13 Reasons Why
Alyxandra Redlich-Stowe
Wednesday January 10, 2013.
ForestHeights Collegiate Institute
Most people can not imagine the mental and emotional suffering that precedes suicide in youth. Teenage suicidecontinues to touch many lives as it is a growing problem inthe world today. In the novel 13 Reasons Whyby Allison Langer, the reader learns about the deep reasons why some youth feel their only solution is suicide. Hundreds of youth die at their own hand through suicide each day. Take a moment to imagine the feelings of the parents of these youth.Parents and family want to know what motivated their child to take their own life. The novel 13 Reasons Why offers the reader insight intothe motivation behind suicide and bullying. Listening to the tapes sheds light and opens the thought process and views of individuals when it comes to the ramifications of bullying.
Seventeen year old Hannah Baker uses cassette tapes to reveal the reasons of her suicide though the cassette is almost thirty years old and has been replaced by iPods and CDs. After her death, Hannah sends the tapes to the thirteen people who she feels are the reasons why she committed suicide. She does this to let them hear the deep truth about what their words and actions did to her. As the readermoves further into the novelthey are able to “hear” all of Hannah’s reasons, and begin to see a deeper message. Hannah highlights three hidden messages in her tapes. She states that the smallest things can make the biggest differences, that people can be judged by the things that others do not see, and that people do not care enough to pay attention to anyone but themselves. The reader is able to hear her side of the story on many things that may seem like a small deal but affected Hannah immensely. Hannah felt lonely and that she had no one to turn to in a time of need. Everyone in her life was there to either gain something from their friendship or they were just trying to be nice. She felt no one was a real genuine friend to her. The character Countney Crimson is an example of this; she pretended to be friends with Hannah to maintain her flawless reputation of being friends with everyone and having no one dislike her. Hannah realized Courtney was just using her when she said, “She only invited me to the party to clear her beautiful name…” (pg. 116). Hannah thought that she might have been a true friend until this happened. Hurtful rumors were started about her “… ready for this, everyone? Our sweet little Miss Crimson told this guy, and whoever else was standing within earshot, that I've got a few little surprises buried in my dresser drawers. (7.232)Thereader learns through these recorded feelings that Hannahfelt she had no one to turn toshe felt she had no true friends.
Many things in Hannah’s recorded tapes appear unimportant to the average teenager, but clearly to Hannah they are. An example would be her not getting any compliments in her box on Valentine’s Day. Hannah also directly asked for help from her teacher but was ignored. Not saying “hello,” to someone could be the difference between a good day and a bad day. Awave or a smile could completely change someone’s outlook on the day. Hannah desired these simple things but she never received them so she felt as if she had a bad day before it even started. She just wanted someone to pay attention to her even if it was for a brief second so she could feel like she belonged. The recordings revealsHannah even tried to get attention from the guidance counselor to help her, but all he did was send her away. “He's letting me go”. (15.204). This is how Hannah described it the encounter. The counselor fails to get help for Hannah from a mental health professional or even to call Hannah's parents to alert them when she admits to him that she is suicidal. More than anybody else, Mr. Porter had the direct power to intervene and potentially stop Hannah from killing herself. The reader is able to see Hannah in a completely, one hundred percent sympathetic light through the recorded tapes: she tried to get help, and no one would listen.
In addition, Hannah offers another reason for suicide when she talks about people judging others without knowing the whole story. There is one incident in the novel where Hannah goes off somewhere with her best guy friend. The next day at school, Hannah was made fun of because everyone thought “something happened” when it didnot. Hannah was made fun of and embarrassed about something she did not even do. This incident happened with Justin her boyfriend and the first kiss. He made up rumours they did more than kiss, giving her the reputation of being easy. Hannah talks about this in her first tape basically delving into the readers’ mind: know what you're thinking. As I was telling the story, I was thinking the same thing. A kiss? A rumor based on a kiss made you do this to yourself? (3.223)" But he did more than start rumours, he made Hannah look like a slut , ensuring few or no girls would want to be friends with her. Encouraging the guys try things with her thinking they would get something easily. These rumours overtook Hannah. No one got to know her they just saw her as a slut. Clay proves this after he states“And she was new to the school, so the rumors overshadowed everything else I knew about her." (3.218) Students judged her and make assumptions before they knew the whole storygiving her a negative reputation she did not deserve, ultimately contributing to the motivation behind her suicide.
Hannah concluded her ideas when she showed people did not care enough to bother giving any attention to anyone but themselves. Hannah missed three days of school and her best friend did not even call her. She thenhad doubts about who were really her true friends. This type of feeling is one of the worst feelings a teenager can experience.Hannah felt no one really cared if she died and they would not miss her in their lives. Too many were caught up caught up in the rumours to see that Hannah was actually in pain. Like when Hannah talks about Jessica as she says “ For Jessica, it was easier to think of me as Bad Hannah than as the Hannah she got to know at Monet's. It was easier to accept. Easier to understand. For her, the rumors needed to be true”.(5.117-18)Making others aware of the influence of their actions, revealing things that appeared unimportant but really were important, and people making judgments on inaccurate information were all reasons Hannah’s life ended the way it did. Through reading the novel the reader gained insight into a teenager’s mind allow themto connect and understand the deeper messages Hannah was trying to conveywiththe cassette tapes. This deeper reader insight and sympathy make the novel13 Reasons Why an excellent text that students can relate to and hopefully educate themselves a little about bullying and the reasons behind teenage suicide. Teenagers need to realize suicide is not a solution, it is a terrible tragedy that should be preventable.
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