Thirteen Reasons Why

Imagine a brown package with the contents of seven mysterious cassettes arrives at your door, you then open it to discover to your horror that the speaker is a girl with rumors surrounding her whom recently had a suicide, and she is blaming you for her death. This is exactly what happens to Clay Jensen, a boy in senior high school, who has yet to understand the reason of the girl, Hannah Baker’s death.

The story begins with the reader in the role of Clay Jensen, listening to the cassette tapes Hannah Baker left to those that had a connection with her decision to end her life. Throughout the tapes, she tells how her life was torn to shreds little by little by the rumors her boyfriend had spread and the humiliation her classmates had given her, which led to her friend ignoring her and sexual harassment by other boys. With little hope left for life, she attends a party and finds out that Clay was also there, but instead of comforting her as Hannah had wanted, Clay instead left her alone when she started crying, which caused the situation to down spiral. In the end, she made the decision to finish her own life because she felt nobody cared about her and thought it would not make a difference in anyone’s life for a classmate to disappear forever. Though she did not think it would be a matter, she still wanted revenge on those who played a part in causing her death, so she recorded cassette tapes to tell the thirteen main people that they made her give up life.

One thing the book teaches us is that we should not spread rumors about someone because we don’t know what is going on in his or her life and a tiny rumor may turn out as a major disaster in the end. For example, Hannah’s boyfriend did not think much about joking with his friends that things got very personal on their first date, but as the rumor got passed around school, others began to think that Hannah was a slut and despise her. This made me realize that how awful rumors are and the consequences it can do to shatter someone’s life. As the saying goes, words hurt more than actions, they hit you deep in the heart and the pain never goes away. You never know if someone is having a rough day, if you happen to make their day worse, their next move may surprise you.

Another lesson this book gives its readers is to help those in need. When someone is in need of aid, they may pretend to be strong and tell others that it is nothing more but a mere problem. But in truth, it could turn out to be way more serious than what one speaks. Like in the book, Hannah meets Clay at the party, Clay clearly knows that there is something wrong with Hannah, but he just could not put it in words. When he finally got the nerve to ask Hannah about it, she said it was nothing then immediately started pouting, which startled Clay, who left the scene with Hannah still crying. Even though a person says that he or she is fine, the person may in fact be in a really bad state of mind and in desperate need. Next time instead of listening to someone right off the bat, be observant and see if their problem is serious. If so, then help them. You never know if you have just saved a person’s life.

Looking back at Hannah’s tale from her own point of view, I really realized how different incidents may stack up thus resulting in a person’s loss of hope in life. Many times I sit in my bed, wondering what we could do to decrease similar cases from happening. I ask myself if I could place a change in someone’s life, if so, then how? How should I make a difference in someone’s choice? What can I do to stop someone from making the wrong decisions? In my opinion, it is not to try rescuing at the end but preventing from the start.