he Thirteen Reasons Why: Consquences of the Actions We Make

The events in our lives is what shapes us, but it's the choices we make that define us. For Hannah it was not just her choices that matter but those of the people around her. In the Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher portrays a constant message that "Everything...affects everything" and "In the End.. everything matters." He achieves this through his of avoidance, Freud's Death Drive, Repression, and Active Reversal.

Avoidance, according to Tyson's pyschoanlytical chapter, is defined as “Staying away from people or situations that make us anxious by stirring some unconscious memory.” In Thirteen Reasons Why, Hannah, the main character, chooses to avoid Clay after 3rd party, because he served as a constant reminder of that horrible night. “But it shouldn’t have, I was there for you, Hannah. You could have reached out but you didn’t. You choose this. You had a choice and you pushed me away. I would have helped you. I wanted to help you.” (pg.217) Hannah knew that with clay she found someone who was interested in her not because of the rumors going around, but because clay choose to. Since Clay, started talking to Hannah that night she knew he would be the one to break her internal war over committing suicide. By choosing to avoid clay, Hannah plunges further and further into her own death drive.

According to Tyson’s chapter on psychoanalytic, “When suggesting that human beings have a death drive, Freud’s attempt was to account for the alarming degree of self-destructive behavior… with those who seemed bent on destroying themselves psychologically if not physically… whose constant wars and internal conflicts could be viewed as a form of suicide. When Hannah knowingly chooses to put herself in dangerous situations, l...

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...eadphones. A slow breath of air. I open my eyes to the bright moon and Hannah. Thank you.” The tapes became Hannah ways of working through her emotions and her experiences. According to Tyson’s chapter, Active Reversal does not always end in a positive way. Many people believe that it did not end well for Hannah, but in many ways it did. Hannah could not take this life and, so in another she found peace.

Jay Asher, achieves a constant message of how “Everything… affects everything” and “in the end… everything matters” in his novel Thirteen Reasons Why. He achieves this through his use of psychoanalytical themes such as avoidance, the death drive, repression, and active reversal. By avoiding clay, sleeping with Bryce, remembering her assualt with Justin and sending out the tapes, Hannah proves that the choices people make can and will affect those around.