Thirteen reasons why analysis

Alternativer Bildtext:

hopelessness get clearly visible to the reader. 2) To bring Hannah's thoughts and feelings across, the author uses several stylistic devices as well as specific narrative techniques. One of the major techniques that are used in the extract in order to highlight Hannah's feelings, is the double narrative perspective that not only allows the reader to interpret her thoughts directly but also provides a second point of view from Clay. His perspective gives an orientation to the reader and makes Hannah's feelings more visible because he frequently gives the reader hints about her motivations as can be seen in l. 15: "That's not why you did it Hannah [...] You wanted your world to collapse around you". Additionally, Clay's perspective creates an emotional proximity to the reader since his reactions mirror the thoughts of the reader while reading the story very well (cf.1.33). Furthermore, one can recognize a rhetorical question in l.16: "But who am I to hold a grudge?" which evokes the impression that Hannah disrespects herself and does not feel "worthy" enough to hold a grudge to someone because she sees herself in such a negative way. Also, it hints at her suicidal thoughts since it sounds like she does not think that she will live long enough to really hold a grudge to someone. Another rhetorical question follows in l. 18: "Should I? No...But I will" which shows Hannah's inner conflict as well as the severity of the situation because it emphasizes that Hannah already knows that accompanying Bryce and Courtney is not going to end well. In 1.23 the author uses several noticeably short sentences depict Hannah's stream of thoughts when she enters the hot tub. By doing so, one can also easily see her panic at the moment and the matter-of-fact like phrasing reinforces once more that she is aware of the consequences and the possible danger of the situation. In addition to that, a comparison in l. 24: "the whole world seemed like a dream" indicates that the situation seems surreal to Hannah and that she feels detached from the world which, once again, underlines her death wish. Another stylistic device that highlights how horrible Hannah feels is the description of her body language (cf. 1.39) which shows that she still fights for control over her feelings at that point. Beyond that, one can notice repetitions in I. 43-45 that reinforce that she is still determined to defend herself and her reputation and cannot stop thinking about it which highly contrasts her other suicidal thoughts that seem like she already closed the chapter. This is again underlined in l. 52: "so I could let go of me, completely" and indicates her final decision to kill herself. Another noticeable point is that she addresses Bryce directly (cf. 1.47). By doing so, she intends to trigger a reaction in him and let him know what he is responsible for. To conclude, the author uses a great variety of stylistic devices that emphasize Hannah's feelings and especially point at her depression suicidal intentions. Striking is particularly the double perspective by which the reader gets additional explanations for Hannah's actions by Clay.