Cigarettes: Are they symbolic?

Okay we all have that fear. That one fear, that no matter what, you can't control. It doesn't go away-- and you can't fix it. Well for Augustus Waters, that fear would be cancer. Augustus is that guy that seems like he's tough, he's strong, and he's cool. At a first glance, Augustus has never feared his cancer. "He fights heroically" as most people say about cancer survivors. But reader let me ask you... do you go around telling everyone your biggest fear? Most of you probably answered no. So just because Augustus seems "tough" doesn't mean he doesn't have fears.

But what does this have to do with symbols?

The most common, well-known symbol in the book is Augustus's cigarettes. If you personally haven't read this book -I strongly suggest you do- then you might be thinking something like: you just said he was afraid of cancer but now he's smoking which is likely to give him more cancer. Well, cigarettes only give you cancer if you light them... and Augustus does not. Seems silly right? Likes he's just trying to play "cool."

However... that's not the case.

As Augustus says, “It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing" (Green 20).

You might be confused still. I was when I first read the quote too. But what Augustus is saying is that he is trying to control his fear. Well you can't control cancer, and therefore can't control your fear, this is his way of taking something able to give him cancer, but not giving it the power to do so. He is acting "stronger then the cancer" in a way, like he is finally in charge of it.

This metaphor can be applied to almost every fear. And maybe it will help you overcome yours.

The Fault in Our Stars Fan Art showing Augustus with his crooked smile and cigarette