As we've all grown, we've all been faced against someone who's of higher power, such as a teacher, a parent, or maybe even an older sibling. No matter what, we've all been faced with interacting with them and depending on our personality, we'll react differently to them. But who has the most power? More exactly, what has the highest power? Personally, I think it's the truth or at least a form of it. Since nothing can beat or disprove the truth, there's nothing you can do to deny it. But we all have different ways of responding to the truth. In the story, Thirteen Reasons why by Jay Asher, which is a story that follows the point of view of a boy in high school named, Clay Jensen, who receives cassette tapes from a girl named Hannah Baker, who killed herself previously. The tapes contain all 13 reasons on why she killed herself. Throughout the story, many characters are faced with the higher power, known as the truth. How they all react is dependent on their personality, just like real life.
Clay Jensen is the main person we follow throughout the story. One of his first challenges when interacting with the truth was coming to terms with that he is somehow part of the 13 reasons. When he first received the tapes and heard them, he was in denial that he had anything to do with Hannah's suicide. When he first got the tapes he thought, "These tapes shouldn't be here. Not with me. It has to be a mistake. Or a terrible joke." After he began to figure out that he did, in fact was on Hannah's list after she mentioned on the tape, those on the list/were on the tapes would have gotten a map before she died. That's when he finally concluded that he is on the tape. But even after he came to terms with the truth that he was on the tape, he still kept questioning if he in fact is on the tapes and when would he appear on them. When it comes to Clay confront with the truth, he seems to be much more in denial about it than actually accepting it. Which is a normal reaction to the truth and even those in higher power. Some people who typically deny or try to be oblivious that there is someone higher than them.
In addition, one person on the tapes, Courtney Crimson is also faced with the higher power known as the truth. In the tapes, Hannah talked about Courtney posing. She basically explains Courtney's plan, how she purposely 'befriends' other people enough so more people will like he and then move on to the next person, like she was keeping with a checklist. But throughout Hannah's story, we see how Courtney never really wanted these 'friendships' to be known. Hannah realizes that and when Courtney invites her to a party, but ultimately ignores her, Hannah asks to take a picture with her. Courtney attempts to not take a picture with her but ends up doing so. But in the picture she looks nervous. Hannah discovers the truth about her, Courtney gets really nervous after she's faced with the truth, especially since that picture was posted around the school. She basically hides and ignores everything. Ignoring and even becoming nervous to the truth is a normal reaction to have when faced with this higher power.
Finally, we also see Hannah Baker's story since it's the main focus. Except with her, what higher power she interacts with, is a distorted version of the truth, or a rumor. In one the tapes, she describes her first kiss with a boy named Justin Foley. She kept mentioning how it was just a simple, sweet kiss and nothing more. That's when she mentions the rumors she had heard about her. The rumors that she was a 'slut'. When she reveal the truth that she just kissed him, held hands and swung on the swings. But as she disproves of the rumors, she gets really defensive and is filled with rage. She even says, "Oh. So sorry. You wanted something sexier, didn't you? You wanted to hear how my itchy little fingers started playing with his zipper. You wanted to hear... Well, what did you want to hear? Because I've heard so many stories that I don't know which one is the most popular. But I do which is the least popular. The truth. Now, the truth is the one you won't forget." But unlike Clay, who's more focused on denying the truth/that in power, Hannah was much more determined on over powering that in power by saying the truth. Which shows so much of her character in one part; we see how she's hard headed and determined to over throw those in power, how she's resourceful since she didn't want the truth, the real reason, the actual story on why she killed herself to go unnoticed. She did this by making tapes and sending them to those who have caused her pain. All of these traits normal for a person to have when interacting with those in higher power.
One of the main things that I loved about this book is how telling the truth is a big factor in all of these stories. Especially since the story revolves surrounds a girl telling the true story and reasons on why she killed herself. But I also love how each character reacts differently to the truth. These reactions just make everyone seem so human. That's what I absolutely love. I love reading about characters that I can understand and relate to as if they were real people. Though I do love this story and how the idea of honesty and the truth hold such great power in the entire story. I love how such a simple concept can be so complex.
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