13 Reason Why?

By -
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 anyone who has felt so low to think that death is the best option should consider all their options before doing so. I also thought that some of the reason why she blamed her classmates weren't all "real" reasons. The main one being Clay, although was not so popular during our class discussion and not so much for me in the book but I loved him in the series. I do not think he should have received those tapes and for her to blame him for being pretty much "stupid". He is not a councilor to see her crying calls for help but more so of a high school boy who was going their his own awkward stage in life. Also, Jenni, Hannah was just as guilty for the stop sign as she was. Also, the rape of Jessica, yes Bryce is the biggest one to point ones finger to but Hannah was in the room and could have stopped it just as much as Justin could. Also, the series changed characters name and the order in which the tapes were played ( in some cases). I recommend both the series and book to my friend who is beginning her journey as a future high school teacher. This book can teach students that even when we do "harmless" stuff to be funny there are people out their that can take it the wrong way. The list that Alex made, many girls would have thought that being the "best ass" would be something to be proud of, but in Hannah's case not so much. I am glad this book was on our list to read this semester because I would have probably never have had an open mind to read it and it has taught me TO have an open mind in the future when reading other YA novels that are not exactly to my liking.

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 6, 2017 at 1:21 PM

    I agree Karen, at first I was really not looking forward to reading this book! However, it did keep me hooked the entire time and it was an easy read. I did have some issues with the book on how they in sense "glorified" suicide, but that's an entirely new blog post to talk about. I do think it has it's good aspects and would be beneficial to teach in a classroom.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe...
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm...
Read more

Postmodernism in Curious Incident

By -
Before I start writing, I first want to acknowledge that I just really loved this book! It seemed like a lot of the class had trouble enjoying or appreciating the novel because it's so different stylistically, which is understandable, but all of those unique elements helped make the novel more authentic. The main topic I want to focus on (also what I'm writing my paper on) is how a lot of postmodernist elements were used in the novel to make Christopher come to life. While obviously not every postmodern novel is about an autistic kid, I think Haddon really used a lot of these elements to his advantage and they ended up working out really well to characterize Christopher. One of the major postmodern elements which helps this book really craft an authentic portrayal of autism is the fact that it's metafictive. Basically, this means it's a "story within a story." Readers would be extremely limited just reading the parts of the novel which are meant to be C...
Read more