The book 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher follows a high school student named Clay Jensen as he learns the reasons for his classmate and crush’s suicide. When he gets home one day, Clay discovers a box of tapes on his porch. When he first listens to the tapes he hears the voice of Hannah Baker- the girl who committed suicide not even a month before. He soon finds out that the tapes give the thirteen reasons for why Hannah ended her life. Clay also remembers a map that he found in his locker before Hannah’s death. For each of the thirteen reasons, there is a story that Hannah tells. The map has red stars at each of the locations of the stories, so Clay decides to borrow his friend Tony’s walkman and visit each of the locations. On Clay’s journey,
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Society. For Hannah, she felt as if everyone around her hated her or didn’t care about her. Many people in Hannah’s life were part of why she died. There were at least thirteen people who were the reasons for Hannah’s death. “...I’m about to tell you the story of my [Hannah] life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you’re listening to these tapes, you’re one of the reasons why,” (Asher 7). Hannah felt as if everyone was against her and everyone was. The conflict for Clay was also Person vs. Society. Hannah says that “Clay, honey, your name does not belong on this list,” (Asher 200). Hannah’s death upset Clay. He is angry at everyone who was part of why Hannah died and how they acted, and he wished that he could go back and fix it. There is also some Person vs. Self conflict because Hannah was struggling with her feelings and how she viewed herself. Clay was also angry at himself for being afraid to talk to Hannah and become friends with her. He thought that maybe if he became close to Hannah, she wouldn’t have killed …show more content…
On multiple occasions, Hannah’s “Baker’s dozen” (the thirteen people on Hannah’s tapes) performed actions that didn’t seem important to them, but were major events in Hannah’s life. One example is of a list that a student named Alex made. It listed who was attractive or not, and it made one of Hannah’s friends mad at her, even if she had no part in it. The list played a great part in how Hannah’s life turned out. Clay said that “Alex’s list was a joke. A bad one, true. But he had no idea it would affect her like this.” (Asher 41). Although the list that Alex made was a joke, it still had repercussions that led to Hannah killing herself. Another example of this is Hannah’s first kiss. She kissed someone named Justin in a park, but Justin spread rumors that the two did more than kiss. These rumors led to Hannah gaining a reputation that she didn’t want but everyone still believed. Hannah said that “...sometimes, a rumor based on a kiss has a snowball effect. A rumor, based on a kiss, is just the beginning.” (Asher 30). Justin’s rumor led to multiple other events with a “snowball effect”, as it is called in the book. Throughout the book, each reason proves that people should be aware of what they are doing because although it might seem like a joke to them, it can greatly impact someone else's life. The term “snowball effect” is used to refer to this in the book. Another theme throughout the
Society. For Hannah, she felt as if everyone around her hated her or didn’t care about her. Many people in Hannah’s life were part of why she died. There were at least thirteen people who were the reasons for Hannah’s death. “...I’m about to tell you the story of my [Hannah] life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you’re listening to these tapes, you’re one of the reasons why,” (Asher 7). Hannah felt as if everyone was against her and everyone was. The conflict for Clay was also Person vs. Society. Hannah says that “Clay, honey, your name does not belong on this list,” (Asher 200). Hannah’s death upset Clay. He is angry at everyone who was part of why Hannah died and how they acted, and he wished that he could go back and fix it. There is also some Person vs. Self conflict because Hannah was struggling with her feelings and how she viewed herself. Clay was also angry at himself for being afraid to talk to Hannah and become friends with her. He thought that maybe if he became close to Hannah, she wouldn’t have killed …show more content…
On multiple occasions, Hannah’s “Baker’s dozen” (the thirteen people on Hannah’s tapes) performed actions that didn’t seem important to them, but were major events in Hannah’s life. One example is of a list that a student named Alex made. It listed who was attractive or not, and it made one of Hannah’s friends mad at her, even if she had no part in it. The list played a great part in how Hannah’s life turned out. Clay said that “Alex’s list was a joke. A bad one, true. But he had no idea it would affect her like this.” (Asher 41). Although the list that Alex made was a joke, it still had repercussions that led to Hannah killing herself. Another example of this is Hannah’s first kiss. She kissed someone named Justin in a park, but Justin spread rumors that the two did more than kiss. These rumors led to Hannah gaining a reputation that she didn’t want but everyone still believed. Hannah said that “...sometimes, a rumor based on a kiss has a snowball effect. A rumor, based on a kiss, is just the beginning.” (Asher 30). Justin’s rumor led to multiple other events with a “snowball effect”, as it is called in the book. Throughout the book, each reason proves that people should be aware of what they are doing because although it might seem like a joke to them, it can greatly impact someone else's life. The term “snowball effect” is used to refer to this in the book. Another theme throughout the