences unconsciously shapes his inferiority complex, which taking part in defining his representation in social life.

According to Moritz (2006:11), inferiority complex is a lack of self-worth, a doubt and uncertainty, and feelings of not measuring up to standards. It is

often subconscious. This feeling of inferiority sometimes develops from one's position in the family group, particularly if early experiences of humiliation happened; a specific physical condition or deficiency existed, or a general lack of social feeling for others was present. It is a factor of personality development which takes a big part in defining someone characterization.

Someone with specific physical conditions often has a lack of self-worth, a doubt and uncertainty because of his physical limitations. He will face difficulties in his personality development because his efforts in gaining his life perfection will be more difficult than the others who do not possess it. Whenever a person suffers from any disadvantages that make him inferior to others, his main aim becomes to bring those disadvantages to an end.

In The Fault in Our Stars novel written by John Green, there are some issues about the seeking life perfection with an inferiority feeling which describes the personal life of a girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster. She is a kind and thoughtful teenage girl. In contrast, she has specific physical limitations which make her feel alone and useless because her environments do not meeting with her needs. Therefore, she decides to find the meaningful reason in her journey of life. This situation puts her in an event when she met Augustus, who soon becomes the answer of her journey.

B. The Focus of the Research

Considering the explanation above, this research describes how the struggle of perfection could affect someone’s life, especially her way of thinking

and perceiving particular life situation. The researcher wants to reveal the efforts of a girl who just lost her insight to life in gaining her life perfection.

The novel portrays the life of Hazel, a girl who lives her life in very particular reason and situation. A girl who has thyroid cancer that sometimes made her suffocates and forces her to use a portable oxygen tank to breathe properly. She need her life perfection as her last wish before she dies. As a result, it disturbs her psychological development and leads her to have a difficulty in facing her future life.

The researcher uses psychological theory by Adler and Maslow’s theory of needs to conduct the research focusing on the effects of physical condition

toward Hazel’s psychological development. Adler mentions that human personality development is shaped by the individual's unconscious self-work to convert feelings of inferiority to superiority, and in the novel, this situation is experienced by Hazel. Therefore, Adler’s theory is relevant to analyze Hazel’s psychological development. The result will be analyzed with Maslow’s theory, as the theory itself exemplifies the needs that Hazel tries to fulfill.

C. The Formulation of the Problem

The problems of the research are formulated as follows. 1. What kinds of life perfection that gives meaning to Hazel? 2. How does she struggle to get the life perfection?

D. The Objectives of the Research

Based on the formulation of the problem, the objectives of the research are

1. to identify the kinds of life perfection that gives meaning to Hazel, and 2. to analyze the struggle of Hazel in getting her life perfection.

E. The Significance of the Research 1. Academically

This research reveals some points about the effects of inferiority feeling

toward someone’s psychological development. Hence, the finding of this research gives the results to the students, especially for those who use psychological theory in their research.

2. Practically

This research can be a tool to increase the awareness about the effect of

inferiority feeling on someone’s psychological development. This research also gives an understanding to everyone how such feeling can shape someone’s characterization and personality.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the underlying theory, which supports the discussion of this thesis. In analyzing the problem, the writer uses psychological approaches,

Adler’s individual psychological theory and Maslow’s theory of needs. They can be used as a theoretical framework to analyze the character’s personality.

In order to make the theory easier to understand, the writer provides several aspects of the theory. The elaboration consists of the Notion of Individual Psychology, Basic Assumption of Individual Psychology, Theory of Needs and Theoretical Application.

A. Notions of Individual Psychology

According to Adler as quoted by Ryckman (1985: 95), Individual Psychology is a science that attempts to understand the experiences and behavior of each person as an organized entity. He believes that all actions are consciously / unconsciously are guided by a person’s fundamental attitudes. Adler (in Hjelle and Ziegler, 1982: 141) believes that the purpose of a personality theory should be to function as a reasonable and useful guide for counselors and ultimately for everyone, in affecting the healthy behavior of psychology. As stated by Adler (in Feist, 1985: 64),

Individual Psychology insists on the fundamental unity of personality. All apparent dichotomies and multiplicities of life are

organized in one-self consistent totally. No definite division can be made between mind and body, between conscious and unconscious, or between reason and emotion. All behavior is seen in relation to the final goal of the superiority of success. This gives direction and unity to the individual.

Adler in Hjelle and Ziegler (1992: 139) portrays the human being as single, invisible, self-consistent and unfired. Adler makes consciousness of the center of personality, which makes him as a pioneer in the development of an ego-oriented psychology. He is aware of the reason of consciousness of human being for his behavior. He is aware of his inferiorities and conscious of the goals for which he strives. More than that, he is a self-conscious individual who is capable of planning and guiding his actions with a full awareness of their meaning for his own self-realization (Hall and Lindzey, 1981: 121).

In his earliest writings, he writes that the final goal of our struggle was to be aggressive and all-powerful, dominating others. Humans were seen as selfish and concerned only with ambition, Adler revised his thinking and claimed that the final goals are to be superior (Ryckman, 1985: 95).

B. Basic Assumption of Individual Psychology

The basic assumption of Individual Psychology can be presented in six general categories: (1) fiction finalism, (2) inferiority feeling, (3) striving for superiority, (4) style of life, (5) social interest, and (6) creative power.

1. Fiction Finalism

Fiction finalism is the individual goal of life, which is imaginary in nature or as a fiction as stated by Adler in Hjelle and Ziegler (1992: 154) that each

person’s quest for superiority is guided by the fictional goal that he or she has adopted.

Adler (in Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992: 154) believes that the person’s fictional goal of superiority is self-determined; it is formed by the person’s own creative power, which makes the individually unique. Adler (in Ryckman, 1985: 98) argues that people create ideas that guide their behavior and he concludes that, no

one’s different struggling can occur without the perception of goals. The fiction finalism takes a place as imaginary goals where all kinds of striving and struggle of a person will lead to.

Adler’s concept of fiction finalism is the idea the human behavior is directed toward a future goal of its own making. Adler (in Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992: 153) theorizes that our ultimate goals (those goals which give our live direction and purpose) are fictional goals that can neither be tested nor confirmed against reality.

2. Inferiority Feeling

Inferiority feeling is the manifestation of individual consciousness due to a condition, which results from incompetence or imperfection feeling. Literally, inferiority is feeling weak and inexperienced in the appearance of tasks that need to be completed. Hall and Lindzey (1985: 147) explain that this inferiority feeling is considered as a challenge to strive for the compensation of inferiority until psychological equilibrium is attained.

According to Adler as quoted by Hall and Lindzey (1985: 147), the feeling of inferiority is quite normal. Throughout life, feelings of inferiority arise as we meet new and unfamiliar task that must be completed. Each time we confront a new tasks our initial awareness of inferiority is overcome as we achieve a higher level of functioning. Feeling of inferiority basically can be constructive or destructive.

