Thesis For Thirteen Reasons Why

Have you ever stopped to think about how many people you have affected throughout your life? In the book Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher this question is looked at through the perspective of a girl who commits suicide, the tapes she left behind for her “thirteen reasons why” she committed suicide, and a boy who was one of these reasons why. This is an extremely important topic especially within the lives of teenagers today. The pressures society puts on kids and the things that go on inside and outside of school has major effects on mental health and the actions of many kids. Within this novel, Asher explores how different people lead Hannah to make her final decision and how the snowball effect shows that even the smallest of actions can
Throughout the book the author adds in Clay’s opinions and thoughts intermixed with Hannah’s words to help emphasize the reactions Clay experiences while listening. This was especially helpful during the tape about Clay to help the readers understand what someone who has experienced what the tapes said had happened reacted to the tape about themselves. The addition of words about Clay such as when he hears his story and thinks, “I lean my head against the window and close my eyes, concentrating on the cold glass. Maybe if I listen to the words about concentrate on the cold, maybe I can hold it together” (Asher 200). This is an important observation to add because it helps the audience understand just how distraught Clay is feeling. He knows his name does not belong on the list and he still feels like he can not hold it together which causes the audience to wonder how the other characters
By having this happen, Asher showed the finality of the situation and how much the actions truly affected Hannah. When Hannah said her last goodbyes on the tape all the characters realized it was the end making their actions that much more influential and hurtful. I did not like that he told his audience that Hannah had died at the beginning because I think the build up would have been better if he did not. However, it did help the audience understand just how impactful each story was in the life of Hannah. This was portrayed in the quote, “You can’t go back to how things were. How you thought they were. All you really have is...now” (Asher 154). By adding this in, Asher showed how permanent death is and he showed how permanent the actions of the characters were by having Hannah kill herself. In the end, her suicide showed the impact of how bad actions can outweigh the good ones and many things can have a lasting effect so it is important to think before