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Character analysis

Lidewij Vliegenthart

in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Lidewij Vliegenthart is Peter Van Houten's dedicated Dutch personal assistant in Amsterdam, playing a crucial — and ultimately redemptive — role in The Fault in Our Stars. She has been secretly communicating with Hazel and Augustus on Van Houten's behalf, helping to arrange their wish-trip to Amsterdam by setting up a meeting with her reclusive boss. When Van Houten turns out to be a cruel, drunken letdown — refusing to address questions about An Imperial Affliction and verbally attacking his teenage guests — it's Lidewij who intervenes with clear moral outrage. She stands up to her boss on the spot, leading Hazel and Augustus out of the house and personally taking them to the Anne Frank House, followed by a romantic lunch by the canal, determined to make their trip worthwhile. Her act of defiance reaches its peak when she quits her job, unable to put up with Van Houten's despicable behavior any longer.

Lidewij is marked by warmth, professionalism, and a strong sense of ethics. She communicates with endearing Dutch expressions ("I am not a lawyer, but…") and shows real empathy for the teenagers facing terminal illnesses. Later, she reaches out to let Hazel know about Van Houten's unexpected appearance at Augustus's funeral, indicating that she continues to care for the young people even after leaving his employment. Her character arc may be short, but it carries moral weight: she embodies the decency that Van Houten has forsaken, and her loyalty shifts from employer to the two young patients whose bravery puts him to shame.

About this character

Form
Novel
Author
John Green
First published
2012

The person01–03

01·Who they are

Who is Lidewij Vliegenthart?

Lidewij Vliegenthart is Peter Van Houten's personal assistant, based in Amsterdam, and one of the minor characters in The Fault in Our Stars who carries disproportionate moral weight for her limited page time. She is Dutch, professionally competent, and communicates with a warmth that immediately distinguishes her from her employer. Her slightly formal English phrasing, peppered with expressions like "I am not a lawyer, but…", is endearing rather than awkward, signalling a person who tries hard and means well. While Van Houten has retreated into alcoholism and cruelty, Lidewij remains present, engaged, and humane. Green uses her as a living contrast: she occupies the same household as a man who has abandoned all ethical obligations to others, yet she refuses to be contaminated by his nihilism.

02·Arc & motivation

What is Lidewij Vliegenthart's arc and motivation?

Lidewij begins the novel as an invisible intermediary — the person who has been quietly forwarding Hazel's and Augustus's letters to Van Houten and crafting replies that kept their hope in An Imperial Affliction alive. Her motivation at this stage appears to be professional loyalty combined with genuine sympathy; she believes her boss still has something meaningful to offer these teenagers, or at the very least, she sees no harm in facilitating the correspondence. When Augustus uses his Genie wish to travel to Amsterdam, Lidewij arranges the actual meeting, signalling that she possesses both institutional power in Van Houten's household and a personal investment in making the visit succeed.

Her arc pivots sharply during the disastrous encounter in Van Houten's home. Watching her employer drunkenly refuse to answer Hazel's questions about An Imperial Affliction and then launch into contemptuous, personal attacks on two terminally ill teenagers, Lidewij reaches a point of moral rupture. She intervenes with visible outrage, physically leads Hazel and Augustus out of the house, and redirects the day toward the Anne Frank House and a canal-side lunch — acts of reparation that reframe the Amsterdam trip from humiliation to genuine memory. The arc completes when she quits her position, a quiet but decisive rejection of complicity. Her final appearance, notifying Hazel about Van Houten's uninvited presence at Augustus's funeral, confirms that her loyalty has fully transferred; she is no longer serving her former employer but bearing witness on behalf of the young people he wronged.

03·Key moments

What are Lidewij Vliegenthart's key moments?

  • The failed meeting at Van Houten's home: This is Lidewij's defining scene. Van Houten's refusal to engage with Hazel's questions and his vicious verbal assault force Lidewij into open defiance against her employer in front of guests — a significant professional and personal rupture.
  • Escorting Hazel and Augustus to the Anne Frank House: Rather than simply apologising and sending the teenagers away, Lidewij takes active responsibility for their day. The visit becomes one of the novel's most emotionally charged sequences (culminating in Augustus and Hazel's kiss to a crowd's applause), and Lidewij engineers it entirely out of ethical will.
  • Quitting her job: Though never dramatised in real time but reported to Hazel, this off-page act closes her subplot and retrospectively gives every earlier act of warmth the quality of slow-building moral courage.
  • Contacting Hazel about Van Houten at the funeral: A small but telling gesture — she continues to look out for Hazel even without any professional obligation to do so.

The cast04–05

04·Relationships

What are Lidewij Vliegenthart's most important relationships?

With Van Houten: Lidewij's relationship with her boss is that of a principled person who has, for too long, enabled a destructive one. She has acted as his functional conscience — managing his correspondence, maintaining the fiction that he is still intellectually and morally engaged with the world. When Van Houten's cruelty becomes impossible to rationalise, she does what many people in enabling relationships fail to do: she leaves. Her public defiance in front of Hazel and Augustus is notable because it prioritises the dignity of strangers over professional self-interest.

With Hazel: Lidewij is the human face behind what Hazel had believed was Van Houten's ongoing literary generosity. The pen-pal dynamic means Hazel has built real anticipation around Lidewij's facilitation, and the warmth of their eventual in-person meeting confirms that the empathy in the correspondence was Lidewij's, not Van Houten's. Lidewij's efforts to salvage the Amsterdam visit represent an act of personal care extended across language, culture, and the enormous gulf of a healthy person trying to honour a terminally ill one.