3. Striving for Superiority

Each individual is naturally forced to be superior, dominant and considered by others. A person will make some efforts to cover the feeling of inferiority and will strive to cover his or her weaknesses to be better. Feist (1985: 68) states that the one dynamic force behind the person activity is the striving for success or superiority. Adler (in Fredenburgh, 1971: 219) states as follows.

I should like to emphasize first of all that striving for perfection is innate, this is not meant in a concrete way, as there were a driver which would later in life be capable of bringing everything to completion and which only needed to develop it. The striving for perfection is innate the sense that it is a part of life as striving, an urge, a something without which life would be unthinkable…

Adler (in Hall and Lindzey, 1981: 123) explains that the striving for superiority may manifest its elf in a thousand different way and that each person has his own actual mode of achieving or trying to achieve perfection. He also believes that the great dynamic force governing human behavior is a striving to be aggressive and there are three different stages in his theorizing on the ultimate goal of human life: to be aggressive, to be powerful, and to be superior (in Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992: 143).

4. Style of Life

According to Adler (Hjelle and Ziegler, 1992: 144), the style of life acknowledges the unique pattern of traits, behaviors, and habits which, when taken together, defines the flavor of a person’s existence. The style of life, originally called “life plan” or “guiding image” refers to the unique ways in which people pursue their goal (Ryckman, 1985: 98).

Style of life does not contain only the person’s goal, but also self-concept, feelings toward others, and attitude toward the world. It is the product of the i nt er act i on o f h er ed i t y, envi ronm ent , an d go al o f s u c c e s s , soci al interest and creative power (Feist, 1985: 74). The individual’s style of life is largely determined by the specific inferiorities, as it is referred to the taste of

Adler (in Hall and Lindzey, 1981: 126). There are four types of style of life: ruling type, getting type, avoiding type, and socially useful type.

a) The Ruling Type

The ruling type is people who are forceful, aggressive, and active with little social awareness or interest. Adler gives an example of drug addicts that he considered as the ruling type person.

b) The Getting Type

The getting type is people with lifestyle attitude relate to the outside world in a dependent manner, leaning on others to satisfy most of their needs.

c) The Avoiding Type

The avoiding type is people with neither sufficient social interest nor activity to solve their own problem.

d) The Socially Useful Type

This socially useful type is people with maturity in Adler’s system. Such a person personifies both a high degree of social interest and a high level of activity.

5. Social Interest

According to Adler as quoted by Feist (1985:71) social interest can be defined as an attitude, which likely as empathy. Social interest manifests itself as

collaboration with others for social development rather than for personal gain, as it is part of human nature and some amount of it exists in everyone. Adler (in Phares, 1988: 93), says that social interest is a predisposition, nurtured by experience to contribute to society.

Naturally, man is a social creature where realizes his position as a free individual. In his efforts to develop himself, he must also consider the existence and the importance of his society. Since a man was born, he automatically becomes a member of society. If his social feeling can develop naturally; he will be able to make an adaptation with his living environments appropriately. Hall and Lindzey (1970: 125) acknowledge that a man should live among others, where he interacts with others in his society that make his behavior is always influenced by his society.

According to Hall and Lindzey (1985: 147), Adler’s concept of social interest is not easy to define. It can be translated in many different ways and the wider meaning of the concept is still questioned. For this study purposes, we will define social interest as caring and concerning movement that continues to guide a person’s behavior.

6. Creative Power

Creative power is the influence of any environment toward a person in facing the problem of life. Each person is gifted with freedom to create their own lifestyle. People are responsible for who they are and how they behave in their life

no matter what. This power of life is responsible for achieving person’s life goal and contributes to the development of social interest.

The creative power gives meaning to life, as it creates the goal as the future objective which needs to be completed. Hall and Lindzey, (1970: 166) stated that it is the principle of human life, as it develops each person to be uniquely stylized and dynamically unified. The uniquely stylized person implies their own personality, as the sum of experiences and inheritances.

Adler (in Hjelle and Zeigler, 1992: 150) explains that the concept of the creative underlining his belief that human beings are masters of their own fate. It creates freedom which enables a person to choose their experience, whether they choose pain, joy, or anxiety, or to defend themselves against these experiences by creating various safeguarding actions.

C. Theory of Human Motivation

The theory of human motivation is created by Abraham Maslow in 1943. He believed that people possess a set of motivation systems unrelated to rewards or unconscious desires. He also acknowledged that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on.

Maslow believes that every person is capable and unconsciously has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization (1943). Unfortunately, the moving progress is often interrupted by the failure to meet

lower level needs. Life experiences or physical deficiency may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy.

The earliest and most widespread version of Maslow's hierarchy of needs (1943) includes five motivational needs, often illustrated as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. The stage model divided into five basic needs which are physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization.

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.

3. Love and belongingness need - friendship, intimacy, affection, and love, - from work group, family, friends, and romantic relationships.

4. Esteem needs - achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, and respect from others.

5. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Figure 1. Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow (1943) acknowledge there only one in a hundred people become fully self-actualized because our society rewards motivation primarily based on esteem, love and other social needs.

The lack of basic needs is said to motivate people when they are not meet each other. Also, the need to fulfill such needs will become stronger as the longer the duration they are denied. For example, the longer a person goes without food they will become more hungry from time to time. A man must satisfy lower level basic needs before progressing to higher level growth needs. Once these needs have been reasonably satisfied, he may be able to reach the highest level of needs called self-actualization.

D. John Green and The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars story is a sum of Green's experience working with terminally ill kids and his encounters with his online fans, and one in particular. Green gives a lot of credit for the novel to his friendship with Esther Earl, the girl

to whom he dedicated it. According to Green, Esther’s biggest contribution to the novel was that he truly liked her and was genuinely angry when she passed away. For him, writing the novel was a way of working through his own grief and anger and coming to terms with the loss of a loved friend, who taught him a great deal about the truths, horrors, and clichés that are a part of living with cancer.

E. Previous Research Findings

There are two literary types of research that focus on psychological analysis and socio-emotional development. The first thesis is Eka Setiawati’s thesis entitled “The Psychological Effect of World War II on Ira Hayes and John

Bradley’s Character in James Bradley’s Flags of Our Fathers” in 2011. The

thesis focuses on describing the psychological matter experienced by the main character after the world war and how the character deals with the traumatic experience related to Adler’s individual psychological theory. The results of the research show that there are two crises suffered by the main characters according to Adler’s individual psychological theory; those are inferiority feeling and style of life.

