English 485: Expedition Adolescence

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher is an amazing and touching story about one girl who was subject to the harsh realities of being a teenager. From the beginning of the novel, the story is being told from Clay Jensen’s point of view. This helped to give some context and background knowledge to the plot, other than from Hannah’ viewpoint. Although it switches narrators throughout, we have the opportunity to get to know the characters through Hannah’s eyes.  Though suicide notes are common for those who commit suicide, Hannah Baker decided to make thirteen audio notes of the thirteen people that she says contributed to her decision. In this case, the thirteen reasons are more of an organized principle that she uses to arrive at making sense of the chaos and drama that goes on in her life. Instead of just one main reason, the author provides several elements that could lead to suicide in any one.  While dealing with these difficult topics, it was refreshing to read a novel that focus...

Thirteen reasons why was one of my favorite books we’ve read this semester, mainly because there is a TV show for it so it has a visual. The book touched on many deep topics that young adults deal with on a daily. Relationships, sexual assault, suicide, losing friendships, dealing with someone you like that doesn’t know you like them, problems with parents all of that. I feel like it was something young adults needed to hear. As far as the story itself for some reason I don’t like it. I understand what Hannah went through I just wish she would’ve understood at the end of the day there was a light at the end of the path. I also don’t like how she made the tapes based off things that happened because a lot of the tapes were surprising. People don’t realize what they are doing when they do it, they don’t think about consequences and the people on 13 reasons why are young so they of course didn’t understand what they were doing or might have thought it wasn’t that big of a deal. To be s...

13 Reasons Why is a heavy novel. I think it might be the heaviest subject matter we’ve read this semester. It is the distinction between Hannah and Clay’s voice that creates a very real depiction of a girl who has already committed suicide. I think that because Hannah has already committed suicide when we meet her in the novel, the finality of suicide is heightened. She has already made the decision to end her life, and painstakingly lists out the reasons why. Its an atypical way to discuss the subject of suicide, because it’s backwards to what one would expect. Instead of seeing in real-time someone make the decision to commit suicide, we start out with the final decision already made and work backward. I think because its different, it makes a larger effect.             One other element that makes a large effect on the impact of the novel is the use of tapes. The novel was published in 2007. Even at that p...

I think that 13 Reasons Why is a great novel in terms that it delivers a very strong and convincing message about suicide, and promotes awareness of mental health and self harm. However, I think that the execution of how the promotion these ideas loses its impact through the characters of the book. For instance, Hannah Baker comes across as almost vindictive and vengeful when she is making the tapes addressed to the people who contributed to her suicide. My reasoning for this, is because if she wanted those who wronged her to know the damage that they had done; Hannah could have released the tapes publicly. for all to know. Instead, she has them delivered personally, so that each contributor can listen to it on their own accord, and further allow the guilt to fester as they cannot/will not tell others what happened (I mean, why would they admit to basically killing someone?). Thus leading to the deterioration of those individuals. I could see why Hannah Baker's character could deli...

13 Reasons Why and Jay Asher hold a special place in my heart. For a short story, I remember when I was about in the 7 th or 8 th grade and I would always go to Wal-Mart with my grandma on Fridays. She would buy me one book every time we would go out (she’s the best) and I pointed out 13 Reasons Why one day. She refuses to buy and told me I had to ask my dad if I could buy it and it was just such a headache. A few weeks later I was out with my mom and saw the book. I grabbed it and told her it was for a school project just so I could read it. I have never wanted to read a book so bad, but I had to have it. Once I got home with it, I went straight to my room and hid it under my bed. I would wait until my bedtime, shut the door, turn the lights out and read a chapter of 13 Reasons Why . I instantly fell in love with this book. It made me feel so many emotions on a level I had never felt before. Empathy, fear and just sick to my stomach. It was a book that really changed my perception...

