Thirteen Reasons Why….. What emotions did the text stir up within me?

The emotions I received after reading the text in the book were two things. One of them was sadness. I mean you would have to be a cold heartless person to not feel a little sadness for what happened to poor Hannah Baker. Apparently Hannah felt she had only one way out of all the gossip and bullying that was bestowed upon her. Hannah felt the only way to stop all the pain inside her and finally give herself peace was to pop some pills and end her life.

The second emotion I received while reading was anger. From what I’ve read so far the things that happened to Hannah haven’t been that bad. I mean, I bet there are thousands of people out there in the world now that are having the same or similar situations that Hannah has had to deal with. From what I’ve read I don’t think Hannah has owned up to any of this. Some of the things that have happened she put herself into those situations. Like for instance with the peeping tom who we found out was Tyler. Hannah could have called the police letting them know someone was trespassing in her yard and was also peeping at her. She also made it worse by playing into the situation by giving another girl massages while he was outside her window when she was well aware he was taking pictures of them. Hannah did this quite a bit through this story when, if she would have thought things through more, she could have protected herself from rejection or what not. And to top it off she places blame on these thirteen people who are going to have to deal with this the rest of their lives. I mean if it was so bad she couldn’t take it why would you want others to feel that way.

Speak

The novel Speak was written by Laurie Halse Anderson and published in 1999. Speak is about a girl named Melinda Sordino who becomes the outcast of her high school entering her freshman year. Melinda is basically shunned from everyone she used to call friends because of an incident that happened to her at a high school party over the summer resulting in her calling the police for help. After this incident Melinda becomes depressed and with no friends to vent to it just makes her situation worse causing her to want to hide from the world and sleep. The only thing throughout this story that keeps Melinda sane is her interest in art. Her art teacher Mr. Freeman understands Melinda’s pain and teaches her how to channel her pain into her art work.    

I feel like this book relates to modern teens today. It shows the struggles that teens face to fit into cliques in high school. Every two minutes someone in the United States is sexually assaulted so by this statistic you see it happens to a lot of people. I feel this book shows you the effects of the after math it has on people emotionally and physically. Like Melinda a lot of people go through depression. They tend to blame themselves for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They usually keep the sexual assault to themselves hiding it from others because there ashamed or embarrassed from what has happened to them.     

Thirteen Reasons Why.....Does this text contain relevance for a modern audience, or is it dated?

In the novel Th1rteen R3asons by Jay Asher. I have learned so far that this novel is about a girl named Hannah Baker who commits suicide but before she does that she makes tapes of her voice telling thirteen unlucky people how they played a role in her death. These thirteen people must listen to all these tapes, rewind them back and send them on to the next person on the list but if anyone fails to send the tapes on then somehow these tapes will get released into the public’s hands.

               

I feel this novels text contains relevance for a modern audience because it shows the depression a young teen named Hannah Baker feels. Her depression caused by those who were closest to her or who went to her school ultimately causing the reason for her death. Even today we see stories like this on the news how young teens are being bullies by their peers causing them to make rash decisions to make their pain stop.  An example of this would be Phoebe Prince who happened to be a new student at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts who was also mercilessly tormented by her peers causing her to go home after school on January 14 and hang herself from a stairway in her home. This novel and these stories on the news show you this is a real thing that happens to real people every day. That there are people who commit suicide to escape the troubles or torment placed on them by others.  

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes was written by Chris Crutcher and published in 1993. Staying fat for Sarah Byrnes is about unlikely friendship between two high school kids living as outcasts at their high school. Eric Calhoune who happen to be obese and Sarah Byrnes who has suffered severe facial burns that she acquired fronm her childhood. Together these two, team up and create their own click called the uglies. Throughout the story your find out a lot about Eric and Sarah's lives from their childhood to what's happening now with with their families and what's going on in school. You also see how even when things start to change between the characters that no matter what happens they still remain the best of friends in the end and that Eric will do everything in his power to help out his friend Sarah when she needs him most.

I thought this was an awesome book, I mean if the book cannot hold my attention for more than a few pages then I won't even waste my time with it but this book was inrteresting from start to finish. It reminded me alot of being in high school trying to find that certain group of friends who you could trust your secretes with and that you ultimately fit in with or even having to dealing with family issues. This book will surly touch your heart when your reading about these teens lives and what they would do for each other when they're needed.