Diction, Point of View, and Charcterization

          Learning diction, point of view, and characterization were each relatively new to me, and changed my perception of my book, "The Fault in Our Stars". I've never really thought about why a book is written in the point of view it was written in, and how the whole book would be different if it was told in a different point of view. Or, about the differences it makes to the reader from writing in neutral, formal, or informal diction. After learning about these literary elements, it has really changed the way I think about and understand each paragraph of the book. To me, the literary element that stands out the most in "The Fault in Our Stars" is the point of view.
          In "The Fault in Our Stars" the point of view was first-person, major character. This allows the reader to understand all of Hazel's thoughts and what she observes. A lot of the time Hazel thinks about something but never actually does it. Because the book is written in first-person, we know what she is thinking, but if the book was written in third-person, we wouldn't be able to find out about all of Hazel's thoughts. If the book was written in third-person, omniscient or selective, this book wouldn't be all that great because then we would know what both Hazel and Augustus were thinking and observing which thus ruins the big element of surprise in this book. Therefore, the point of view the author has selected for this book is perfect because the reader doesn't know too much nor does he/she know too little.
          Overall, this book was phenomenal. It was filled with humor and had huge surprises. Not only was this a great book to read, but it also allowed me to think about the different ways the book could have been written in, and how that would have changed the book. After reading this book, I have really got a deep understanding of friendship. This book was very funny and also very sad, but this allowed the story to have multiple different elements which made the story phenomenal.