      13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher is very controversial on the subject of suicide. There are many aspects about this book that I liked and disliked, but whichever the feeling, I became very passionate on the subject of suicide. I also chose to write my research paper on the matter in order to educate myself more on the subject.      Hannah Baker is one interesting character. Not only did she decide to take her own life, but she decided to take a dozen people down with her. I was able to watch a few of the series, and like her character a bit more, but throughout most of the story she just bugged me. Yes, she did have reasons for each person on the list, but lets be honest, most of them had no idea they were doing anything wrong. There's a lot she could have spoken up about and not felt the need to kill herself. This being said, I know that if she didn't actually kill herself there would be not story, but I'm approaching this more in the light of whether ...

             13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher might be one of the most suspenseful novels that we have read for the semester. This novel may have not been one of my favorites just because of how the topic was presented or displayed throughout the novel. Though, I appreciate the awareness of bringing light to this issue, I just feel it could’ve been designed with a better plot that didn’t justify suicidal reasons because the honest truth is there is such a variety it is just impossible to narrow it into 13, and everyone’s situation may be different not concerning with others at all.             I feel like I was so unmotivated to read this novel because the series ruined it for me which may I add I wasn’t too fond of as well. I think my major issue is how it drags out the plot of this tragic event and how we are entertained by things that led to someone killing their self, but ...

            Before reading the book 13 Reasons Why , I watched the Netflix series and I somewhat liked it, but the book, not so much and now, I’m not too sure if I still like the Netflix series even after re-watching it. Don’t get me wrong, the series is decent, but I think my issue is with the storyline. I think this is because I get the feeling as though there is a lot missing in the development of the story and there is a lot more details I think that could have been added to the storyline and plot. Another issue I have with the book and the show especially, is the “build-up” to the suicide. It’s almost as if Hannah killing herself is the grand finale and this just doesn’t sit well with me. The show seems to be structured to create suspense and anticipation of the suicide at the end. Yes, the suicide is the highlight of the show, it is the main reason why the show was created but the way it was portrayed just doesn’t sit ...

The major difference between the show and book 13 Reasons Why is the timeline. Clay is determined to finish the tapes in one day because curiosity and wanting to know what he did makes him eager. The show extends that to overemphasize the dramatic realization from Clay that he had a part in Hannah’s death. He is much more internal in the show whereas in the novel we get his thoughts, reaction, and responses to Hannah’s revelation. Through the show the actor for Clay had to really embody the emotions that we are told from Clay himself in the novel, to just solely looking at the actor’s facial expressions, body posture, and tears. I felt like the novel was more subtle (if that’s possible) with the tapes being revealed and listened to whereas the show seemed more suspenseful and packed with action from Clay. Clay in the novel seems to go through the emotions as he gets there but the show makes it look like Clay secretly knew he played apart. Overall both materials illustrated th...

I will confess that I rolled my eyes when I saw that we had to read 13 Reason Why . I might have been because of my age, and I thought that it was a "book" that young people (I am 28.. so high school age kids) just took it as a trend and starting to view it because it was "cool". BUT now that I have had to the chance to read and view the series my personal view for the storyline has changed. As mentioned in class, I think this is the same view that "adults" might have if they gave the book and series a chance. Since I had never watched the series nor read the book, I decided to read the book first and then see how it was portrayed unto screen. By doing this I found that my view towards the characters changed. At first I disliked the main character, Hannah, and thought that she was being selfish by trying to ruin other peoples lives (since something like this can have a domino effect). I will add a disclaimer that I am not victim blaming, I think that anyon...

    13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher is NOT a book I enjoyed. At all. I think the novel is shallow, Hannah Baker sounds like a girl who only cares about herself and is so stuck in her own head that it's like all of the negative things that happen to her define her life. The characters are ill-developed, they are not explained, there is no second side of the story that I think is extremely important to the plot. Before I get too into it, the book has a lot of flaws. But, from what I've seen of the Netflix series, it's pretty good. I still don't like the story, but the show is much more detailed and portrayed a lot more appropriately than the book, in my opinion. I will go into detail about the comparison between the book and the show as well as what I like and dislike about each.    In the book, 13 Reasons Why , I want to talk about the issues with the character Hannah Baker. Before I start off, I want to say that I'm not trying to make any rash or harsh opinions about s...

