Character Sketch Essay : Thirteen Reasons Why

Margaret

Purples

14 January 2011

Overwhelmed: The Story of Hannah Baker

            Every high school student struggles with drama and problems with friends, but sometimes, what seem like little problems or no problem at all can build up and overwhelm a person until it seems like there is no escape. This is what happened to Hannah Baker, the main character in Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Hannah was a junior in high school who had just moved to a new town and was determined to start fresh in this new place. However, this plan failed as little problems began to pile up and all of her safe havens were taken away one by one. Hannah eventually took what seemed like the only escape route to her and committed suicide. Hannah’s method of dealing with the problems in her life was very drastic and could have been avoided, but her story still serves as a reminder to all who read it that even actions which may seem small can turn into something overwhelming.

            At first, Hannah Baker seems to be a very optimistic person, but by the end of the story, she has changed to a pessimist. Since Hannah tells her story when she is going through depression, the reader does not get a very good idea of what her personality was like before she became sad, angry, and disappointed at the world. However, everything in her new town seems to be going fine at first and Hannah seems to be looking at the bright side of things, if with a touch of sarcasm in everything. For instance, she describes trips to a local café on page 63 with, “Yes, we were cheesy…If it helps, it’s almost too sweet for me. But Monet’s truly filled whatever void needed filling at the time.” Then, Hannah’s classmates perform one idiotic act after another and little by little her optimism is worn completely away. Eventually, she does not see any way out except to end her life. As she neared this ultimatum, Hannah’s depression, which was originally caused by others, brought her to make the choices that were truly the reason she died.

            Though it was not the first bad thing to happen to her, one of the events that had a large impact on Hannah was when she discovered that a boy named Tyler was stalking her. It began when she started to hear suspicious sounds outside of her bedroom window. At first, she tried to brush them off, but then she was forced to accept that someone was out there. She says on page 80, “We all know the sound a camera makes when it snaps a picture…And I always keep my window open, about an inch or two, for fresh air. Which is how I knew someone was standing outside.” After she realizes that someone is watching her, she and another acquaintance make a plan to find out who is her Peeping Tom. Discovering that Tyler Down is stalking her shakes Hannah to the core. On page 89, she asks Tyler, “Why didn’t you leave me alone, Tyler? My house. My bedroom. They were supposed to be safe for me. Safe from everything outside. But you were the one who took that away. Well…not all of it...But you took away what was left.” This illustrates perfectly how Hannah saw all the places that had felt safe for her being taken away.

            The most important events in Hannah’s story, though, took place at a party near the end of the book and her life. The night of the party began with Hannah feeling hope for the first time in a while. Then, she got to the party and things were going well. She was talking to the boy she had a crush on, Clay Jensen. Eventually the conversation between her and Clay turned into something more and they retreated to a bedroom. It was there, in what should have been a happy moment, that despair really hit Hannah. She threw Clay out of the room and collapsed on the floor until, “Soon after Clay left, the couple from the couch walked into the bedroom. Actually, stumbled into the bedroom is more accurate…Of course, I didn’t actually see them come in. I was still on the floor, my back against the far side of the bed, and it was dark (Asher 221).” After the boy of the couple left, since the girl was too drunk to do anything but lie there, Hannah heard other voices and footsteps outside. She crawled to the closet and hid there. The events that took place after that were what really drove Hannah over an edge. The voices that she heard outside were two boys, one of which was the boy who had just walked out and one of which was planning on taking advantage of the girl inside the room. The boy who had left the room made some weak protests, but eventually stepped aside and let the other boy in. Hannah Baker, sitting curled up in the closet, witnessed the rape of one of her former friends. On page 226 and 227, Hannah says, “And I could have stopped it. If I could have talked. If I could have seen. If I could have thought about anything, I would have opened those doors and stopped it.” Witnessing this terrible event, and yet being too wracked by her own grief to do anything about it was one of biggest factors in Hannah’s decision to commit suicide.

            In this book, the reader watches as Hannah goes from a hopeful teenager to a girl who is so depressed and overwhelmed by strings of bad events that just keep coming that she does not take advantage of the escape routes and aid that others offer her. In the beginning, Hannah has great hopes for a new town and the new people. As time goes on though, and rumors build on rumors and more and more traumatizing events take place, she becomes depressed. In a way, she realizes this, especially when she is with Clay and says, “But I wasn’t alone. I knew that. For the first time in a long time, I was connecting—connected—with someone from school. How in the world was I alone? Because I wanted to be (212).” By the end, Hannah had basically brushed away everyone who tried to help her or get close to her. She sees no way out, and on page 266 she says “When you were done, Bryce, I got out of the hot tub and walked two houses away. The night was over. I was done.” Hannah’s transformation in this novel was one from better to worse and from an optimistic, happy teenage girl to one who was so depressed that she could not help herself, or even accept the help of others any more.

            Though Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is very sad to read, it paints the picture of an optimistic person’s transformation to a depressed individual very vividly and teaches many lessons about little things becoming overwhelming and about taking the help that one is offered. Hannah’s transformation and her description of it teaches the reader that even the little actions that seem harmless when they are taking place can build up into something huge. However, it also teaches that even when everything seems horrible, there are ways out, if one is willing to take them. Though many uncontrollable events started Hannah’s depression, what really killed her in the end was her choice not to take advantage of all the help that could have saved her.