Perspective in Thirteen Reasons Why

At first, it is hard to tell which perspective is missing from Thirteen Reasons Why.  If you look really closely you can tell though. Hannah’s perspective is missing.  Hannah is a girl who has recently committed suicide. Clay, who has had a crush on Hannah almost as long as he has known her, comes home one day to find a package filled with tapes and no return address on the doorstep. When he plays the tapes he hears a dead girl’s voice on the speakers. She tells him that if he has received the tapes, he is one of the reasons she killed herself.

 Clay’s perspective is clearly present, the book is told from his point of view. At the same time, Hannah narrates almost the entire book through the tapes. But you only hear what she chooses to say. You hear how she is really feeling. It is only what Clay hears.

            Excluding Hannah’s voice has a really interesting effect on the story.  For one it really emphasizes how the people receiving the tape feel. If the author had just told it to us as Hannah recorded it, it would not have the same impact. The impact is also increased when we don’t know who will be next and what they did. It makes everything more of a shock.

            Whenever we hear stories about harassment or bullying, we usually hear it from the point of view of the victim or occasionally the bully. What is so interesting about this is that we are hearing it from a person who cared about the victim, so he isn’t neutral, but was never mean to her. In fact, Clay was sent the tapes because he had been nice to her once. That was the only time he really spoke to her though. Other then this one interaction, he was a bystander. It gives an interesting perspective on what happened. When she refers to “everyone else” he gives insight as to whether or not people really thought that. He also beats himself up for not stepping in and for believing every rumor he heard. This is something we don’t hear very often.

            Excluding Hannah’s perspective sends a really powerful message. It is about not watching as other people are bullied, teased or harassed. One person has the power to stop it. Everyone likes Clay. If he had said stop, people probably would have.  You can’t just stand by and watch. You have to take a stand.