I want to begin by saying that I'm a strong supporter of the novel and show 13 Reasons Why. I know that it has sparked controversy for a wide variety of reasons (and I agree with a lot of points people have brought up) but I think I ultimately have examined the book/show in a different view that allows me to overlook some of these points or otherwise be flexible about the show's representation. I've noticed among my peers for years that they develop really strong attachments to characters in books and shows. This strangely intimate attachment makes people "take things personally" a lot of the time. It also seems to make people treat/form opinions about/analyze characters as if they are real life people they interact with. While all of this makes sense on one level, I've found that my way of analyzing characters is very detached. I don't think about how I would feel if a friend did something or acted like a book character-at least not in the realm of...

Both the book and the Netflix adaptation of 13 Reasons Why, written by Jay Asher, show a heartbreaking story of a girl, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide. Although the book came out first, I watched the Netflix show first. I feel as this hurt the way that I read the book. I often hate watching the movie before I read the book because it tells you how you should physically see the characters, rather then allowing yourself to make up what you think they look like. This time it was different. I did not mind already seeing who the characters were while reading this book. One of the most different things that I noticed from the two adaptations, was the point of view. In the book, it is primarily an intimate conversation between Clay and Hannah, while in the show, we see many different view points (not to the extent of Clay's view point). The show allows us to see how the before and after affects on the characters after they listen to the tapes. I feel like one of the major differenc...

I am writing my paper on Mental Health Illnesses and the effects that it has on students, teachers, and close or surrounding friends. I want to focus on how there can be intervention in schools and overall professionally trained psychologists to be hired on as aids. The research that I want to focus on are the statistics of mental illness and its effects on adolescents. The challenges that I see include finding accurate enough evidence of the effect on adolescents, and supportive articles about how teachers deal with students with mental illnesses. The Book that I want to focus on as of now is 13 Reasons Why Questions that I want to focus on are as follows: Should there be trained psychologists in schools to work with students who struggle with a mental illness? How can we as teachers monitor a student's’ mental well-being? Should there be a training for teachers to go through to be prepared for students with mental mental illnesses? How can we as teachers and guidan...

I'm doing my critical response research on Mental health and depression in adolescence. I want to talk about why it's so relevant in adolescence, mainly what can cause it, like where does it come from. What can be done to help it? What are the signs? Why is it important? What should teachers do about it when they have a student that is clearly suffering and what should the parents do. Depression and mental health as a whole are very relevant being a young adult going through puberty, school, friends, popularity. I know a lot about this topic because for one I've dealt with it hands on. I know a lot of the signs and things that can trigger it. I selected this topic because I want to research it and I think it's very important and is something that needs to be talked about. Books that nail the topic that I've read so far are Thirteen reasons why, Speak, Broken China, perks of being a wallflower and much more. I plan on using books about mental health, Articles about i...

For my topic, I have decided to focus on parent/child relationships. This topic is one that kind of gets brushed under the rug, because it is hard for adults (or anyone) to hear that they are not doing a good job or that their child is struggling. I feel that this topic needs to be shared not only for the lovers of Speak, The Absolute Diary of a Part Time Indian, Crank,   and 13 Reasons Why , but also for actual children and young adults who do not have the parents. I think I am going to compare some of the "good" parents from different books, like Divergent , to the "bad" parents in the books above and The Hunger Games. My major question in my paper is going to be- Why are parents not involved in their children's lives? I will give many examples of how the parents from the books above were present/not present in their lives, how some of the young adults just needed their parents to listen, and how the relationships looked. Other questions: How would a positiv...