The second thesis is Dwi Purwaningrum’s thesis entitled “A Struggle for Love in F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby: An Individual Psychological Approach” in 2006. This research focuses on identifying the condition experienced by the main character in the novel and the impact of the crisis toward

the character’s psychological development related to Adler’s individual psychological theory. The result of the research shows that there are three

problems occurring on the main character in the novel; inferiority, striving for superiority, and style of life.

This research investigates The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, as it pointed to identify the steps in the process of seeking perfection and the struggle to get it in the main character in the novel as the effects of life perfection using

Adler’s psychological development theory. Psychological development is applied in the research to show the causes and the impacts of the life perfection toward Hazel, the main character in The Fault in Our Stars. There has not been a research on Green’s The Fault in Our Stars conducted by either students or lecturers in the English Department of Yogyakarta State University.

This research reveals some points about the effects of inferiority feeling toward the main character’s psychological development. Hence, the finding of this research will give the results to the students, especially for those who use psychological theory in their research.

F. Conceptual Framework

Seeking perfection of life is an idea of constructing the goals of a person’s

will. It related to human psychology and their consciousness to sum all their experiences and decide which one they want to chase. Their decision is based on their awareness and self-understanding of their own body and mind. The awareness creates the unique motivation of creating their own perfection, and the self-understanding idea constructs the hint to achieve that certain perfection.

The researcher applies Maslow’s theory of needs to answer the first research questions. Maslow believes that people possess a set of motivation systems unrelated to rewards or unconscious desires. People are motivated to achieve certain needs when one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. Each person is capable of planning and guiding his actions with a full awareness of their meaning for his own self-realization.

The second research questions use Adler’s individual psychological theory, this theory believes that each person is ordinarily aware of the reason for his/her behavior. He/she is a conscious of his/her inferiorities and conscious of the goals for which he/she strives. The more an individual resolves his/her life planning successfully, the happier his/her life will be.

The Fault in Our Stars

What kind of life perfection that giving meaning to Hazel How does Hazel struggle to get her life perfection

Theory of Human Motivation

Physiological needs Safety needs Love &

belongingness needs Esteem needs

Self-actualization needs

Individual Psychology

Fiction Finalism Inferiority Feeling Striving for

Superiority Style of Life Social Interest Creative Power

G. _{Analytical Construct}

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

A. Research Design

This study uses a descriptive qualitative research. Creswell (2007:37) explains qualitative research begins with assumptions, a worldview, the possible use of a theoretical lens, and the study of research problems inquiring into the meaning of individuals or groups assign to a human or social problem. The result of the analyzing process is also presented in the form of words, clauses, and sentences as a replacement of numerical data.

B. Data and Source of the Data

Data source used in this research was taken from a novel entitled The Fault in Our Stars. Since this research is a qualitative research, the data are the expressions, symbols, words, phrases, clauses and sentences taken from the novel. The data were related to the kinds of life perfection that gives meaning to Hazel as the main character in the novel and analyzes the struggle of Hazel in getting her life perfection.

The Fault in Our Stars was written by John Green which was published for the first time in 2012 by Dutton Books (Penguin Group Inc.). Its luminous story has made it as #1 bestseller all around the globe. The novel has 313 pages which are divided into twenty-five chapters. In this study, the researcher also uses

some books, journals, and websites which refers to psychological analysis. Those resources were taken to improve the researcher’s knowledge and comprehension in conducting this study.

C. Research Instruments

The primary instrument in analyzing the data was the researcher himself, as it is stated by Creswell (2007:38) that in qualitative research, the researchers collect data themselves through examining documents, observing behavior, and interviewing participants. The researcher is the one who gather the information and he does not use or rely on questionnaires or instruments developed by other researchers. He uses his own capacity to gather, reduce and analyze the data.

In addition, the researcher’s secondary instrument is a set of data collected from the novel entitled The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012). This instrument functions as the primary data for the researcher in the process of identification and analysis.

D. Data Collection Technique

In this study, the researcher used the technique of analysis of documents and material culture since the source of the data was a written text (Vanderstoep and Johnston, 2008:189). The process of data collecting technique consists of four steps, to be precise careful and comprehensive reading, taking notes, interpreting data and categorizing data. First, the writer read Green’s The Fault in Our Stars carefully and comprehensively. In order to get the trustworthiness and reliability

of the data, the researcher read and reread the novel to get a more rich understanding of it.

To acquire the required data, the researcher also took notes and underlined the data which were related to life struggle of a girl towards the life perfection that she dreamed of. The data which had been gathered through note taking process were interpreted using psychological criticism. Finally, the data were categorized into the parts which were relevant with (A) kinds of life perfection that giving meaning to Hazel as the main character in the novel and (B) analyzing the struggle of Hazel in getting her life perfection. The researcher wrote the categorized data in a table of data collection and classification. To conclude the conclusion, the researcher marked some sentences bold which support and emphasize the categories he made to simplify the analyzing process.

E. Data Analysis

Here is the sequence of seven steps the researcher used in analyzing the data of the research.

1. The researcher identified the data which were taken from the novel by making some notes.

2. The researcher read and re-read the whole data and placing them into two major topics under the study questions. The first analysis was kind of life perfection that gives meaning and the second analysis was the struggle to get the life perfection.

3. The researcher categorized the data into thematic categories related to life perfection and the struggle to get it.

4. The researcher sorted the data to get the most relevant data. Hence, the irrelevant data were excluded in this step.

5. The researcher making the relation between the data and theories to get findings based on the objectives of the research: to reveal what kinds of life perfection that gives meaning to Hazel and her struggle to get the life perfection in Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.

6. The researcher focused on making interpretation of the findings based on his comprehension with the theories which were used in the study.

7. The researcher entered the data into table as seen as follows

Table 1. Data Sheet (Table of Analysis) No

Sub-category

Quotation Chapter Page Explanation

1 Fiction

Finalism

“...seemed to understand me in weird and impossible

ways. An Imperial

Affliction was my book, in the way my body was my body and my thoughts were my thoughts.”

2 12

F. The Trustworthiness of the Data

According to Moleong (2006:326), there are four criteria to gain research trustworthiness. They are credibility, transferability, dependability, and

confirmability. Triangulation investigator was employed to prove and improve the trustworthiness of this study. To gain more trustworthiness, the researcher applied credibility and dependability. To gain credibility, the consultation was conducted with her two advisors namely Drs. Sugi Iswalono, M.A. and Rachmat Nurcahyo, SS, M.A. as the lecturers of Yogyakarta State University who are knowledgeable in the study of literature. In completing dependability, the researcher examined the data collection and data analysis with discussion with two peer-reviewers namely Damast Eskasari and Dita Pravita as the researcher’s colleague who are competent to facilitate the validation of the data.

CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter elaborates the findings and discussions of the research on the novel The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This research attempts to identify the individual psychological development of a teenage girl named Hazel Grace

Lancaster. Adler’s individual psychology theory is employed in this research to guide

the researcher in countering the research objectives related to Hazel’s struggles.

