Clay And Hannah's Roles In Poetry

“ ‘Killed her.’ A phrase I will now drop from my vocabulary” (Asher 95). This book shows the struggle of Hannah as she makes her final decision to end her life. The book describes thirteen reasons why people in her life caused her to make the decision to commit suicide. Clay, an admirer of Hannah’s received all thirteen tapes Hannah had made to explain the thirteen reasons. Clay and Hannah each play important roles in the book and there are two songs that portray their personality and describe their story in the novel. “I Will Always Love you” by Whitney Houston, describes Clay and “If You’re Reading This” by Tim McGraw, describes Hannah. From The Crown, “Make you Feel my Love” by Adele, describes Eikko. First, “I Will Always Love you” by
Whitney Houston, describes Clay. Clay is enthralled by Hannah and has had a crush on her for a long time. Clay and Hannah had created a relationship before Hannah died, but Clay was confused when he received the tapes. He had never done anything that he believed was worthy enough to make it onto her tapes. All he had ever done for her was try to impress her and win her heart. When Hannah died all he had was love for Hannah. Clay didn’t know why Hannah had chosen to commit suicide; in his eyes her life was perfect. He was appalled to learn all of the different small reasons that had built up and caused her to kill herself. “I’m listening to someone give up. Someone I knew. Someone I liked. I’m listening. But still, I’m too late” (Asher 146). This relates to a similar line in Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love you,” “I’ll think of you every step of the way and I…will always love you, ooh” (Houston). This lyric relates to Clay in the fact that he will always think of Hannah and what he could have done to save her. He will never stop thinking about her and the memories he has with her, but he will never stop loving her. Next, “If You’re Reading This” by Tim McGraw relates to Hannah. Hannah made the thirteen tapes to help explain to others why she felt the need to do what she did. However, she did talk about a lot of people with disparage causing some people to not find relief in the tapes. The tapes did explain a lot of rumors that people had taken the wrong way, which would finally help clarify Hannah’s story. “I hope you’re ready, because I’m about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you’re listening to these tapes, you’re one of the reasons why” (Asher 7). This quote and Hannah’s personality relate to “If You’re Reading This” by Tim McGraw. “If you’re reading this half way around the world I won’t be there” (McGraw). If you are listening to Hannah’s tape you obviously know she isn’t alive but you are learning why she ended her life. She wanted to leave her story behind and leave a legacy for others to learn a lesson from what happened to her and how to become a better person in the future. Last, Eikko from The Crown by Kiera Cass ends up being the winner of the selection and winning over Eadlyn’s heart.
Eikko was not originally in the selection he was a translator for Henri who was from Sweden. Eadlyn slowly fell in love with Eikko but she knew he would never be able to become the king. Eadlyn had to choose from the boys in the selection; if she broke the rules the countries hate would grow even deeper for her. She thought she was going to have to pick her second choice and live the rest of her life happy but not vivaciously happy. Eikko was also in love with Eadlyn but also knew she could not break the rules and would do anything she asked. He would leave the castle as soon as she announced her new fiancé, Henri. “I love you. I hope you have a beautiful life” (Cass 246). This relates to the song “Make you Feel my Love,” by Adele. “I’ve known it from the moment that we met no doubt in my mind where you belong” (Adele). Eikko knew from very early on that he loved Eadlyn and he had no doubt in his mind that she was his true love. In the end, Eadlyn admitted to her father her love for Eikko and he told Eadlyn that love is worth breaking the rules for. Eadlyn picked Eikko and they would live a happy life together bearing the consequences the country would create when hearing the
news. Suicide is a real problem not only in Thirteen Reasons Why but also in our lives. Jay Asher has done a wonderful job teaching others about the inside feelings of someone going through the thoughts of suicide. He is also educating us on how to notice the symptoms and common behaviors of people experiencing these thoughts and how to help them before it is too late. Clay would have done anything for Hannah and he may have found her help had he known these were the thoughts she was having. Hannah didn’t want to have to resort to ending her life but she felt she had no other way out. Creating the tapes was her way of telling her story and getting her feelings out, but also explaining to others why she had done what she did and what had slowly caused her to commit suicide.