Summary

Tony explains to Clay the reasons he knows about Hannah’s tapes. On a random day Hannah came to Tony’s house to give him her bike. Hannah saw Tony’s tape recorder sitting in his car, and asked to borrow it. When Tony came home one day, he found a set of tapes on his porch. As he listened to the tapes he became aware of Hannah’s intentions to kill herself. He quickly called Hannah’s parents to let them know, but it was too late. When Hannah’s parents got home that evening, Hannah was already dead. Tony now makes it his responsibility to make sure that the thirteen people receive and listen to Hanna’s tapes.

            This eleventh cassette is made for Jenny Kurtz. In Cassette 6, side A; Hannah continues talking about the night of the party. Jenny, Hannah’s friend, notices Hannah looks sad, so she offers her a ride home. Jenny is not paying attention while she is driving, and she crashes into a stop sign. No one was injured, but the sign was knocked over. Hannah suggested calling the police to notify them about the accident. Jenny did not want the police involved, so she kicked Hannah out of her car. Hannah was then forced to walk the rest of the way home.

            Hannah later becomes aware that there was an awful car accident that night that involved an older man and a high school student. The old man did not stop at a crossroad, because there was no stop sign there to notify him. A high school student was driving in the other direction. The old man did not see the boy, and the two cars crashed. The missing stop sign caused the death of the high school boy.

Analysis

This chapter emphasizes the idea of responsibility. Tony struggles with the same feeling of responsibility that the other characters in the novel struggle with as well. Tony feels responsible for Hannah’s death, because he was blind to the signs she was hinting, and when he realized she needed help, he was too late. Tony feels that it is responsibility to make sure all of the thirteen people on the list listen to Hannah’s tapes.

Just like discussed in Cassette 5, sides A and B; Hannah deals with the feeling of being responsible for an incident that happened to someone else. Hannah should have called the police immediately after Jenny hit the sign. The missing stop sign was a symbol of a disaster waiting to happen.

By the time Hannah calls the police, it is too late. The stop sign already caused another accident. This accident left a high school boy dead. If Hannah would have acted quicker she could have prevented this second accident from happening. Hannah feels responsible for the boy’s death, just like Tony feels responsible for Hannah’s death.