Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher, is a must read for high school classrooms. I have not found a more impactful novel that teens cannot only relate to, but also learn from. The following analysis will cover the basics of the novel and reasons why it should be used.
The central theme that I found to be in this book is taking responsibility for one’s actions and the consequences that come from these actions, or in some cases, choosing not to act. This theme is dominant throughout the novel and brings light to many heavy, serious real life situations. This paper will analyze the theme and how it relates to present day adolescent readers. There are many potent scenes and conflicts that relate to this theme, which will be discussed in relation to how the scenes and conflicts can teach readers by evoking emotional experiences. This book was especially powerful in the way that the reader felt changed after having read it, and real lessons were taught through the text. Because this book delves into such topics such as rape, underage drinking, suicide, bullying, and sex, it can be prized as a crucial tool for teachers to use to guide adolescents through a very unstable time in their lives.
Thirteen Reasons Why centers around the suicide of seventeen-year-old Hannah Baker. Through the point of view of her classmate, Clay Jensen, the reader is brought into the rapidly declining world of this young girl. The reader learns in the beginning that Hannah has committed suicide, and she left behind a set of cassette tapes. Each side of a tape is recorded for a specific person, telling them what part they played in why Hannah took her own life. It takes the listener of the tapes, Clay, and the readers through the town and back to the past, starting at Hannah’s first year at her school up until the day before she died. It goes into her first kiss, her friends, parties, hatred, rumors, rape, and why she couldn’t let Clay save her. Through Clay, we are able to see his reactions to Hannah’s tapes as he listens to them, and the reader is able to share the emotional turmoil that Clay experiences.
Bullying is one huge category in this book that addresses the theme, which are consequences of one’s actions. As the reader works his or her way through the book, it is very evident that the events that led up to Hannah’s final suicide wasn’t just one thing, but it was a snowfall-effect of various situations. Starting when she first moved to her new school, she quickly became the victim of vicious rumors regarding her sexual activity. What was to her a very innocent first kiss experience got turned into the foundation of a bed of lies. Justin, the man who kissed her, didn’t put Jessica’s rumors of Hannah and Justin’s playground kiss to an end. He instead went along with it, which earned him more popularity, while for Hannah, it classified her aseasy. Adolescents are relentless, and when a title like this sparks among a crowd, it spreads like wildfire, and there was nothing that Hannah could do or say to rebuke it. This eventually led to another night, years later, when she was in the bedroom with Clay at a party. Even he took these rumors of her sexual experience to be truth, and it only further crushed Hannah, sending her weak emotional state onto an even more shaken ground. This was only one way Hannah was bullied, and it gave her scars that went with her to the grave. She was never able to escape these lies, and she didn’t quite know how to deal with them, either. Adolescents are not equipped to deal with situations like this with a sound mind. They are not sure enough of themselves to be able to brush off these rumors. Because their teen years are full of such development and shaping, emotionally and mentally, it could be severely damaging to be a victim of the type of rumors and bullying that Hannah endured.
For adolescents reading this book, they are able to see through the eyes of both Clay and Hannah the effect of this kind of bullying. Even though Hannah’s death was an extreme case, it works for these teens readers. Reading the book and becoming emotionally connected to the characters, especially to Hannah, gives the readers a neutral setting to learn these lessons. Even as I read, I was constantly taken back to my middle school and high school days. Did I do the kind of things Jessica did? Did I not stop a rumor? Was I a victim of one? Where was my involvement? What were the effects of my actions? I graduated high school almost five years ago, and this book still made me think of these questions. I wish I would have read it while I was a teen so I could have changed my behavior, or at least have been more conscious of it.
Drinking underage is another category in which teenagers need to become responsible for the consequences of their actions. Almost every adolescent these days are told of the dangers of underage drinking. There are D.A.R.E. programs in the elementary schools and heath classes in middle school and high school that let teens in on the possible dangers. However, most of the time, those programs do not stop teens. It sure didn’t stop the teens in this book. It wasn’t necessarily the physical drinking that got these characters into trouble, but the situations that they found themselves in by being at these parties. The hot tub scenario, for instance, when Hannah was with Jenny, only fed the rumors that Hannah was easy and sexually active. But an even more serious event that took place at one of these parties was Jessica’s rape. Jessica had too much to drink. Jessica, only being a teenager, did not know her personal limits of consumption. When she passed out, she was put to bed, giving Bryce an easy opportunity to take advantage. The worst part was that Justin let him. And so on, Hannah didn’t stop it. This specific scenario teaches teen readers that rape is not only forcing oneself on another violently, but when a person is not conscious to say no, and even further, is intoxicated and cannot make a rational decision, and another person does it anyway, that is rape. I did not learn that until my later years of high school, and I wish I would have known all the specifics when I was younger. This book is so powerful because it places the reader into such a dominant reality where strong emotional bonds are formed between the reader and the character. Because it felt like such a real world, it was infinitely more shocking than most other books containing this kind of situation. It felt real, and when something feels real, readers instinctively relate the situation to their own lives. If this book prevents even just one more girl from being raped, it would be worth it.
The most important category that this book addresses, in relation to consequences of one’s actions, is suicide prevention. Hannah demonstrated many signs that she was suicidal. She tried to reach out to a variety of people, but in the end, the lack of action led her to do it. Now, I want to be clear, Hannah is responsible for her own suicide. She was the one who took her own life. However, there were many opportunities that others could have stepped up to help her, which they did not. The first one was in one of Hannah’s classes, when she anonymously spoke up to her class about her thoughts of killing herself. Instead of the students, or even the teacher, taking it seriously, it was mocked, rebuked, and then dismissed. Hopefully this shows readers that when someone asks about it, they were thinking about it, and when they are thinking about it, they need help. It is not something to laugh at. Death is not a mockery. The most devastating outcry, though, was to Hannah’s teacher, Mr. Porter. She made it very clear on the tapes that if Mr. Porter didn’t help her, she would take her life. She was desperate, and he let her down. He did not even follow her when she left his classroom. What more does a teacher need? She practically laid it out right before him, and he didn’t do anything. His lack of action will stay with his character for the rest of his life. Even though he was only fictional, this kind of thing does happen. Maybe this book will make people more aware and give them the courage to take action and protect those individuals who are seeking help. Finally, at the end of the novel, Clay was able to take these lessons that he learned from listening to Hannah’s tapes and put them to practical use, reaching out to Sky, who had showed similar signs that Hannah had.
This book is powerful, life changing. It is full of situations that teenagers face on a daily basis. If there should be one book that is taught in the schools, it should be this one. I have yet to read a more impacting adolescent novel.
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