Motivations of Characters
The characters who are in Thirteen Reasons Why are motivated by several factors that affect their lives in significant ways. Hannah Baker is the main character who is in this novel, which is based on the ‘thirteen reasons why she decided to end her own life. Hannah is motivated or driven by the resentfulness and stress that the actions of thirteen different individuals have caused in her life. Hannah records her own voice on cassette tapes to tell the thirteen people why she feels that they played a role in her decision, which also affects their lives too. These individuals have motivated Hannah to make the decision to take her own life without realizing it. Clay Jensen, an acquaintance of Hannah, is motivated to find out where he fits into the story after he had received these tapes. Clay listens to all of the tapes in order to find out where his name appears. He finds out that his name does not really belong on her list and the reason why he received the tapes was so that Hannah could apologize. Clay finally learns her story from her point of view and becomes regretful because he feels he could have saved her from making her decision. Tony, Clay’s friend, is motivated by his concern for his friend. He follows Clay and talks to him about Hannah. Tony follows Clay in order to make sure that he is alright after hearing about his part in Hannah’s story. Tony helps Clay to understand his role in the tapes. Clay becomes overwhelmed by what Hannah says on the tapes but Tony calms him down and offers him a ride home. Clay decides to walk home and think about what he has learned. Hannah Baker is motivated by the anger and stress that the actions of thirteen individuals have caused in her life. Hannah believes that the small actions of these people affect every part of her life to the point that she could not control it. She says, “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