In this chapter, the researcher describes the findings and discussions of the study, which is divided into two sub-chapters. The first sub-chapter answers the first

research objective about finding the life perfection with Adler’s individual

psychological theory. The second sub-chapter answers the second research objective about the struggles of Hazel in getting her life perfection with Maslow’s theory of needs.

A. Kinds of life perfection that gives meaning for Hazel.

Life perfection is an important factor which guides a person action in gaining the maximum state of happiness. The life perfection itself can be anything, a limitless possibility in people minds. The idea of life perfection is constructed by experiences

and behavior that people possess in their life. In its simple explanation, it is the sum of life experiences of people have in their life.

Individual Psychology is a science that attempts to understand the experiences and behavior of each person as an organized entity. Adler (in Ryckman, 1985:95)

believes that all actions are guided by a person’s fundamental attitudes toward life. The major purpose of a personality theory is to serve as an efficient guide to

explaining people’s life perfection based on their experiences and behavior.

Green’s The Fault in Our Stars is a novel that shows the life of a girl who suffers from the physical illness. With Adler’s individual psychological theory, the researcher explored the novel and he found that the character struggle of seeking her life perfection is varied in many ways. There are four kinds of life perfection that giving meaning to Hazel found in the novel.

1. Knowing the ending of An Imperial Affliction

In The Fault in Our Stars novel, Hazel is the major character that represents the life of a teen girl who lives with thyroid cancer in her body. Every human has their own goal, so was Hazel. She is an ordinary girl who has her own goal in life. Unfortunately, her physical condition makes her life goal seems unreachable for her. In the story, Hazel mentioned her several fictional goals which reflect her wish in a different timeline. The first is implied by these lines:

“...and then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can’t tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal .

(Green, 2012:2) ...seemed to understand me in weird and impossible ways. An Imperial Affliction was my book, in the way my body was my body and my thoughts were my thoughts.”

(Green, 2012:2) This quote describes her favorite novel entitled An Imperial Affliction. It is a novel about a girl named Anna who has cancer, and it's the only book she's read of

living with cancer ties with her experience. Hazel’s bound to the novel offers a sort of companionship, which comforts her. The novel represents Hazel’s experience the

battles for her illness and she obsesses over the fates of the character in the novel because they function as her representations for her own parents.

I'd learned this from my aforementioned third best friend, Peter Van Houten, the reclusive author of An Imperial Affliction, the book that was as close a thing as I had to a Bible.

(Green, 2012:1) This line of quotation expressing Hazel feelings towards An Imperial Affliction where she considered that novel is a sort of religion for her. The novel is the only thing that understands her in every aspect of life, even her parents cannot be like that. Hazel found this book as a marvel, where her thoughts were accommodated and her needs are fulfilled by the story. She wants her life to be like Anna, the character in the

novel, where she can start a charity foundation for cancer and die as a heroine who tries to reduce the effects of cancer.

Hazel is pessimistic in her existence with the world, she feels that the world is not fair with her. She did not have a chance to live like other girls or die gorgeously like what Anna does in An Imperial Affliction. She expresses her feeling when she speaks about oblivion in the Support Group.

"Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten […] and this will have been for naught […] and if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that's what everyone else does."

(Green, 2012:1) Hazel gets the expression from the novel, where she emphasizes how she is facing the world as a temporary place, where she did not need to please everyone for what she do as everything will be forgotten and no one will remember. She was provoked by the author of An Imperial Affliction. She thought to have the same experience as the novel main character’s, who understand what it’s like to be dying and not have died. Hazel treats the novel as the guide for her action, where it affecting her life in many ways. She found it successfully express her feelings towards the world and understand her so deeply.

“If I could just stay alive for a week, I'd know the unwritten secrets of Anna's

mom and the Dutch Tulip Guy.”

In chapter 8, Hazel mentions the book again as she says that she wants to be alive even for a week just to know the story of An Imperial Affliction. This appeared after she got a sudden health attack that fulfills her lungs with water. She is hopeless after her health turned to be bad and her trip to Amsterdam is threatened to be canceled. This condition reflects how much the novel meant for her. The novel itself turned into her imaginary goal where she wants to strive for. Adler’s concept of imaginary goal is the idea the human behavior is directed toward his own future goal of its own making (Hall and Lindzey, 1981:122). That is why after this incident she tries to convince her doctors that she is capable of making the trip, although her health did not good enough for her as she wants to know how the novel ends to fulfill her own goals.

2. Making her parents happy

In the beginning of The Fault in Our Stars novel, Hazel mentions her feelings about being a depressed girl:

Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death. I

hadn’t been in proper school in three years. My parents were my two best friends. My third best friend was an author who did not know I existed.

(Green, 2012:1) This line shows Hazel state of feelings in the beginning of the novel. As a girl who suffers from cancer, she becomes more vulnerable to this kind of feeling. She

knows that her mom thinks that she was depressed, as she often thinking about death. As a teenager, that means so much to her and she realizes where she is, no friends, no boyfriends and dying all time. Her life will be completely empty if she did not have her parents.

From the explanation above, it can be concluded that Hazel is suffered from inferiority feeling. Hall and Lindzey (1985: 147) state that inferiority means feeling weak and unskilled in completing the tasks that need to be accomplished. It is an expression of an individual perception due to a condition, which is caused by inability or imperfection feeling. The inferiority feeling often leads people in destructing themselves, as they believe that they are relying on something which is not good enough for them. Hazel believes that she is relying on something that did not mean for her, her parents. In that case, she strives for her own power as she wants to be acknowledged by her parents about her needs. It is clear that her needs are not fulfilled, because of her physical limitations and she lacks common knowledge about being a teenager.

“If you want me to be a teenager, don’t send me to Support Group. Buy me a fake ID so I can go to clubs, drink vodka, and take the pot.”

(Green, 2012:1) The quotation indicates how her expectation of being a teenager is different from her parents. Her parents want her to go to support group, but she did not want to. Besides, she wants to have a fake ID in order to go to clubs, drinking vodka and

taking the pot. The idea of fake ID is based on her opinions about other teenagers

with same age with her, and her mother said that it is wrong. She hasn’t gone to any club or drinks vodka, but she wants her parents to fulfill her wish although her parents clearly did not agree with that.

In her daily life, Hazel fights her unaccompanied life by watching TV and reading books. She likes to watch America’s Next Top Model and sometimes reminds her mother to record it when she is not at home. She mentions it as she said:

“I refuse to attend Support Group.” Mom: “One of the symptoms of depression is disinterest in activities.” Me: “Please just let me watch America’s Next Top Model. It’s an activity.”

