Thirteen Reasons Why Post #4

- Males are shown as a negative topic in this novel, what are your feelings towards this?

• I do agree that the majority of males in this novel are shown in a negative light. Hannah names several people and instances that contributed to her suicide. Among the list of names, most of them are males. Out of the thirteen tapes, nine of them were guys.  However, only eight of those nine guys were negative. As Hannah goes on and tells the reader the reasons of why that person contributed, we hear the brutal experiences she had. Unfortunately, her most unpleasant experiences were from the guys in her life. Justin started a rumor that she was a slut. Alex said she had the best ass in the freshman class. Tyler was a peeping tom. Marcus tried to push Hannah sexually. Zach steals her notes of encouragement. Ryan plagiarizes Hannah’s poems. Bryce takes Hannah’s virginity. Mr. Porter ignored Hannah’s cries for help. I can see where the reader would get the impression that all guys in this novel are bad and that the author is trying to portray that image. I do not think that Jay Asher set out to say that all males are bad; after all, he is a male himself. If all guys were negative in this novel, then Jay Asher would not have put Clay and Tony in it. Clay and Tony, even though they are the only two positive models for guys in Thirteen Reasons Why, play a huge part in the novel. The reader learns that Clay is one of the very few reasons Hannah thought against committing suicide. Tony was also a reason as to why Hannah thought against it, but neither of the two was substantial enough to really change her mind. Hannah really started to like Clay and was friends with Tony. She knew that she could depend on them for anything, even after she was gone. I feel that the people in Hannah’s life, in general, were portrayed rather negatively. I do not think it focuses just on the males. Females play a role in her suicide also, although they are not mentioned as frequently. Guys at Hannah’s age tend to be very immature in their words and actions. Unfortunately for Hannah, it was too much to handle. If the book had portrayed it as an even distribution of negativity on both genders, the emotion of the novel would not be the same. Yes, the majority of guys in this book are portrayed negatively, but I do not think it was on purpose that it was mostly males.

Thirteen Reasons Why Post #3

4. When you have completed a text, consider the ending. What ended? Is it an appropriate ending? Predictable? Out of left field?

• When I first started to read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, I did not expect the ending to play out the way it did. When you first read the beginning, you get the feeling that Hannah first sends the tapes to Clay because he actually contributed to her suicide. It is the opposite; Clay is one of the few reasons she thought against committing suicide. She sends the tapes to Clay because she wants him, and all the others, to know how they contributed. Hannah tells Clay that all he did was give her hope. The night at the party when they first had a "real conversation" was when Hannah was happiest. She never believed that a guy like Clay would talk to a girl like her. On the tape, Hannah apologizes to Clay for everything after that night and she relays the reasons as to why he should not be on the bad list of tapes. He is on there to hear how happy he made Hannah. Hannah’s purpose for putting him on those tapes is to make him as happy as he made her. After finally being done all the tapes, Clay is angered by everything that happened to Hannah. At the moment, Clay does not realize that he is cutting his hands on the fence. He does not care either, because he is just starting to get a taste of the pain Hannah had felt before she killed herself. The whole novel ends a little after all the tapes are finished. I think that it is an appropriate ending because it makes the reader's heavy heart lighten a little. It is a bright ending to a sad book. The ending of Thirteen Reasons Why is not predictable in the least. Sure, throughout the book little signs are given, but what book does not have that aspect? Although the ending was not predictable, it also was not out of left field. The ending perfectly suits the novel. I think that the ending balances out the book. The ending also helps the reader to understand the novel better. There are thirteen reasons she committed suicide, but one of those thirteen is a positive reason as to why she thought against it. Without Clay, Hannah would have committed suicide a lot earlier. His presence in her life gave Hannah a little glimmer of hope that maybe; just maybe her life might turn around. The conclusion to this novel sheds some light on that topic.

Thirteen Reasons Why Post #2

3. When are you surprised or confused? What does not fit? If something or someone does not make sense, write about it.

• · I am surprised when Hannah tells the reader the way she went about creating the tapes. It is a very abnormal way that is unheard of. For example, at one point in the story, she tells of a boy who was a "peeping tom." His name is Tyler Down. When Hannah created this tape, she was actually outside of his own window, peeping in at him, without Tyler having any clue in the world. When Tyler was outside her window, Hannah had thought she heard the click of a camera. She was scared, but did not know what else to do so she got changed underneath of her covers. She found comfort in an acquaintance when the other girl said she would help Hannah catch the creep. When the girl came over to Hannah's, she only heightened the problem and made Hannah's life even worse. While Hannah was making the tape for Tyler, she spoke loudly, almost trying to make him hear her words. He did not. When he received the tapes, he was completely freaked out, regretting everything he had done. It almost does not fit that Hannah could hear the faint sound of the camera clicking, but Tyler could not hear Hannah speaking loudly right outside of his bedroom window while she was watching him. This peculiarity repeats throughout the book.  I believe that Jay Asher, the author, purposely puts these oddities in to keep the readers attention. His technique works wonderfully. The reader cannot wait to get to the next tape because of his technique. In almost every single tape, she is somewhere close to where the “incidents” happened. She seems to mock the people responsible for her suicide. It seems that Hannah sets out to make the recipients of her tapes feel as uncomfortable as she did. She wants those who contributed to her death to feel as invaded and hurt as she felt. I do not understand why Hannah would do this. Why would you want someone else to feel the same pain you did? Was she trying to have the same affect on them? I ask myself these questions time and time again because it is such a prominent part of the story. I think Hannah just wanted a little revenge. I think she just wanted them to suffer a little bit. Not only by the way she made the tapes, but by the content within the tapes.

Thirteen Reasons Why Post #1 *******

2. Do you identify with the purpose, experience, values expressed in the text? Or if you don’t--what then? How are you connecting to the text?

• The novel I am reading is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. I both identify and don't identify with the values experienced in the text. I identify with Hannah because I, too, have experienced bullying and peer pressure. I know what it is like to feel like you don't belong and what it feels like to be used. So it is understandable for her to be extremely upset by the experience. When you are not accepted in a group, you feel like an outsider to the world. The feeling of rejection is not a warm feeling and causes many people to do what Hannah did. What I do not identify with is the way in which Hannah goes about her revenge. Hannah Baker kills herself, leaving behind recorded tapes of her voice telling the others of why they contributed to her death. I do not agree with her committing suicide because, by doing so, she did not solve the problem, she only caused great grief in those who loved her. I do not agree with the tapes because, if that were I on the receiving end, I would have a hard time living with myself knowing that I directly contributed to her suicide. I do not believe fighting fire with fire is a good idea. However, everyone has their own way of dealing with things, Hannah and I obviously stand on different sides of the line. If I were in her position, I would have tried talking about it with my parents. If my parents were not helpful, I would have tried talking to a teacher. Unfortunately, Hannah did talk to a counselor, who told her basically to suck it up and get over her problems. Hannah and I are not on the same page in other aspects too. She and I do not value life in the same way. I believe life is precious and should not be ended because of other people’s actions. I do not believe suicide is the answer, unlike Hannah. Hannah thought that suicide would solve and terminate all her issues. To her, life was disposable. The author does not come right out and say that Hannah thinks this way, but it is alluded to in the text. I believe that if Hannah had gotten the right kind of help, she would not have committed suicide. If she had someone to talk to and confide in, she would have felt like she was not alone and could get through things.