                 A few weeks ago I was trying to decide what topic to pick for my research project. I was torn between suicide and dysfunctional families, and after multiple conversations with my kids at work I have chosen parent/child relationships. Every child on my shift last Monday came to me individually, with an issue that was derived from their relationship with a parent. I didn't realize this until I found myself crying in the corner thinking about all the things they go through. I've concluded that no matter what the situation or issue is, they all  have one thing in common: They want to make their parent(s) proud, and they want their attention. I don't think society as a whole realizes the impact parents have on their children and their success.                  In Prisoner B-3087 , Yanek wants to make his father proud and looks up to him so much. It is Yanek's faith, taught from hi...

For my research paper, I am leaning towards the topic of bullying and how it is reflected in YA literature. I chose this topic because it is an issue that has always been present in society, and is only recently coming to the light. I think that it is important to emphasize the impact that bullying has on kids, and the roles that authority figures play when it happens. Some questions that will drive my topic are: 1. Why does bullying occur? Is it age sensitive? Or can it be a various range of ages. 2. Are there resources truly available for the victims of bullying? 3. Is there a way to prevent bullying? Is there a way to be totally proactive against it? 4. How (generally) do we handle the bullies? How do we help the victims in school settings? 5. As a figure of authority in education, what is the response to bullying? Which is the best stance? Can it be too involved? Can one be not involved enough? 6. What are the repercussions for bullies? Are they substantial? Too harsh?...

As a Hispanic girl raised in South Carolina who loves reading, I wanted to do my research on The lack of diversity in young adult literature. There is nothing like picking up a book and relating to the character in it. The stories that are popular are great reads, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight, Speak, but these stories, characters are not who I am. I would love to see a hispanic Katniss dominating and being the hero versus the hispanic girl that acts like a chola and drops out of high school (the regular cliche one reads and sees in books and movies). Some books that are great reads for minorities are some that we have read in class:                   - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian                  - The House on Mango Street                  -Esperanza Rising The following questions, are some that I will be using to grow ...

I plan to do my research paper on the depiction of romance in YA lit, and why teens love to read it. I know that sex sells, but I would like to delve deeper into what that means when applied to young adult literature. I think there is an opportunity to include the issue of censorship with this topic, as romantic relationships can be somewhat controversial to some. I would also like to explore the idea of fan-fiction. I know teens are into writing their own "canons" and "shipping" their favorite characters, and oftentimes those fan fictions become a way to express certain types of relationships that aren't necessarily depicted in the literature. Some questions to explore this topic are: 1. What are the implications of young love in literature? 2. In terms of adolescent development, where does "love" fit in? Does this depend at all on gender? 3. What kind of effect does it have that adults are writing about two young people in a romantic relationship...

I plan on doing my research paper on the topic of teen pregnancy. I believe that teen pregnancy has always been an issue in today’s society and doesn’t receive the proper awareness as it should. In this paper I want to focus on how teen pregnancy is portrayed in society through the media and how that affects female teenagers perception of this issue. Some questions that may help with my research topic would be: 1. What can society do to help reduce teen pregnancy? 2. How does the school system support teen pregnancy? 3. How can we encourage teenagers to not get pregnant, or practice safe sex? 4. What support is available for teen parents overall? 5. What race has the most teen pregnancies? I want to do my research on this topic because I was a pregnant teenager during high school, and it was something that changed my life forever. I feel like if I would have been aware of certain things or had someone there to guide me through my adolescent years that some of the decisions...

In what ways  does   the economical state of one's family effect  a  teen's   performance  in their school life, social life, and home life? ----Does low income in   a teen's family leave that person  more prone to experimentation in drugs,  alc ohol , sexual activity? Does low income effect their educational performance, even resulting in drop outs? Do p arent s  who work a lot and have high incomes effect the teen's interrelationships  negatively due  to them not being around ? Are they prone to experimentation with sex, drugs, and  alc ohol more because their parents aren't around to regulate and monitor? How are expectations in the teen varied within the different  families  who have opposite  economic  statuses?    I selected this topic because a parent rather good or bad, plays an enormous role in a teen's life. The parent holds the responsibility of being the adult in housing and...