Soul Alone Analysis

Hannah Baker, the main character in Thirteen Reasons Why, tells the story of her life and why she decided to end it in a series of cassette tapes, which she mailed out to people who she felt needed to hear it. On one of the cassette tapes, Hannah reveals that she loved to write poetry and that it helped her to get her angry emotions out and create something powerful with those emotions. In the text is says, "That's what I love about poetry. The more abstract, the better. The stuff where you're not sure what the poet's talking about. You may have an idea, but you can't be sure. Not a hundred percent. Each word, specifically chosen, could have a million different meanings. Is it  stand-in, a symbol, for another idea? Does it fit into a larger, more hidden, metaphor?" (Asher, 109).  I believe that this method let Hannah learn more about herself and how she felt about certain topics or issues. The poem below is called Soul Alone and it was a poem Hannah wrote to describe her feelings about herself.
 

 

"I meet your eyes

you don't even see me

You hardly respond

when I whisper

hello

Could be my soul mate

two kindred spirits

Maybe we're not

I guess we'll never

know

My own mother

you carried me in you

Now you see nothing

but what I wear

People ask you

how I am doing

You smile and nod

don't let it end

there

Put me

underneath God's sky and

know me

don't just see me with your eyes

Take away

this mask of flesh and bone and

see me

for my soul

alone."

(Asher, 117)

This poem shows the deeper side of Hannah, explaining her fears of others. Hannah uses examples such as a boy and her mother to symbolize her internal struggle with herself. "The poem wasn't about my mom, you said. Or a boy. It was about me. I was writing a letter to myself...hidden in a poem. I flinched when you told me that. I got defensive, even angry. But you were right. And I felt scared, and sad, by my own words. You told me I wrote that poem because I was afraid of dealing with myself." (Asher, 116).  Hannah just wanted somebody to be there for her, and she wanted them to talk to her in a normal conversation. I think that Hannah uses a mask to symbolize a disguise, like she has to hide from others, and just wants people to accept her for herself, the way she is. The use of her words through her poetry helped her to express this need that she had.