Blog Post on a Critical Thinking Question: How does this book help you to think about social issues you care about or causes you are committed to? **REVISED**

Suicide is a social issue that has become more common in the past years. In the novel "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher, suicide is an evident social issue. A girl, named Hannah Baker, commits suicide. She has pre-recorded tapes before her death, which go around to 13 people. These thirteen people are the reasons why she committed suicide , and the tapes explain how. Suicide is a very important issue in the world, and it makes me feel like anyone can cause it, even when they never thought much of their actions in the first place.

  In this Novel, Hannah gives examples of why she committed suicide. For example: "It's not exactly your actions that caused it, it's the things that were caused by your actions that made you one of the thirteen." While Clay (the main character) listened to the second tape, Hannah talked about how when Alex Standall voted her "best ass" in a 'hot or not list', his actions affected her because it caused Bryce (number 11) to grab her ass in a store. These explanations make me feel like some people are more sensitive then others, and that you should really be careful of what you do to others. It might just make them commit suicide, and that is a very serious thing. Even when you consider things a joke (like the 'hot or not' list, which was originally an innocent joke), it could lead to actions that may not be considered a joke to the victim.

  Another quote in the book that proves that anyone can cause suicide is a quote that Hannah says on the seventh tape:“Maybe it didn’t seem like a big deal to you Zach. But now, I hope you understand. My world was collapsing. I needed those notes. I needed any hope those notes might have offered. And you? You took that hope away. You decided I didn’t deserve to have it. ” This quote proves my statement because of what was going on. Zach was mad at Hannah because she rejected him. So he stole her notes from Peer communications that was supposed to give her encouragement. I don't think that it was necessary to steal he notes. The notes that would let her smile for once, especially at the time where she mostly needed it. This harmless little action led up to a more serious conflict because Zach didn't know what those notes meant to her. And it caused something that couldn't be erased.

 This novel was very interesting, and it made me think about things differently. Especially the fast growing social issue topic of suicide. After all, You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. People need to be more careful, because something that you think is cosidered harmless can actually affect people in more ways than one. And considering this subject, that isn't a good thing.