If Hazel Grace would have died at the end of the novel instead of Augustus, the affect would not be as severe compared to Augustus's death. From the start of the novel, the reader knew that Hazel has been in and out of hospitals since she was about nine years old and at the age of 12, she almost died from her illness. Augustus's death brought dramatic irony, as a reader, I thought Hazel would be the first to pass away years before Augustus. Augustus had not only Hazel convinced that he was okay, but also the readers falling into this tragic love story.
"Don't you worry about me, Hazel Grace. I'm okay. I'll find a way to hang around and annoy you for a long time." (Page 215)That quote itself served as reassurance that Augustus was going to be around, a lot longer than Hazel Grace was expected to be. The end of the novel is very depressing if Hazel Grace would have died instead, the end would have been expected and not as sad to readers. For example, when Hazel woke up one night, not able to breathe at all, and was taken to the hospital it was expected that she wasn't going to make it through the night. The scene where they go away to Amsterdam would have never occurred and Hazel would have never found out that Augustus is sick. The whole second half of the book wouldn't have happened and reader's would have been able to predict the novel all the way through. Because Augustus Water's dies before Hazel, he adds so much more to the story, adding more irony and an unpredictable outcome, making it a better book to read.
"...an endless chain of intracranial firecrackers that made me think that I was once an for all going, and I told myself-as I've told myself before-that the body shuts down when the pain gets too bad, that consciousness is temporary, that this will pass." (Page 105). This quote proves that in that moment the reader could assume that Hazel Grace is about to die, but John Green leaves us hanging on for more after each chapter, constantly leaving the reader on edge, unable to predict what could happen next.
