Weeks after Hannah Baker had committed suicide, Clay Jensen, classmate, co-worker, and secret fan of Hannah Baker receives a box of seven cassette tapes with no return address. After listening to the first tape, Clay understands that these tapes are the thirteen reasons why Hannah Baker decided to kill herself, and the tapes are being passed among the people who pushed Hannah to the edge. Jay Asher, the author of the novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, is trying to convey to readers the idea that every choice we make in this world ultimately has a much larger effect on other people than we may think. Readers are invited to meet characters, see contrast, and understand symbolism that makes Asher’s message so clear. Justin Foley, Alex Standall, Jessica Davis, Tyler Down, Courtney Crimsen, Marcus Cooley, Zach Dempsey, …show more content…
Clay leaves Hannah in a bedroom in the house of the party, Hannah hides in the closet when she hears another couple coming, and after Justin realizes that doing anything with that girl would be morally wrong, he leaves to guard the door until a friend explains that he’ll be quick with the girl, he knew that he was allowing a completely preventable rape. Hannah hides in the closet the entire time, sobbing into a pillow, but couldn’t build up enough courage to save the girl, knowing exactly what is going on, again allowing that girl to be raped, aware of the repercussions, “You’re right, you didn’t rape her. And I didn’t rape her. He did. But you… and I.. we let it happen. It’s our fault.”(231). Most people will carry around being raped for their entire life, but not only did Hannah and Justin not help when one of their classmates were destroying another classmates life, they will also have to carry around that guilt for the rest of their lives, the rape that occurred that night works to symbolise to Hannah