Society has many standards that affect people in different ways. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher describes how societal standards can negatively affect a person. Hannah Baker, a seemingly normal teenage girl, experienced the downside of today’s standards in a devastating way. Before committing suicide Hannah Baker documented the poor choices of her high school society. The tapes, left by Hannah, illustrate the struggles of stereotypes, teenage emotions, and passive bystanders. People believe in the stereotypical teenage girl. Hannah Baker discovered this on more than one occasion. The summer before ninth grade year Hannah’s dream of the perfect first kiss came true, “but then [he] started bragging” (Asher 30). People made up stories to satisfy
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One boy’s idea of a joke turned into Hannah being “treat[ed] like [she was] nothing but that specific body part” (Asher 44). He voted her “Best Ass in Freshman Class” (Asher 37). Today’s society does not understand how their actions, no matter how small, can affect a life in the long run.
Later on Hannah joined a poetry class in an attempt to bring joy back into her life, but after three weeks she had failed to achieve her goal. Her poem was stolen and advertised to the school. Hannah describes how people thought “It wasn’t a big deal” (Asher 183); they were wrong. This small event was just one more little problem stacked on top of a mountain of small things. Added together those jokes and rumors became a huge issue. “Everything . . . affects everything” (Asher …show more content…
She went to Mr. Porter, the school counselor, the day before she committed suicide. She talked about how the night before, she was used to sexually please someone. She told him her plan to end her life, and he tried to talk to her. He did not try hard enough. She asked him her options and he gave her two: “One, you can confront him . . . Or two . . . you can move on” (Asher 277-278). She was confused. She did not want to just let this go; it hurt her. She explained to him that if she could not do anything about it there was no point in her being there. She was going to go through with her plan. She walked out and said this: “He’s letting me go” (Asher 231). He could have gone after her, talked her through what she was feeling, and gotten more professional help for her. Instead, he let her walk out the door and kill herself. “You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part” (Asher 201). Hannah said this hoping to make a point. She started high school as an average teenage girl, but society managed to mangle her perception of how to handle the high standards set by them. Her tapes revealed the pains of stereotypes, teenage emotions, and idle bystanders. The negative effects of today’s societal standards are portrayed excellently by Jay Asher in this sad but insightful
One boy’s idea of a joke turned into Hannah being “treat[ed] like [she was] nothing but that specific body part” (Asher 44). He voted her “Best Ass in Freshman Class” (Asher 37). Today’s society does not understand how their actions, no matter how small, can affect a life in the long run.
Later on Hannah joined a poetry class in an attempt to bring joy back into her life, but after three weeks she had failed to achieve her goal. Her poem was stolen and advertised to the school. Hannah describes how people thought “It wasn’t a big deal” (Asher 183); they were wrong. This small event was just one more little problem stacked on top of a mountain of small things. Added together those jokes and rumors became a huge issue. “Everything . . . affects everything” (Asher …show more content…
She went to Mr. Porter, the school counselor, the day before she committed suicide. She talked about how the night before, she was used to sexually please someone. She told him her plan to end her life, and he tried to talk to her. He did not try hard enough. She asked him her options and he gave her two: “One, you can confront him . . . Or two . . . you can move on” (Asher 277-278). She was confused. She did not want to just let this go; it hurt her. She explained to him that if she could not do anything about it there was no point in her being there. She was going to go through with her plan. She walked out and said this: “He’s letting me go” (Asher 231). He could have gone after her, talked her through what she was feeling, and gotten more professional help for her. Instead, he let her walk out the door and kill herself. “You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part” (Asher 201). Hannah said this hoping to make a point. She started high school as an average teenage girl, but society managed to mangle her perception of how to handle the high standards set by them. Her tapes revealed the pains of stereotypes, teenage emotions, and idle bystanders. The negative effects of today’s societal standards are portrayed excellently by Jay Asher in this sad but insightful