(Green, 2012:1)

Hazel’s favorite activities are different from the other teenagers, as the others may prefer to go outside and socialize. Her inferiority feeling limits her movements and activities, which automatically align her position in her companionship with other. Her physical condition also forces her to leave home the entire day and, she almost did not have a plan to go somewhere. This activity gradually becomes her style of life, as she spends almost of all her time in the home.

Style of life is the taste of a person’s life, including the person’s goal, self-concept, feelings toward others, and attitude toward the world. Feist (1985:74) states it is the product of the interaction of genetics, environment, and goal of success, social interest, and creative power.

Hazel’s style of life is explained in the novel, where she did not have anything about her health condition and nothing she can do about it. Her life completely depends on medicine and medical treatments. This condition places almost all of her time at home, doing the same routine all day to keep her health stable. It can be said that her health forces her to do things that she did not like to do, such doctor visits and attends the support group.

But my mom believed I required treatment, so she took me to see my Regular Doctor Jim, who agreed that I was veritably swimming in a paralyzing and totally clinical depression and that, therefore, my meds should be adjusted and also I should attend a weekly Support Group.

(Green, 2012:1) Almost all of her activity involves her parents, which made a strong bond between them. The same routines she doing every day has become her style of life, as it embraces her unique pattern of traits, behaviors, and habits which define the taste of her existence. Ryckman (1985: 98) states that the style of life, originally called

“life plan” or “guiding image” refers to the unique ways in which people pursue their

goal.

I just kind of crawled across the couch into her lap and my dad came over and held my legs really tight and I wrapped my arms all the way around my mom's middle and they held on to me for hours while the tide rolled in.

(Green, 2012:21) The quotation above describes Hazel’s feeling toward her parents. She is thankful for having her parents. Their caring and love are what she needs most after

Augustus dead. She believes that their love is the best for her, and she thinks that she must make her parents happy whether it makes her happy too or not.

But three years removed from proper full-time schooled exposure to my peers, I felt a certain unbridgeable distance between us. I think my school friends wanted to help me through my cancer, but they eventually found out that they couldn't. For one thing, there was no through.

(Green, 2012:3) The quotation above shows her feeling toward her condition, no friends at all. She imagined that her school-mate will show up for encouraging her to be stronger and better in her cancer fight, but it did not happen. She did not get the support that

she need in her difficult times and it’s hard for her. Although she is a college girl who

taking a class at MCC, she never mentioned about her friends from there which reflects her loneliness or she did not have friends at all.

This behavior was affected by her society, where she did not have any friends to support her through her struggle. In this point, she adjusted her stance about friendship. She thought she has friends but she did not, so she did not try to make one anew. Her mother was concerned about it, so she reminds Hazel to make some friends whenever she goes out, as Hall and Lindzey (1970: 125) acknowledge that a man should live among others where he interacts with others in his society that make his behavior is always influenced by his society.

Mom: “Hazel, you’re a teenager. You’re not a little kid anymore. You need to make friends, get out of the house, and live your life.”

(Green, 2012:1) The quotation above shows the lack of Hazel social interest, where her mom needs to remind her to make friends. Hazel did not have many friends and her mother recognizes her behavior so she needs to remind Hazel to make friends.

“I love you,” she said as I got out. “You too, Mom. See you at six.” “Make friends!” she said through the rolled-down window as I walked away.

(Green, 2012:1) This lack of social interest is correlated with her physical limitations, as she did not have much energy to leave her house and did not have much time as she needs to regularly visit the hospital. Hazel realizes her lack of social interest, and she tries to do something to reduce it. When she thought:

“And yet, just this once, I decided to speak. I half raised my hand and Patrick,

his delight evident, immediately said, “Hazel!” I was, I’m sure he assumed, opening up. Becoming Part of the Group.”

(Green, 2012:1)

The people are amazed at her turn, as it is unusual and quite shocking for everyone in her cancer support group. She was a passive member of the group, and that day she becomes an active member by raising her hand to speak. Her decision to becoming part of the group is caused by her disagreement of Augustus opinions about oblivion. Hazel realizes her existence in her society is too thin, and she needs to develop herself to be more adjusted to her situation. This situation is not what she wants, but her parents do.

I went to Support Group for the same reason that I'd once allowed nurses with a mere eighteen months of graduate education to poison me with exotically named chemicals: I wanted to make my parents happy.

(Green, 2012:1)

Hazel may be irritable about her medication; as she did not want to go to Support Group and taking medicine. However, her compassionate love to her parents makes she does it to make them happy, even if she hates it. Hazel’s compassionate love to her parents is based on her social interest, which unconsciously shaped by them, According to Adler (via Feist, 1985:71), social interest can be defined as an attitude, which likely appears as empathy. The empathy feeling reflects a person personality, where the empathy takes as an important part in controlling how a person behaves. Hazel’s empathy to her parents drives her to be a better person, who wants them to be happy above her feelings.

3. Minimizing casualties of her death

As Hazel lives with her cancer, she develops her self-concept which derives all things she believes. Self-concept is a collection of beliefs, a compilation of one’s abilities and performances. The self-concept idea is the identity which unconsciously shaped by a man individual experiences and their perception of it (Bong, 1999:34). Hazel sees herself as a lonely girl who suffers because of her cancer. She is hopeless with her illness, which leads her to be pessimistic in facing her problems. In another

hand, she wants to be stronger, as she already met Augustus and want to be with him as long that she can.

I tried to tell myself that it could be worse, that the world was not a wish-granting factory that I was living with cancer not dying of it, that I mustn't let it kill me before it kills me.

(Green, 2012:8) This quotation indicates her own prognosis of her health condition, in which where she cannot decide whether she must fight her illness or she just give up and let cancer kills her. Hazel sees herself as an outsider, who slightly alienated from the

world. She has a mixed up feeling towards herself. In the first, she doesn’t want to be close with anyone because she will leave a scar, a mark that hurts everyone as she compares herself as a grenade which can explode anytime and wound everyone nearby.

I wanted to know that he would be okay if I died. I wanted to not be a grenade, to not be a malevolent force in the lives of people I loved.

(Green, 2012:11) In this line, Hazel explains how she worried about Augustus when she dies.

She’s afraid that Augustus will be shattered if she dies beside him. This situation also

occurred with her parents. Hazel loves her parents, whatever she agrees with them or not. She knows that she needs them, but she doesn’t want to hurt them.

“I’m like. Like. I’m like a grenade, Mom. I’m a grenade and at some point,

I’m going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay? I’m a grenade”, I said again. “I just want to stay away from people and read

books and think and be with you guys because there’s nothing I can do about hurting you; you’re too invested, so just please let me do that, okay? I’m not depressed. I don’t need to get out more. And I can’t be a regular teenager

because I’m a grenade.”

