Thirteen Reasons Why door Jay Asher

Final assignment – 13 Reasons Why

Yasmin Al-Jarrah 3VGT

Introduction

This essay is about the book 13 Reasons Why. This is a novel about a girl who committed suicide. The main characters are Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen. Clay found a box with audiotapes in front of his house. When he listened to them, he finds out Hannah recorded them. In the tapes she explains why she made her decision to end her life. She says that everyone who received the tapes is to blame for her death. Clay had a crush on her, but could not think of anything he could have possibly done to be on the tapes. He crisscrossed through the town at night while listening to the tapes to find out what he is to blame for.

I am going to explain two themes that feature the book, give three reasons why Hannah should be alive and give my opinion of the book.

Reputation

Hannah was a girl with a certain reputation, which is made up by rumours. People would judge her based on the rumours they had heard. There appeared a list, which was called “WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT”. She was at the “hot” side, and since that list everyone thought of her as a slut.

Clay and Hannah worked together at the Crestmont theatre. Clay knows the real Hannah, because at the Crestmont they could talk together and Hannah could be herself there. Clay had a crush on her, but never told her that he loved her. He thought that a girl like Hannah would never date him. When he listens to the tapes he finds out that Hannah also loved him, but then it is too late.

Revenge

 Hannah had two best friends: Jessica Davis and Alex Standall.  Every day after school they would meet each other at Monet’s. But after a while Alex did not show up at Monet’s anymore, and Jessica also did not come anymore. Later on, Jessica and Alex fell in love and had a relationship. Alex wrote the “WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT” list, and because he was mad at Jessica for some reason, he wrote her name at the side which was called “worst ass”, and Hannah’s name on the “best ass” side. He wanted to get revenge on Jessica. Jessica gets mad at Hannah and punches her in the face. Their friendship is over, which is obviously not Hannah’s fault.

Why Hannah should have lived

First of all, bad times do not last forever. After high school, she could get a job, a husband and children and live a happy life.

Furthermore, she could press charges against Bryce Walker. He raped a girl and he should be punished for his actions,  now he could get away with it.

In addition, she hurt the people who did care about her. For example, Clay and her parents. They lost their only daughter and think they have done something wrong. I am sure for them Hannah was the most important person in their lives.

My opinion about the book

I really enjoyed reading the book, although it was a sad story. I like the writing style the author used. Things were clearly described, but also passive.  I had already seen the Netflix serie, but the book is more impressive. Some scenes were the same as in the books, some were different, that was a bit confusing. But overall, I think this is one of my favourite English books.

Wordcount: 578 words