TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY
by: Jay Asher
Theme 1: Your choices can make a huge impact on your life or someone else's
Throughout this novel, Hannah Baker admits that the decision to commit suicide was nobody's but her own. She admits these things through a series of recorded tapes. Although it was her decision, she does put some of the blame on the thirteen people that the tapes were sent to. All of those peoples choices of action or words made Hannah's life hard for her. For example, a boy named Justin, who was her first kiss exaggerated what they did. In the long run things got spread and it gave her a bad reputation. Another reason was that. Tyler, a boy who stalked her outside her bedroom window, and took pictures of her and her friend Courtney, which also led to more rumors. There were 13 reasons why she killed herself.
Theme 2: Say what you want to say before it's too late.
Although Clay didn't do anything bad to Hannah, and he wasn't one of the reasons she killed herself, he knew people made fun of her and didn't do anything about it. He has heard the comments people made about her but never stuck up for her. Clay never believed anything that was said about Hannah, and always thought good things about her. He had a crush on her, but she never knew and she never will, because it was too late. He missed his chance. Maybe he could have saved her.
Tapes
Hannah recorded herself on tape explaining to 13 people why she committed suicide.
Theme #1
¨Think before you act, because you never know how what you do will affect someone else.¨
Theme #2
Say what you want to say before it's too late.
How the themes relate:
Almost all of Hannah's reasons to committing suicide was because of the way people treated her or what they said to her or about her. And all of those things were choices people made. Hannah did notice the people that cared about her, but they never did anything to stick up for her. Those people were also part of the blame. Clay, was one of the only people who was nice to Hannah and never did anything bad to her, other than not doing enough to help. On the tape Hannah specifically says that Clay doesn't belong on the tape in the same way the others do. She thanks Clay for being so supportive. At the end of the novel, Clay notices his old friend Skye Miller. He realizes that she has the same symptoms of suicide as Hannah did. Clay sees her in the hall and calls out her name in order to try to save her.
quotes from the book that reflect the themes:
1. “When you mess with one part of a person's life, you're not messing with just that part. When you mess with one part of a person's life, you're messing with their entire life.”
2. “You don't know what goes on in anyone's life but your own.”
3. “But I do know which is the least popular. The truth.”
4. ¨But instead, every time, I pretend not to notice. What could I do anyway? ¨