With Augustus: Though Augustus has less direct interaction with Lidewij than Hazel does, Green makes clear that Lidewij's concern extends to him equally. Her later notification to Hazel about the funeral confirms that Augustus registered with her as an individual, not merely as Hazel's companion.

05·Connected characters

How is Lidewij Vliegenthart connected to the other characters?

Peter Van Houten

Lidewij is Van Houten's long-suffering personal assistant. She has loyally managed his correspondence and affairs, but she publicly breaks with him in Amsterdam when he cruelly dismisses Hazel and Augustus, ultimately quitting her job in disgust at his behavior.

Hazel Grace Lancaster

Lidewij has been Hazel's warm pen-pal intermediary, exchanging letters on Van Houten's behalf. She feels genuine affection and sorrow for Hazel's illness, and personally rescues Hazel's Amsterdam visit by escorting her out after Van Houten's meltdown and arranging the Anne Frank House trip.

Augustus Waters

Lidewij similarly corresponds with Augustus and cares deeply about his wellbeing. She witnesses his dignity in the face of Van Houten's cruelty and later notifies Hazel of Van Houten's uninvited appearance at Augustus's funeral, showing continued concern for his memory.

Study06–07

06·Questions

Questions readers ask about Lidewij Vliegenthart

Who is Lidewij Vliegenthart in The Fault in Our Stars?

Lidewij Vliegenthart is Peter Van Houten's Dutch personal assistant in Amsterdam, playing a quietly heroic role in The Fault in Our Stars. She facilitates correspondence between Van Houten and his teenage fans Hazel and Augustus, helps arrange their wish-trip to Amsterdam, and ultimately defies her employer when he dismisses the two teenagers, rescuing their visit and later quitting her job.

What is Lidewij's relationship with Peter Van Houten?

Lidewij serves as Van Houten's long-suffering personal assistant, acting as his conscience by managing correspondence and maintaining the illusion of his moral engagement with the world. When Van Houten drunkenly attacks Hazel and Augustus during their visit, Lidewij defies him, escorts the teenagers out of his home, and eventually quits, prioritising the dignity of strangers over her own professional interests.

How does Lidewij help Hazel and Augustus during their Amsterdam trip?

After Van Houten's cruel refusal to answer Hazel's questions about An Imperial Affliction, Lidewij intervenes with visible outrage, leads both teenagers out of his house, and takes them personally to the Anne Frank House followed by a canal-side lunch. Rather than apologising, she performs acts of repair, transforming a humiliating encounter into one of the trip's most emotionally significant memories.

Why does Lidewij quit her job working for Van Houten?

Lidewij quits because she can no longer tolerate Van Houten's behavior toward Hazel and Augustus, two terminally ill teenagers he verbally attacked during what was meant to be a meaningful meeting. Though her resignation occurs off-page and is reported to Hazel, it marks the culmination of her moral arc — a rejection of complicity in her employer's cruelty.

What does Lidewij do after leaving Van Houten's employment?

After quitting, Lidewij looks out for Hazel by contacting her to report Van Houten's uninvited appearance at Augustus's funeral. This gesture confirms that her concern for the teenagers was not merely professional; her loyalty has fully transferred from her former employer to the two young patients whose bravery highlighted his shortcomings.

Is Lidewij Vliegenthart a major or minor character, and why does she matter?

Lidewij is a minor character, yet Green grants her significant moral weight despite her limited page time. She contrasts with Van Houten, living in the same household as a man who has abandoned ethical obligations, yet refusing to be tainted by his nihilism. Her warmth, professionalism, and public defiance embody the human decency that Van Houten has forsaken.

What is Lidewij's relationship with Hazel Grace Lancaster?

Lidewij has been the warm, empathetic presence behind what Hazel believed was Van Houten's ongoing literary generosity, quietly composing or forwarding correspondence that kept Hazel's hope in An Imperial Affliction alive. When they finally meet in person, Lidewij's genuine affection and sorrow for Hazel's illness is clear, and her efforts to salvage the Amsterdam visit represent personal care that transcends language, culture, and the divide between health and terminal illness.

How does Lidewij show concern for Augustus Waters specifically?

Although Augustus has less direct interaction with Lidewij than Hazel, her concern extends equally to him. She witnesses his dignity in the face of Van Houten's cruelty during the Amsterdam visit, and her later decision to inform Hazel about Van Houten's uninvited presence at Augustus's funeral indicates that she recognizes him as a fully realised individual, not just as Hazel's companion.

07·Essay angles

Use this in your essay

Tool · Essay angles

  • Lidewij as moral foil to Van Houten

    Argue that Green uses Lidewij to demonstrate that proximity to suffering does not inevitably produce either Van Houten's nihilism or Hazel's grace — that ordinary ethical decency, unglamorised, is itself a valid response.

  • The ethics of enabling

    Examine Lidewij's early role in facilitating Van Houten's correspondence as a form of complicity, and analyse how her eventual resignation reframes the moral cost of "just doing one's job."

  • Reparative action and the limits of apology

    The Anne Frank House visit is not an apology — Lidewij does not apologise for Van Houten — but an act of concrete repair. Build a thesis around what Green implies about the difference between verbal contrition and ethical action.

  • Minor characters as moral anchors

    Consider how Lidewij, like the Genie wish coordinator, functions structurally to ensure the novel's world retains functional human kindness even as major characters grapple with suffering and philosophical despair.

  • Loyalty and its proper objects

    Trace the shift in Lidewij's loyalty from employer to Hazel and Augustus, and argue whether Green presents this shift as a discovery of her *true* loyalty or as a fundamentally new ethical commitment forged by witnessing Van Houten's cruelty.

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