Thirteen Reasons Why
Thirteen Reasons Why is a novel written by Jay Asher about an average shy boy named Clay Jensen returning home from school one day to find a box by his front door. When opening it he is surprised to find 7 cassette tapes. He soon finds out that these tapes were recorded by his class mate Hannah Baker, who he had a crush on, and who recently committed suicide. The tapes were mailed like a chain letter, one classmate with instructions to pass them from one student to another. On these tapes Hannah explains to 13 people how they played a role in her reason to kill herself, by giving 13 stories that each person was involved with. The stories start at the first person in her tapes. A boy named Justin who lied about what she and him did, and ruined her reputation and started all the negative rumors about her in school. These rumors lead a boy to put her on the list as “Hottest Ass in the Freshman Class”, causing her to become the object of sexual harassment. Her best friend Jessica left her alone , because of jealousy that Hannah is getting all the attention of boys, because of the list. Even though Hannah had no control of it. We also meet a conniving girl named Courtney, a boy who stood her up, a guy who stalks her and takes pictures of her without her knowing. Hannah witnesses a rape, a car accident that later killed a classmate, and a counselor that allowed her to leave even though he knew she was thinking about suicide. Each tape explains something that happened, and gave the readers an insight on her life. Fear of exposure and curiosity keeps all of the people listening to the tapes. Hannah states, “ A lot of you cared, just not enough. And that is what I needed to find out”(280). She thought she had no real friends, she thought she had no one. Clay throughout these tapes waited to find out what he did to her that landed him on the tapes” I did nothing wrong”(41), he kept telling himself because he knew he cared for her and she wasn’t really alone. Well I’m not going to tell you, that would be giving away the ending. 1) Do you think their was a way to save Hannah's life ? and if so how?
2) What would you do if you thought you knew someone that was thinking about suicide?
3) Was it really those peoples fault that Hannah killed herself or do you think it was something else?
5 comments:
First of all, this book sounds *so* good, I really want to read it.
Answering question 1, though suicide is a terrible tragic thing, I feel like its a cop out. I think that if Hannah would have had someone to talk to that would actually listen or at least something to do that would give her insight, she would have been alright. Maybe if Clay had told her how he felt?
2. I would go tell, I don't know, a counselor or a parent or something. Obviously,if it got to the point that I legitimately thought someone was thinking about it, I'd make a huge priority of getting a reliable person's attention.
3. I think they were probably contributing factors to a sad situation. There were maybe other things going on with her and their annoyingness (for lack of a better word) added to her issues.
This is a really good book!!! you have to read it!!! and i agree with you in everything :) :)
I agree with Amanda I think that suicide is a terrible thing and if you think someone is thinking about doing it you should do everything in your power to help them. And I also think if she had someone there to tell her that she was loved, she wouldnt have done it.
3. I think a lot of suicides happen because of cruel people. Many of the students who committed suicide at Mentor did it because they got made fun of. So I think that for the most part it was all those peoples' faults. You shouldn't say mean things to people because you don't know how they will take it. A simple comment may mean the world to one person and absolutly nothing to another.
This book sounds awesome. :) In response to question number three I believe when someone makes a decision to commit suicide there are many factors that contribute to this decision. Do I think these people are directly to blame for her death, no. But I do think that it was the culmination of all of these meetings and events with these other people that caused Hannah to believe in her isolation and pushed her to commit suicide.
Post a Comment