(Green, 2012:6) This quotation appeared when Hazel was dying in the ICU. She underlines the

use of ‘minimizing the casualties’ to show her emotion that she loves them, and did

not want to hurt them. She knows that her condition is in bad shapes, so she came up

with the idea that she don’t want to hurt anyone if she dies. She wants to alienate

herself from her parents to minimize the victims when she dies.

4. To be closer with Augustus Waters

Living her life as a teenager makes Hazel unconsciously thinking about a relationship with another person. In the novel, Hazel has a mixed up feeling toward others. In her efforts to develop herself, she found the existence and the importance of her society. As stated by Hall and Lindzey (1970: 125), since a man was born, he automatically becomes a member of society. If his social feeling can develop naturally; he will be able to make an adaptation with his living environments appropriately.

Hazel is cautious when she meet a stranger and keep still until she feels comfort with them. At first meet with Augustus, the boy she met in the Support Group she did not show any interest to him. In the meeting, she found that Augustus is staring at her, which makes her blushed away and somehow she is attracted to him. After her

first meeting, she showed her curiosity as she agrees with Augustus invitation to watch a movie together in his home.

“So, see you next time, maybe?” I asked. “You should see it,” he said. “V for Vendetta, I mean.” “Okay,” I said. “I’ll look it up.” “No. With me. At my house,” he said. “Now.” I stopped walking. “I hardly know you, Augustus Waters. You could be an ax murderer.”

(Green, 2012:1) Hazel shows her suspicious features as she assumes that maybe Augustus is an ax murderer. She accepted Augustus invitation to justify her curiosity about him. It is obvious that Hazel was attracted to him. She wants to know more about him but she did not want to show her curiosity. When she becomes closer to him, she realizes that Augustus is the person she suited with. In chapter 2, she said

“I nodded. I liked Augustus Waters. I really, really, really liked him. I liked the way his story ended with someone else. I liked his voice. I liked that he took existentially fraught free throws. I liked that he was a tenured professor in the Department of Slightly Crooked Smiles with a dual appointment in the Department of Having a Voice That Made My Skin Feel More like Skin. And I liked that he had two names. I’ve always liked people with two names because you get to make up your mind what you call them: Gus or Augustus? Me, I was always just Hazel, univalent Hazel.”

(Green, 2012:2) Hazel opinions about Augustus are hyped; she describes that her feelings about him are so remarkable. It is obvious that is the first time she met a person who knows her well enough and did not feel pity for her condition. She describes Augustus as the best guy she ever met, and she compares her position with him are very different.

“My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life. Ours was an epic love story, and I won’t be able to get more than a sentence into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because—like all real love stories— it will die with us, as it should”

(Green, 2012:20) This line of eulogy shows her that she to be with Augustus whatever they would be. She realizes that their time is closer to the end and she wants him to know that she would be with him, whatever happens after. She added that her experience

with him is like forever and she’s thankful for the chance he has given to her.

“But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within

the numbered days, and I’m grateful.”

(Green, 2012:20) It is clear that Hazel is making Augustus as her closest friends, who she wants to be with. Somehow, she cannot deny the reality that she loves Augustus. Hall and Lindzey, (1970: 166) stated that it is the principle of human life, as it develops each person to be uniquely stylized and dynamically unified. Hazel is a uniquely stylized person, who has her own personality, as the sum of experiences and inheritances she has been through. Her life experiences shaped her personality, to be accepting the facts and realize that time matters. In the end, after Augustus passed away she said:

It was unbearable. The whole thing. Every second worse than the last. I just kept thinking about calling him, wondering what would happen, if anyone would answer. In the last weeks, we’d been reduced to spending our time together in recollection, but that was not nothing:

(Green, 2012:21) Hazel cannot stand the way Augustus died, although she knows that does happen. In this situation, she tries to recollect the memories she had with Augustus, but it did not help much in reducing the sadness of the loneliness she suffers in that moment. She cannot stand the way she that in the end she just wants to live with someone who meant so much to her.

The pleasure of remembering had been taken from me because there was no longer anyone to remember with. It felt like losing your co-rememberer meant losing the memory itself as if the things we’d done were less real and important than they had been hours before.

(Green, 2012:21) This line appears at the end of the novel when Hazel wants to live her life to the fullest before it becomes less real and important. Everything seems unreal for her and she cannot deny that Augustus was really meant for her. She realizes there is no one left to be remembering in her life after Augustus gone.

Adler (in Hjelle and Zeigler, 1992: 150) explains that the concept of the creative underlining his belief that human beings are the masters of their own fate. It creates freedom which enables a person to choose their experience, whether they choose pain, joy, or anxiety, or to defend themselves against these experiences by creating various safeguarding actions. Hazel chooses to taste all of them by striving her love with Augustus whatever happens after.

B. Hazel’s struggle in getting her life perfection.

Maslow (1943: 12) believed that people possess a set of motivation systems unrelated to rewards or unconscious desires. He admits that people are motivated to achieve certain needs when one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. Every person is capable and unconsciously has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization (Maslow, 1943). Unfortunately, the moving progress is often interrupted by the failure to meet the lower level needs.

In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel is motivated in getting her life perfection as she tries to fulfill all of it.

1. Hazel’s striving in knowing the ending of An Imperial Affliction

Hazel’s striving for knowing the ending of her favorite novel An Imperial Affliction is driven by her curiosity and ambition. Her ambition encourages her to

struggle with any condition she’s facing in. When her health deteriorates, she said: “Can’t I just get like a lung transplant or something?” I asked. Dr. Maria’s lips shrank into her mouth. “You would not be considered a strong candidate

for a transplant, unfortunately,” she said.

(Green, 2012:8)

Dr. Maria’s answers hurt her a little, although she realizes it is no use wasting good lungs for her hopeless case. She continues to strive for her wish, when she asks her mother;

“Can we call Dr. Maria and ask if international travel would kill me?”

(Green, 2012:7) This line implies that her ambition to go to Amsterdam for meeting her favorite author although the travel itself may threaten her life. She is ready to gamble her life with the travel plan as it is her last attempt to find the author and she are did not want to waste Augustus’s last wish to fulfill her own wish. Hazel uses her own power to overcome her physical limitation with the cancer perk. Cancer perk is a kind of free pass, which not everyone has it because of it only for people with cancer. She found it useful. Hazel’s cancer perks indirectly affect her communication to others. As she said in chapter 6:

“He’s not a stranger. He’s easily my second best friend.” “Behind Kaitlyn?” “Behind you,” I said. It was true, but I’d mostly said it because I wanted to go to Amsterdam.

(Green, 2012:6) Hazel describes Augustus position to her mom as the second best friend of her

mom. She uses the phrase ‘my second best friend’ to strengthen her bonds with

Augustus in her mother eyes to make sure that she allowed going to Amsterdam with him. She is using her mother knowledge about her social lack to empower her limitations, in this case, the trust of her mother.

