Thirteen Reasons Why

How does the author bring in the reader into the story

I am not a robot

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This first chunk of chapters from Thirteen Reasons Why serves a slew of rhetorical functions. First, it introduces and establishes the book’s unique structure. Hannah’s story and narration, told via audiotapes, adds a complex layer to the novel. The way the narration flips between Clay in real time, and Hannah in the past, creates a frame-story feel reminiscent of works like Canterbury Tales or The Decameron. The frame story is a literary device whereby a story (or stories) is told within the main narrative. In Thirteen Reasons Why, the stories Hannah tells on her tapes are embedded within Clay’s main narrative. This allows Clay to react and respond to the events in Hannah’s tapes as she relates them. Some of the book’s other literary devices, such as the "desire to change events" motif, or the situational irony between Clay and Hannah, are exposed because of the frame-story structure.