This is an opinion piece and does not reflect the views of HC App State.
It is no secret that Hannah Baker endured many unimaginable circumstances. From moving to Liberty High just to be labeled as ‘class slut,’ to becoming a victim of rape. Hannah lived out a high school nightmare. While I do feel sympathetic towards Hannah while listening to her thirteen tapes throughout the series, a part of me can’t help but to find some faults in her cause.
So here is what I would include in a tape dedicated to Hannah Baker:
Hannah, why did you provide a sense of closure to all the people who have hurt you and made you feel as though life is unbearable? Why does your rapist get to come to terms with his actions and work through all the emotions of it? These people deserve no sense of eventual emotional comfort, in which you provided them. Most importantly, what made them any more momentous than your parents, who loved you more than anyone else in the world? Your parents who were dumbfounded by your sudden death? Watching your mother find you dead in a tub of your own blood was probably one of the hardest things to watch. It took a lawsuit and a fierce investigation to understand why her baby was suddenly gone. In fact, it took one person in your twisted game to open up about the tapes, which was not even a part of your plan. While maybe your intentions were geared at making everyone realizing the impact of their actions and words, what you did to your parents was cruel. They care more about you than even Clay ever could. You were their daughter.
Speaking of Clay, how again did he ‘kill’ you? By being too afraid to confess his love to you? What high school aged boy doesn’t hesitate before wanting to make things completely official with the girl he likes? Clay DID ask you on a date, and did provide a sense of comfort when your world was turned upside down. What if the roles were reversed, and Clay had left a tape like this for you? Couldn’t he present the same argument that you did to him? Love is something that is mutual. Anyone who truly loved Clay would not throw him in a circle of extreme danger, putting his own life at risk. If you believed Clay would be the one to do the right thing in regard to the tapes, why not just give him the tapes separately?
The tapes were an evil game. Hannah, do you remember how upset you were when Justin exposed those pictures of you in the park? Or what about when Alex made the list saying you had the ‘best ass’? I don’t understand how you could then continue to expose all of these people by making everybody listen to everyone else’s tape. While some of the people deserved to be exposed, and quite possibly to the police, in some cases it seemed a little harsh.
Finally, it seems very ironic that you made such a statement about suicide and how it was caused, but by releasing these tapes we see several teenagers nearly turn suicidal. All the signs were displayed at some point in every character (except Bryce, because he’s an ass). Was it your plan to induce such violence and depression for everyone you knew? Were your intentions truly to shed light into adolescent suicide?
I guess we will never know.