Thirteen Reasons Why

Lists in Thirteen Reasons Why represent a dubious honor: they label people and assign judgment. Clay dreads discovering that he is one of the 13 people on Hannah’s list of people who emotionally injured her and contributed to her decision to die by suicide. Clay comments, “‘The List.’ It sounds like a secret club. An exclusive club” (14), which is essentially true. Hannah engineers her punitive club to be secret—unless one of its members does not follow her directions. At the same time, each person on the list learns of what their fellow listees are guilty.

Alex’s “Who’s Hot / Who’s Not” list is another inventory that women, especially Hannah, would prefer to avoid. Clay initially thinks that “Alex’s list was a joke. A bad one, true” but not intended to harm Hannah, until Clay recognizes how the list dehumanizes the girls it names (41). Once labeled as “hot” for a particular body part, the girls are seen as sexual objects. Alex’s list plays a part in Hannah’s sexual objectification. It also engenders strife between friends, causing Jessica’s jealousy and self-doubt which turns her against Hannah.

Finally, the “Oh My Dollar Valentines” lists end up being tragic for both Hannah and Clay. To Clay’s chagrin, he does not make Hannah’s romantic matchup list—which was his own fault. Marcus announces that Hannah is “number one” on his Valentine’s list and uses it to take advantage of her. Clay observes ironically that while Marcus did not make Hannah’s list of potential soul mates, his actions put him on Hannah’s revenge list. Lists negatively define and judge people’s characters. As a prosaic and practical form, lists are antithetical to Hannah’s otherwise poetic, elegiac style, and emphasize the fact that these lists are made in desperation or cruelty with inauthentic purposes.

The innocent love match survey symbolizes very different things to Hannah and Clay. For Hannah, they initially represent hope, romance, and connection. Hannah has a girlish love of teen surveys to begin with, and she sees the “Oh My Dollar Valentines” as a fun way of connecting with a special person—ideally Clay, whom she thinks might be a soul mate. Hannah also fears that the survey may be yet another event that undercuts her control over her life by encouraging guys who believe in the sexual rumors about her. This is “another chance to get thrown off the road” (125)—an image that foreshadows the car accidents in the novel, as well as the fact that giving someone a ride home becomes an act of care that is frequently exhibited. Nevertheless, Hannah puts her cautions and fears aside and makes herself vulnerable, filling out her survey truthfully.

Hannah’s hope for the list turns to hopelessness. Valentine’s Day becomes a tipping point for Hannah mentally: On a day to celebrate love and trust, Hannah is sexually assaulted. She loses hope in people and herself and considers suicide seriously for the first time.

For Clay, the survey is a joke—one that he comes to regret. Clay flippantly fills the survey out from the persona of Holden Caulfield from J. D. Salinger’s classic Catcher in the Rye (1951) and is dismissive of the “weird names” who would be interested in someone like Holden. His adoption of this literary persona highlights the idea that many characters in the novel take on the narratives of others. As a result, Clay’s dishonesty makes him miss a chance to connect with Hannah. He regrets his decision, saying he “should have answered [his] survey seriously” (122). Clay’s missed opportunity also reflects his running fear of being rejected by Hannah: Clay could have described Hannah on his survey but did not. For Clay, the Valentines represent lost opportunity and the sting of hindsight.

The playground rocket slide represents Hannah’s transition from innocence to experience, mirroring the change of her reputation from pure to tarnished. It is the most significant example of the symbols of childhood in the novel that reflect this transition. Hannah loves the three-level rocket slide in Eisenhower Park because it reminds her of the one from her childhood hometown. She comments that “[i]t reminded [her] of innocence” (25). Hannah dreams of having her first kiss at the rocket because she wants the kiss to be pure and innocent. The rocket’s top level holds a steering wheel, suggesting that there, high above the trees and the mundane world, Hannah can steer or control her future. The top level is the ideal: where Hannah can see far and clearly and can envision what she wants out of life. Hannah “pushes off,” taking a risk, and sliding down to make the ideal of her dream a reality. The bottom of the slide introduces Hannah to the harsh reality of life. Although Hannah’s kiss with Justin is innocent, he stains her memory of it and her reputation forever.

Unlike Hannah’s happy memory of innocence, Clay’s childhood memory of the slide is more traumatic: He gets scared, refuses to come down, and must be rescued. Clay’s childhood experience reflects Clay’s teenage personality: He is shy, and fear keeps him from acting. He is “stuck” until Hannah’s tapes show him the importance of small actions. The three levels of the slide reflect the layers of past, present, and future in the novel, and Clay becoming unstuck on the slide means that he can end the novel by moving into the future. Clay revisits the rocket slide to listen to Hannah’s recording of Mr. Porter and envisions Hannah happily sliding down. The bottom of the slide is cloaked in darkness, but moonlight lights the top, again reflecting the difference between real and ideal, experience and innocence, and showing that Hannah cannot move into the future with Clay. As Clay listens to Hannah’s final, warm “[t]hank you,” he opens his eyes again to the moonlight and relaxes. The moonlight reflects both Clay’s transformation and his new understanding of life, and his appreciation for the true Hannah.

The motif of stealing informs the novel’s themes of rumors and reputation. Almost everyone on Hannah’s tapes takes something from her, physically or figuratively. Justin and Alex steal Hannah’s reputation of good character. Tyler allegedly steals Hannah’s privacy and safety at home; Courtney and Jessica steal her trust in friendship. Marcus steals her trust in others—and in her own decisions. Zach steals her affirmative notes, her positive connection to others. Ryan steals her poem and the solace of her personal thoughts. Bryce steals her innocence and true self. Mr. Porter takes away her last hope. Even though Hannah assures Clay that he should not be on the tapes, Clay realizes that he did not do enough to show Hannah that he cared. He also contributed to her feeling that no one cared about her “enough.” Each theft eats away at Hannah’s sense of self and self-worth, compounding her mental health conditions and driving Hannah closer to suicide.