People are responsible for who they are and how they behave in their life no

matter what. This power of life is responsible for achieving person’s life goal and contributes to the development of social interest. Hazel is responsible for choosing

her destiny, when she chose to go to Amsterdam besides her deteriorates health condition. Her creative power takes part to convince her doctor to allow her to go abroad, with her mother assist.

2. Hazel’s struggles in making her parents happy

In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel is described as a girl who has a thyroid cancer. Her health is in a bad condition which, which forces her to carry an oxygen tank every time.

“No, it's fine,” I said. The cylindrical green tank only weighed a few pounds, and I had this little steel cart to wheel it around behind me. It delivered two liters of oxygen to me each minute through a cannula, a transparent tube that split just beneath my neck, wrapped behind my ears, and then reunited in my nostrils. The contraption was necessary because my lungs sucked at being lungs.

(Green, 2012:1) “Well,” I said, “I wish I could give you my cannula but I kind of really need the help.” I already felt the loss. I focused on my breathing as Jackie handed the tubes back to me. I gave them a quick swipe with my T-shirt, laced the tubes behind my ears, and put the nubbins back in place.

(Green, 2012:3) The cause why she carries an oxygen tank is because her lungs cannot function as normal people. She said that her lungs suck being lungs, as sometimes it fulfilled with water and she cannot breathe because of it. She needs the oxygen tank to help her breathe, and she cannot breathe normally without it. Although she can breathe without it, but it feels better when she use it. Her health condition is making her feel

dizzy, and she cannot stand too long without sitting or leaning on some objects. She realizes that her physical needs are vary than the others. Physical needs are the starting point of every other need, where the homeostasis process is starting from (Maslow, 1943:50). Homeostasis is the process of body's automatic efforts to maintain a constant, normal state of the blood stream to provide a normal state of healthy condition. In simple, it is the foundation of the living creature, where they can live and do other things in their life.

I’d taken a seat on the corner of his unmade bed. I wasn’t trying to be suggestive or anything; I just got kind of tired when I had to stand a lot. I’d stood in the living room and then there had been the stairs, and then more standing, which was quite a lot of standing for me, and I didn’t want to faint or anything. I was a bit of a Victorian Lady, fainting-wise.

(Green, 2012:2) Even she had a faintness feeling which makes her uncomfortable, she still tries

to hide it so people won’t know about it. In her everyday life, she tries to evade too much activity, to avoid her health deteriorates. Hazel’s health condition is going better after she had the Phalanxifor, the drugs that doctors gave her to medicate her lungs. After the medication, her health appears stable for a while although she had some occurrences. The uncertainty of her health condition places her in a difficult situation, which affects her upper stage of needs. Life experiences or physical deficiency may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy.

“Do you think you guys will stay together if I die?” I asked. “I just don’t want to ruin your life or anything.”

(Green, 2012:24) In the front of her mother, she said that she did not want to show her feelings about her condition. Her parents were too precious to her, so she won’t place them as the second behind Augustus. Beside all bad things she did to her parents, she keeps trying to do the best for them. The part when she asks her parents if they will stay together even if she died, shows her compassionate love for them. She cannot deny

that her parent’s happiness is more important than hers and she did not want to ruin it. Hazel needs to keep her body physically stable in order to make her parents happy. That’s why she keep her health in stable condition because it is what her parent wants.

3. Hazel’s attempts in minimizing the casualties of her death

Hazel lives with the only daughter of her small family who loves her so much. In their economic position, her parents barely handle the cost of her medication, although they can work it out. With full support from her parents, she feels safe to live her life. She doesn't let her parents know her feelings about her illness, although her parents knew about it. As she stated in the beginning of the story when she tries to avoid being too close with her parents;

“I want to minimize the number of deaths I am responsible for,” I said.

She tries to avoid her parents as she believes that she’s will leave a scar in her

parent’s life. She did not want to hurt other people and she tries to minimize the casualties of her death in the future. She frequently compares herself as a grenade, which will blow up and hurt people around her.

“I’m a grenade,” I said again. “I just want to stay away from people and read books and think and be with you guys because there’s nothing I can do about hurting you; you’re too invested, so just please let me do that, okay? I’m not depressed. I don’t need to get out more. And I can’t be a regular teenager because I’m a grenade.”

(Green, 2012:6) Hazel feels that her parents doing so much for her and she cannot repay them with anything. she did not want to leave them to suffer when she dies, as she calls it

“too precious” and she wants them to be happy whatever happens in the future. Her condition is temporarily stable and she realizes that it won’t last forever. In the other hand, when Augustus diagnosed that his cancer back and spread everywhere, Hazel feels that she's previously experienced it and she feels thankful that she can pass through it.

“I know,” I said, although I didn’t, not really. I’d never been anything but terminal; all my treatment had been in pursuit of extending my life, not curing my cancer. Phalanx for had introduced a measure of ambiguity to my cancer story, but I was different from Augustus: My final chapter was written upon diagnosis. Gus, like most cancer survivors, lived with uncertainty.

(Green, 2012:11) In the quotation above, she explains how she can go through all of her medication when Phalanxifor saved her life until the present time. On the other side,

she cannot be sure how long the meds can treat her cancer. Augustus has a different story, where he was cured and no one imagines that his cancer was back and now threatening his life. Hazel knows about the uncertainty of the cancer survivor, but

she’s too scared to tell Augustus about it.

“Why? Why would you even like me? Haven’t you put yourself through enough of this?”I asked, thinking of Caroline Mather’s.

(Green, 2012:8)

After Hazel knows about Augustus’ ex-girlfriend who died of cancer, she asks him about his feeling. She did not want to leave as his ex-girlfriend did, which leave him desperate although he stated that he did not hurt because of it. Her feelings were based on her belief that Augustus were the healthy one and she is the grenade.

4. Hazel’s efforts in order to be closer with Augustus

Living life as a teenager, won’t be too far from friendship and romance. Hazel, as a teenager she trying to get many friends but unfortunately she did not get much of them. After she dropped out from her school, she only has Kaitlyn as her friends. Kaitlyn presence emotionally and physically affects Hazel’s development of a relationship with other people aside from her parents. Sometimes she feels envy to Kaitlyn, as a normal and healthy person who have many friends compared to her.

Hazel feels comfortable when she’s with Kaitlyn, as she can talk some issues about

“I am not a bunny, and I am not in love with Gus Waters or anyone,” I answered, way too defensively. Wounded. Like Caroline Mathers had been a bomb and when she blew up everyone around her was left with embedded shrapnel.

(Green, 2012:6) At first, she did not want to be close with Augustus or anyone. For her, Augustus just a boy she met in the Cancer Support Group and she did not mean to be close to him or anything. She realizes that Augustus were cured and she did not want to be near with him. She did not want to be a bomb or a grenade who blew up and

hurt anyone around her. She put away her feelings so she won’t be hurt, anyone.

