Humanism

Thirteen Reasons Why

Jay Asher

Plot

Clay Jensen, a somewhat shy high school student, returns home from school one day to find an anonymously-sent package sitting on his doorstep. Upon opening it, he discovers that it is a shoebox containing seven cassette tapes recorded by the late Hannah Baker, his classmate and emotionally damaged crush who recently committed suicide by taking a handful of pills. The tapes were initially mailed to one classmate with instructions to pass them from one student to another, in the style of a chain letter, starting from the one involved in the first story to the last. On the tapes, Hannah explains to thirteen people how they played a role in her death, by giving thirteen reasons explaining why she took her life. Hannah has given a second set of tapes to one of their classmates, the identity of whom Clay later discovers, and warns the people on the tapes that if they do not pass them on, the second set will be leaked to the entire student body. This could lead to the public embarrassment and shame of certain people, while others could face physical harassment charges or jail time. Through the audio narrative, Hannah reveals her pain and suffering and her spiral into depression that ultimately leads to her death. She lists her first crush, two former friends, a peeping Tom, a liar, a goof who takes advantage of her, a hater, a thief who steals her poems, a member of the list that had already been mentioned, a cheerleader who crashes into a stop sign, a guy she had a sexual encounter with, the guidance counselor, and Clay himself. They all thought their actions were harmless, but they were wrong. Hannah's tapes will haunt them forever.

(from Wikipedia.com)

Analysis

Humanism requires that the piece present man as essentially rational; that is endowed with intellect and free will. 

Thirteen Reason's Why is the story of Hannah Baker who committed suicide and before her death mailed cassette tapes to Clay Jensen containing the thirteen reasons why she killed herself. 

In this novel, Jay Asher tackled a serious issue now a days which is suicide. It is shown here the most common factors for committing suicide which is depression . 

The main idea is that people tend to think and believe  that life is overwhelming and that death is a welcome escape.