by Jay Asher
After reading a no-brainer, teenybopper book that is French Kiss, I thought I should read something serious, something that deals with real problems (which, of course, is still in the YA category). So how do I feel after finishing the book? ANG BIGAT.
Everything affects everything.
We may think that calling someone names may be harmless but then there's also this snowball effect when one thing leads to another and before we know it, it has become too big to stop. This was what happened in Hannah Baker's case.
When Hannah Baker committed suicide, she recorded tapes for 13 people people to hear, 13 people who were instrumental to why she took her own life. When Clay Jensen received the box of tapes, he was baffled as to why. But before he gets to his part, he needs to listen first to the others, the role the others played which led to someone's suicide.
So technically Clay wasn't one of the reasons why Hannah killed herself. Hannah actually liked Clay, and incidentally he also liked her back. He just thinks he's out of her league and because she kind of has a "reputation." So when Clay found out that Hannah likes him back, he still feels that he is somewhat to blame for not seeing the signs, for not being able to stop it.
Which I think is unfair on Clay's part. I mean, sure he likes this girl and I agree that he could have helped her out of her misery but when Hannah made him hear all of these horror stories, it was as if she has dumped all her problems on him. I don't care about the other bastards and bitches who were actually instrumental to Hannah's suicide but Clay wasn't and again, it was unfair to let him on in this. For sure this event will affect him forever.
But then again I think you can't help people who don't want to be helped. Sabi nga ni Gojocco- that according to Sartre, 'we always have a choice,' and this is the choice that Hannah made. She just lost faith in humanity and with the kind of people there are in this world in this time and age, that is not hard to do. Sometimes I, myself, doubt that humans are innately good.
Anyway, speaking of faith, I noticed that never did Hannah mention religion. Not even once. I am not referring to any religion in particular, but I believe that believing in a Higher Being helps us get through life IMHO. And I guess not taking life too seriously helps, too.
So what did I learn from this? To be careful of our words and actions. Sometimes we think we're just commenting or making harmless jokes, but to someone it may be aggravating something. I know this is fictional but this happens in real life. Bullying is not a big problem locally (at least it wasn't back in my time) but in the States it is and it is sad that there are still girls and boys who do mean and cruel things to others. Sometimes when these people on TV feel bad about a teen suicide because of bullying, I think of them as hypocrites. The teachers, the authorities know this is happening so why don't they do something about it.
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| {source} apparently, not. |
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