When she’s been closer to Augustus she cannot deny her feelings anymore.

“I’m not going on dates,” I said. “I don’t want to go on dates with anyone.

It’s a terrible idea and a huge waste of time and—”

(Green, 2012:6) Being a cancer survivor, which affects physical abilities and appearances makes Hazel vulnerable teenage girl as her esteem in very low level. She did not confident enough, even to speak in the front of people in her Support Group. His esteem gradually improving as she interacts with new people, such Augustus and Isaac. Hazel realizes there are many people like her, cancer survivors who live their life to the fullest every single day. She’s amazed at Augustus confidence about how he sees the world and feels sorry about what she thinks of her whole life. Although her life wasn't normal enough compared to healthy people, she wants to be powerful in facing all her problems.

“A college girl,” he said, nodding. “That explains the aura of sophistication.” He smirked at me. I shoved his upper arm playfully. I could feel the muscle right beneath the skin, all tense and amazing.

(Green, 2012:2) In her first meeting with Augustus, he compliments about her education. The compliments directly improve her confidence, as she taking college when Augustus dropped out from high school. This conversation implies her feelings to Augustus, as they getting closer and tries to trust him.

I knew why he hadn’t said anything, of course: the same reason I hadn’t wanted

him to see me in the ICU. I couldn’t be mad at him for even a moment, and only now that I loved a grenade did I understand the foolishness of trying

to save others from my own impending fragmentation: I couldn’t un-love

Augustus Waters. And I didn’t want to.

(Green, 2012:13) After Augustus sent to ICU, Hazel realizes that she cannot deny her feelings to him. It is a matter of choice, to be close to him or leave him as she should be. She is thinking about leaving him, but she cannot. This might be a problem for her, but every living creature must face their problems as problems is the part of life. It can be said that without problems, no one can develop themselves to be a better person.

Hazel’s problem successfully develops her personality. From the one who tries to avoid any kind of relationship, to be a girl who in love with Augustus. She can manage her personality developments in the right way. In the beginning of the story she keeps thinking that she was depressed about her physical condition before she met other cancer survivors.

68

“Well,” I said, “I wish I could give you my cannula but I kind of really need the help.”

I already felt the loss. I focused on my breathing as Jackie handed the tubes back to me. I gave them a quick swipe with my T-shirt, placed the tubes behind my ears, and put the nubbins back in place.

47 Hazel trying to convince a little girl in the airport to give back her cannula, as she needs it to breathe properly.

I’d taken a seat on the corner of his unmade

bed. I wasn’t trying to be suggestive or

anything; I just got kind of tired when I had

to stand a lot. I’d stood in the living room

and then there had been the stairs, and then more standing, which was quite a lot of

standing for me, and I didn’t want to faint

or anything. I was a bit of a Victorian Lady, fainting-wise.

31 Hazel shows her feelings about her health, where she cannot stand on her own legs for a long time. She needs to lean on to objects, as she did not want her parent to see her fainting down.

“Do you think you guys will stay together

if I die?” I asked. “I just don’t want to ruin your life or anything.”

299 Hazel did not want her parents to separates if she dies. She wants them to be happy with or without her.

C Hazel’s attempts in

minimizing the

casualties of her death

“I want to minimize the number of deaths I

am responsible for,” I said. 28 Hazel said to her parents about how she tries to minimize the casualties of her death.

“I’m a grenade,” I said again. “I just want

to stay away from people and read books and think and be with you guys because

there’s nothing I can do about hurting you; you’re too invested, so just please let me do that, okay? I’m not depressed. I don’t need to get out more. And I can’t be a regular teenager because I’m a grenade.”

99 Hazel tries to minimize the casualties by reading books, staying away from people and avoiding any relationship. She does not have another option, as her health is unstable.

“I know,” I said, although I didn’t, not

really. I’d never been anything but

terminal; all my treatment had been in

166 Hazel tries to differ herself with Augustus, as she compares her condition to him. Her life is

69 pursuit of extending my life, not curing my

cancer. Phalanx for had introduced a measure of ambiguity to my cancer story, but I was different from Augustus: My final chapter was written upon diagnosis. Gus, like most cancer survivors, lived with uncertainty.

depending on the diagnosis, where Augustus is already cancer-free but also live with uncertainty.

“Why? Why would you even like me? Haven’t you put yourself through enough of this?” I asked, thinking of Caroline Mather’s.

122 Hazel asking Augustus’s feelings for

her. She wants him to think again about his decision to be close to her, as he had a bad relationship before.

“I am not a bunny, and I am not in love

with Gus Waters or anyone,” I answered,

way too defensively. Wounded. Like Caroline Mathers had been a bomb and when she blew up everyone around her was left with embedded shrapnel.

98 Hazel rejects her own feelings to Augustus, as she did not want to be another girl who died and hurt everyone nearby.

D Hazel’s effort in order

to be closer with Augustus

I knew why he hadn’t said anything, of course: the same reason I hadn’t wanted him to see me in the ICU. I couldn’t be

mad at him for even a moment, and only now that I loved a grenade did I understand the foolishness of trying to save others from my own impending fragmentation: I

couldn’t un-love Augustus Waters. And I

didn’t want to.

214 Hazel feels terrible when she saw Augustus lying down in the ICU and she realizes that she loves him more than she should.

I sped up Ditch Road past flashing yellow lights, going too fast partly to reach him and partly in the hopes a cop would pull me over and give me an excuse to tell someone that my dying boyfriend was stuck outside of a gas station with a malfunctioning G-tube. But no cop showed up to make my

243 Hazel trying to help Augustus no matter what could happen to herself. She is worried about him, and she will do anything to save his life.

70 decision for me.

“My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great star-crossed love of my life. Ours

was an epic love story, and I won’t be able

to get more than a sentence into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears. Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story, because—like all real love stories—it will die with us, as it should. I’d

hoped that he’d be eulogizing me, because there’s no one I’d rather have . . .

259 Hazel reading her eulogy about how she loved him and did not want to be left alone. She believes that Augustus loves her too.

“Some infinities are bigger than other

infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded

set. I want more numbers than I’m likely to

get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am

for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for

the world. You gave me a forever within

the numbered days, and I’m grateful.”

260 Hazel recalls her memories with Augustus, where she feels warm and enjoy being with him. She is thankful for every time she had with him, although it not lasts forever.

“Augustus,” I said. “Really. You don’t have to do this.”

“Sure I do,” he said. “I found my Wish.”

“God, you’re the best,” I told him.

“I bet you say that to all the boys who finance your international travel,” he answered.

90 Hazel thanked Augustus for the chance she dreamed to go to Amsterdam with him.

71