13 Reasons Why
Jay Asher
Meira.Elena
Age: 12-16
Lexile: HL550L
Written by Jay Asher and published by a section of the Penguin Young
Readers Group, this 13 Reasons Why is more than just a few pages of
words bound together with a painted cover. This book inspires awareness for
anti-bullying and suicide across the United States, and it's easy to see why.
Hannah Baker might have committed suicide, but she lives on in the seven tapes
she mailed out, each to a different person whom she blames for her decision to
die. I guarantee, you will not have a dry eye by the time you are through with
this book. It was not only captivating, but it taught a valuable lesson.
However, I do feel that there is something to take from this book and refute.
Throughout the story, Clay
Jensen, the alternate narrator to Hannah, learns of the thirteen reasons and
twelve people to blame for Hannah's death. The character development is sound,
the author bringing to life each little detail as well-crafted and carefully as
the previous. Clay starts off confident in who he is, his hometown, and the
impact he has on others. By the end of the story, Clay barely recognizes the
faces of people he has known for most of his life. He learns that the world is
not always black and white, and that people are capable of things we would
never have expected of them. Despite being one of the people Hannah blames for
her death, readers can't help but sympathize with this good-hearted character.
He isn't inherently bad- he is actually a rather good person, especially compared
to the other characters in the novel.
Of all the lessons that Clay teaches us, my favorite is
that it's okay to respectfully disagree. Anytime suicide is mentioned, we
immediately feel bad for the one who died. While yes, suicide is a tragic thing
and should not be taken lightly, most of the people harming themselves are suffering
from depression, a serious mental health illness. This means that their
opinions and perceptions of the world are negatively skewed against them,
meaning that they cannot see themselves and the world objectively. Whatever the
reasons Hannah claimed to assign blame to others, it is alright as Clay, and as
the reader, to argue and say that this was not accurate. Many times, people
blame themselves for the deaths of their loved ones. But suicide is a choice,
and we should not place all the blame on ourselves.
Throughout the story, we get to know Hannah at her
lowest point- we never meet her when she was happier. All we see is her
depressed outlook on her current situation. Some might even call her
vindictive, taunting her listeners as she places all the blame on others. She does
not try to fix her situation- she does not try to talk to someone, let all her
emotions out, or even use the tapes to start a healing process. Her creation of
these tapes is specifically to torment her listeners by forcing them to
understand the pain she went through, without giving them any glimmer of hope
that perhaps things could be better. Depression is an extremely difficult
mental illness to fight and recover from, but it is made even more difficult
when one is fighting alone.
You don't have to like Hannah. While she is not an evil
character, she's not perfect either, a fact that we all come to realize about
ourselves and our friends and family at some point in our lives. If you believe
she was completely innocent and justified in her actions, then to you she is a
wonderful person. If, however, you feel that some of her actions were not
completely reasonable, and that she is not as innocent in everything as she
claims, that is okay too. Her character, expertly crafted, was designed to be
relatable- if she were perfect, none of us could relate to her struggles.
The writing style is challenging enough for an adult
audience to enjoy, but its content resonates more with a younger audience. An
audience of the bullied and depressed; those who feel they are on the outside
because they aren't like everyone else. This book, above all, teaches us to
think for ourselves; to sympathize and try to understand others, but at the end
of the day, to realize that the world is a vast mix of dark and light
shaded grey.
This book was truly inspiring, and I highly recommend it
to all who enjoy connecting emotionally with their literature. For those of you
who put yourself in other character's shoes or are looking for inspiration,
this is the book to go to!
For more information on the book, visit http://www.thirteenreasonswhy.com
For more analysis, visit
http://www.shmoop.com/thirteen-reasons-why
For Suicide Awareness, visit https://afsp.org/
and https://save.org/
