Guided. About Clay

The main character, Clay, I like so far. He seems to be really nice and doesn’t seem to be a bad kid but I do not know why he is in the book so far. Through out the first part of the book he seems to come across and a girl, to me, but later you find out he is a boy and it changes a lot of my thinking. He is thoughtful and considerate and does what is asked of him because he feels it is his duty, which I completely agree. I do not think he did anything wrong to Hannah but everyone else has been negative so far so I am not too sure yet. As of right now I think he deserves a lot of credit just because he is willing to go through all of this for her. Most people would say forget it and just throw the tapes away because they would rather not know but Clay follows through with Hannah’s wishes. He goes to every spot she asks of them and listens very closely and connects everything with what happened to him at those times. He doesn’t seem like he blames anyone or judges them for what they have done, he just accepts it and realizes that everyone makes mistakes but does not realize how important they really are. At this point in the book I think Clay is a good kid and tries to do the right thing all the time and I do not think that anyone should say bad things about him but that all may change by the end of the book.

Something that has had a major effect on my life is the articles I read in my criminal justice classes. They talked about all the kids in jail and the reasons they are in jail. This blows my mind because the ages of these kids are so young and their minds haven’t even developed yet. They are ruining their lives before they are even started. There are kids that have murdered people and some that are transporting drugs. I cannot even imagine being an adult and knowing that I did something that made this kid ruin his life. The reason most of the kids do these things is because the people they look up to do them or they are forced too. There are girls as young as 8 and maybe even younger that are selling their bodies on the street for money. I could never see a girl that young and pick her up for a night. That just makes me sick. I also couldn’t imagine giving a kid a lot of drugs and telling him to take them somewhere for me. What if you were in a fire fight and there was a 9 year old kid pointing a gun at you getting ready to shoot? As a cop, what do you do? Do you kill him before he kills you or do you let him take your life and give the opportunity for him to do it again? These things go on everyday in this world.

guided response #1

The title of the book I think was a great title. I am only into the second reason why but I think that the title fits perfectly so far. As soon as you read the title it catches your eye and makes you wonder. So many possibilities could be why the author chose this title. Each reason you read in the book makes you wonder what the next person had done to her and makes you wonder how bad it could be. Suicide is a major decision and for there to be thirteen reasons why you wonder so many different things. Not only is there thirteen reason why but it is also thirteen different people and your concerns make you think how some things that happen be such a problem with this girl considering that probably so many people out there go through the same thing. What makes this girl take these things so personally to do something so selfish as to commit suicide? Because of this question it makes me want to read more to find out if it all comes together or if she was just selfish. Another thing that I wonder about is what she was trying to prove by telling the thirteen reasons. For her to do these tapes and to sit and think about the reasons that she must have had this planned for awhile. I just could not imagine the guilt that I would put on someone and the reputation I would give them to everyone if I sent tapes out like that. For someone to do that to someone else must have had a major impact from them on their life, or what used to be.