Loving changes

People can be changed by caring relationships. This happens in the book Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti and the movie the Fault in Our Stars directed by Josh Boone. In the book, the main character, Lorenzo was changed by his half sister, Olivia, after they experienced a hard time together. In the movie, Hazel the main character was changed by Gus, her friend and her lover. Both the movie and the book show how love can help people grow in order to step outside of their small world. 

Family members play a very important role in the book Me and You. Family loves you, but they also give you pressure. Lorenzo used to be a boy who is really smart, not talkative, and introverted. He doesn't care about other people's feelings except his parents’ and his grandma’s. He doesn't know how to make friends.  He lied to his mom that he went to a ski trip with his friends but actually he hid in the basement. One day, Olivia found him. She took drugs and had nowhere to go so she stays in basement as well. During the time they live together a huge change occurs for Lorenzo. He sees his sister suffering from withdrawal so the small hero hidden inside him finally appears: “In my den she was safe, hidden away. Nobody could hurt her”(Ammaniti Page135). Before this experience, Lorenzo wanted to help those people he loves but he doesn't have enough courage, because he becomes brave and walks out from his small world and starts to accept others. He wanted to help his mom from a traffic but he didn’t, he didn’t went to see his grandma until he has to… He became brave and went to hospital to save Olivia. He choose to stay in his basement is a metaphor of staying in his small world. He was afraid of the world out side, all he could do was to watch others carefully from the small window, listening to others' movements quietly, and moreover, enjoy him self in his own world. Lorenzo always guess other people's mind when they are asking questions and he answers what they want him to answer. No one really cares about what Lorenzo really feels, even his parents. However Olivia came into his world, taught him love is caring, helping, and share happiness together. Lorenzo left his basement means that was starting his new life. He wants to help and think for those people that he doesn't even care about before. Without Olivia, Lorenzo couldn't have ability to make friend with others. “ I felt something I’d never felt before. I felt alive- it took my breath away.” (Ammaniti Page153) As Loreanzo said, this is a really big change for him that even makes him feels alive. In the past 14 years, what he has experienced doesn't even count as being alive. As a result, he becomes more embracing life and finally grow up.

Without family’s support, many unimaginable dreams could not be true. When you are having trouble, family is always your biggest supporter. With helps from family, even a dying person can travel abroad and achieve her dream. The movie the Fault in our stars shows the same thesis with Me and you. Hazel and Gus are both teenagers who are suffering from cancer. Hazel has to take oxygen career all the time and Gus has cut down one leg. They have similar experience and situation but they keep different opinions of death. Hazel live every day the same: read the same book, lie on sofa, and wait for death. “Depression is the side effect of dying”(The Fault In Our Stars Dir. Josh Boone. Temple Hill Entertainment,TSG Entertainment,6^th, June, 2014. Film). As she said, she thinks her life is a mass. However Gus lives every day in his life happily, he does the same thing that other healthy teenagers will do and enjoys his life. He throws eggs to his friend’s ex girlfriend, allows his fiend uses trophy to express anger, take the girl he likes having picnic. The difference they have made them fail in love quickly. They went to Amsterdam together, visited their favorite writer, challenged their self, did many unbelievable things together. Hazel climbed stairs in Annie Frank House by her self without anyone's help which lights up her hope of being alive. Pressures and pain is able to see all the time in this sad movie, the pain from cancer, the pressure from Hazel’s parents, and the pressure from death… Hazel realized she should not always think about pain but to find happiness in her heart, think about nice things around her, where there is life there is hope. We all know two cancerous could never enjoy having a love forever. Gus died first. The movie gives people a new view of death: death is not the ending of a person’s life. Hazel said funeral is not for people who has died, it is prepared for people who are still alive. “Life comes from life” (The Fault In Our Stars Dir. Josh Boone. Temple Hill Entertainment,TSG Entertainment,6^th, June, 2014. Film). Funeral is a chance for people to remember the dead, is a chance to take love and start again. In their symbiosis relationship, Gus realized every one would be forgotten, he only has to be remembered by the people he loves and the people who love him, that is enough. From this movie, Hazel changed from a girl who given up all hope of live to a girl who is brave enough to challenge her new life. She also learned love needs to be tell, pain needs to be felt. Death is not fearful, enjoy everyday life is always the right thing to do. 

Both this book and movie are full of changes, love, and pain. The changes of Lorenzo and Hazel. Love from Lorenzo to his sister, love from Hazel to Gus. Also, pain from Olivia and Gus. A small thing some time can change your life. Just like Lorenzo and Hazel, Olivia and Gus gave them a whole new view of this world. More over, they are not only caring relationship, they are in a symbiosis relationship. They need each other, they also change each other. Not only Lorenzo and Hazel has changed, Olivia also became less rude, Gus doesn’t any want many people remember him anymore. The change happened on them helped them grow up and step out side of their small world.