When Hannah Baker killed herself, she left behind her story, telling the thirteen reasons why she felt there was no choice for her but suicide. She explains her thirteen reasons in the form of seven cassette tapes, with a ‘reason why’ recorded on each side except for one, hence …show more content…
Knowing that eventually CDs would also become outdated and replaced, he chose to have Hannah use cassette tapes, and made it clear that they were outdated from the beginning. The main way Jay Asher showed his readers that the cassette tapes were outdated was by showing the main character, Clay Jensen, struggling to find ways to listen to the strange tapes he’d received in the mail. Because the struggle to find a way to listen to the tapes was made evident in the book, it was that much easier to keep the 2017 show close to the 2007 book. The story begins with Clay receiving a strange package. When he opens it, he finds seven tapes, each with a number painted on it with blue fingernail polish. It’s in the age of CDs and MP3s, so he asks to borrow his dad’s old boom box, and later, steals Tony’s Walkman to listen on the go. When Tony discovers his stolen Walkman, he allows Clay to continue using it until he’s completed the tapes, and even follows Clay along at some points, to make sure he’s dealing with the contents of the tapes …show more content…
He listens as the girl he wanted a future with describes how her first kiss was twisted from the innocent thing it was to the story everyone heard. He listens as she tells the truth behind the stories that caused her to be labeled a ‘slut’. He listens to her telling how she lost her best friends, how she was violated in a convenience store, and even raped. The tapes forced Clay to see how the girl he loved was flawed. While her former best friend was being raped, Hannah froze, demonstrating to all those reading or watching her story, that she was a human. There are three basic human reactions: fight, flight or freeze. She froze. She did realize her mistake, and even admitted it on her tapes. Although the entire story is a sad one, it shares lessons that every person should learn. Lessons about kindness and lessons about the impacts even little things can have on a person’s life. This is not a story that glorifies suicide, but rather shows its horrors. It also strives to show signs to those reading or watching the story that a person close to them could be contemplating