2. Gallows Humour
What It Is: Dark humour is any form of humour that dances around or incorporates a serious subject matter. What It Means: Though this is seen throughout all of Green's novels, it's never more present than in The Fault In Our Stars, which centres on several cancer-stricken main characters. This is most often used by Hazel and Augustus during their interactions: Hazel: It's primarily his hotness. Gus: It can be sort of blinding. Hazel: It actually did blind our friend Isaac. Gus: Terrible tragedy, that. But can I help my own deadly beauty? Hazel: You cannot. Gus: It is my burden, this beautiful face. Hazel: Not to mention your body. Gus: Seriously, don't ever get me started on my hot bod. You don't want to see me naked, Dave. Seeing me naked actually took Hazel Grace's breath away. The point of Green's gallows humour isn't to be shocking, it's used as a way of incorporating dark/serious subject matter into his stories without coming across as condescending. By introducing the reader to serious topics through humour, Green is able to gradually move into discussing these things more seriously without immediately coming across as strictly po-faced and serious.
Brian Wilson
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Commonly found reading, sitting firmly in a seat at the cinema (bottle of water and a Freddo bar, please) or listening to the Mountain Goats.
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