As always spoilers ahead, so read at thy own peril
Augustus Waters
From John Green’s The Fault in our Stars. An articulate,
handsome, cocky sixteen year old boy and one of the two main characters of the
novel.
It begins with a glimmer, a look. An intense look at our
protagonist. From that point onwards the things move at a dramatic pace as it
often does in matters of the heart, from the stolen glances, traded words and
those last thoughts in the moment before she falls asleep. He seems altogether
perfect but I respect John Green for his portrayal of a three dimensional
character. As one of only two central characters he is of course a lynchpin and
his likeability underpins the strength of the entire novel itself.
On paper? He is defined by his love of this girl. His cocky
nature and wise (read pretentious) beyond his years expounding of
existentialism and the nature of the being. He is, as is described within the
first few pages, hot. HAWT.
You see, as is well known to all who have pondered on such
things, his is a classic and enduring archetype – that of a character who
enters the narrative, and brings with him excitement, tension and a shattering
of the mundane. From the Terminator (The Terminator) to Trinity (The Matrix).
From Ford Prefect (The Hitchhikers guide) all the way back to Zeus in mortal
form as he stirred with lives of mortals. They enter the story, fundamentally
and profoundly alter the protagonist and then, inevitably they die
(figuratively or literally).
But what makes him of interesting note, is that in truth
this is not his function at all. John Green pulls such a beautiful bait and switch
that you may feel yourself touched without realizing why. You see, although on
the surface, it seems as though Gus is this classic archetype, he is not. He is pretending to be. In his final hours he is so desperate to leave his mark, that
he panders up to this effortless character, although Hazel to her credit, see’s
through this act and therefore so does the audience.
As the story progresses you begin to realize that the roles
are reversed – it is Augustus who is the protagonist undergoing to Hero’s
Journey, as his façade is stripped away more and more, leaving nought but faith
and flesh and it is Hazel who has entered his
life.
Whether intentional or not (And I suspect it was
intentional) this play on such a classic archetype was nothing short of genius.
***
In other news….
I have now officially signed my contract and sent it off.
There is now no turning back as far as my novel goes. My everything goes with
it.
In between freak outs over Finals (Thank God for mnemonics…and
Skyrim) I have been planning the sequel to my debut The Kingdom Lights. Now I
know what you’re thinking “oh there’s an original thought a sequel. Geez can’t
this guy write anything else?”
Ah Skyrim.
But wait naysayer!! Whilst I think it incredibly arrogant to
reveal plot points, especially when debut is already out, I am a fan of being
unbelievably vague. So all I’ll say is I have written out 10,000 words in the
preparation of the sequel, with more than twice the cast and story. I always
hate sequels that simply rehash the original, sequels should enhance, push the
story along or they should not be made at all (So many examples, where would I
even start???)
Thank you for staying with me. You have done me a great
kindness.
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