Gus is always putting cigarettes into his mouth even though he never lights them or smokes them. This is his way for dealing with the things he fears in life. He reaches for them when he feels insecure, nervous or thinks about his main fear which is cancer. Near the end of the book, when Gus calls Hazel for help, he’s trying to buy cigarettes. This was his final attempt of trying to regain control of his life. He felt trapped and needed an escape. Hazel Grace tells Gus that she is a grenade; meaning she can die any day now. She tells him this before they start a relationship together. However, when Gus’s cancer returns, Hazel knows that he will die first thus making him the grenade. The grenade represents the suffering and mystery of having Gus and Hazel around. This book is Hazel Grace’s bible. She obsesses over this book (reading it more than once) and loves how the story relates so much to her cancer experience. The book provides her with comfort as she battles her illness. The book is a symbol of representing Hazel’s own struggle. Hazel also obsesses over the fates of the characters in her book because they are like her own parents. She knows that she is going to die so she wants to know that they will be okay after her death. | Augustus's Cigarettes |