Character Analysis

The main character of the novel Thirteen Reasons Why is Clay Jensen, the narrator and guide through the story. Clay has a good reputation and is a model student who is always polite, kind, and sincere. He is very cautious and shy, which caused him to hesitate for too long in helping Hannah when he was the only person who could save her. Hannah’s tapes show Clay the truth about the people on her list since only now does he realize that he doesn't truly know them. By the end of the book, Clay’s attitude changes towards the other people on Hannah’s list and he will not have respect for them anymore. The tapes have a lot of different effects on Clay, but the most important is that everything that has happened to him now takes on a new meaning in his life. By the end of the story, Clay learns his lesson about not stepping up and trying to stop Hannah's suicide. Clay has been deeply affected by Hannah's tapes, and he takes some action. At the end of the novel, Clay risks his reputation by attempting a friendship with Skye Miller, his middle school crush and a possible suicide risk. Clay tries to use Hannah’s tragic experience to help make the lives of other people better. After listening to the tapes, he reaches out to help Skye, potentially saving another girl from Hannah's fate. He starts living life a little differently than before, which means that Hannah’s death was not completely in vain. The other main character in the book is Hannah Baker. Hannah was a new student in the freshman class, but due to numerous rumors, became an outcast in her school. Hannah was very quiet and shy at school and did not have any true friends that she could trust. Hannah’s tapes describe her life at her most desperate and disturbed point, which makes us forget that she wasn't always this way. By the end of the story, we can understand what happened to her, but we don't ever really know who she is as a person. The reader does not know what she was like before the thirteen experiences or how she might have felt about herself if she had been able to get some help. Throughout the tapes, Hannah started off by being somewhat outgoing and social, but her thoughts towards the end of her life became very negative. She became very quiet, did not speak to anyone, and began changing her appearance.