English Teaching, Literature and Linguistics (Eternal) ISBN : 978-6 -23 6911-38-9

January, 27 2021
University Of PGRI Semarang

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO MAIN

CHARACTERS IN AMERICAN SERIES
“THIRTEEN REASONS WHY: SEASON 1”

Murtiningrum1) Fitri Yulianti 2)

murtiarumaningrum@gmail.com Fitriyulianti3223@gmail.com
Th. Cicik Sophia B 3)
CicikSophia@upgris.ac.id
Corresponding Author : murtiarumaningrum@gmail.com
Universitas PGRI Semarang

Abstract:
The study deals with the relationship between the two main characters in the Thirteen Reasons
Why American Series: Season 1. The aim of this study is to find out the characterization
of the main characters, the character development of Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen, and
the relationship between the two. This study used descriptive qualitative methods. The
writer took the data of the study from all the dialogues and monologues of the film script.
The findings of this study were: (1) the characters of the main characters. Hannah Baker:
friendly and romantic. Clay Jensen: nice and introvert; (2) Character development of the
main characters. Hannah Baker: Pessimistic and Selfish. Clay Jensen: over-thinking and
scared; (3) the relationship between the two main characters. a) Communal relationship
between two main characters: workmate, classmate, and awkward crush. b) The factor
that influencing interpersonal relationship in psychological analysis: similarity, reciprocity
of liking, positive qualities, physical attractiveness and liking, and physical appearance
and social behavior.

Keywords: Thirteen Reasons Why: Season 1, American series, main character, relationship.
Psychological analysis

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1. Introduction
Literature in general is a body of written works created from the thought and
imagination of the author. Literature refers to writing that is considered an art work
form or single writing that has artistic and aesthetic excellence or intellectual value and
sometimes describes language in a way that differs from ordinary use. Literature also
has the expression of images and phenomena of daily activities directly or indirectly.
The function of literature is to entertain readers or viewers who enjoy literary works.
The name of literature has traditionally been applied from imaginative works
of poetry and prose that treat differently by the writer’s intentions and the excellent
artistic of their execution. There are many literary works such as poetry, prose, film
scripts, stories, drama scripts, and others. All literature can be classified into one of
two categories: nonfiction, which is described as writing based on fact, and the other
category is fiction, which is created in several degrees.
This study of literature refers to psychological analysis. Psychology in literature
is a study of literature using literary works as an object of psyche action. Literature
and psychology have a close relationship because in analyzing the character of literary
works, psychological is very useful in analyzing more deeply about the inner side of
the main character, the differences is if in psychology literature the writer analyzes
imaginative characters rather than real characters.
In this study, the writer chooses to analyze the script of the drama series based
on Jay Asher’s novel “Thirteen Reason Why” of the same name as Brian Yorkey’s
drama series on Netflix Original. The writer chooses to analyze the relationships of
female and male main characters because both of these characters have social issues
according with the condition of teenager nowadays. The two main characters have
complex conflicts in the whole story without being noticed and guided by their
parents. The genre of this American TV series on Netflix is teen drama, School life,
and Mystery.
Based on novel by Jay Asher. The series tells the story of a young girl named
Hannah Baker who commits suicide and records thirteen reasons why she ended her
life into 7 audio tapes with 13 side. Hannah Baker asked one of her friends to send
the footage to thirteen people who mentioned the reason for her decision to end
her life two weeks after she died. One of her friends is Clay Jensen, the male actor
who is the starting point of Hannah Baker’s death story. Clay Jensen received an
audio recording because his name was on the list. When he started listening to the
recording, he was shocked about what happened to Hannah Baker, and why exactly
she ended her life up. He felt sorry for her because he couldn’t help her to sustain her
life. (Asher, 2007)

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 According to Wicaksono (2008), Bullying is defined as long-term physical
and psychological violence committed by a person or group, against someone who
cannot defend themselves in situations where there is a desire to abuse or scare that
person or make him depressed. So, bullying is an important thing that everyone,
including schools, parents, and peers should pay attention to. It should be given a
clearer understanding that bullying can ruin people’s lives. That is what makes the
writer believe that this study is useful and suitable in today’s era where bullying is
quite common in school environments.
The writer chooses a study topic about analyzing the characters of the two main
character relationships in the Thirteen Reasons Why American Series: Season 1 because
she is interested in this young adult series that is about mental health and bullying.
The cause of the main character’s death and their relationship in this story is the main
reason why the writer is interested in analyzing the male and female characters that
their characters change after the conflict occurs.
This study discusses the characters Hannah Bakers and Clay Jensen and about the
relationship between the two characters, how Hannah Baker’s character is portrayed
in the series as the main conflict in the series, and how character developments after
Hannah Bakers committed suicide.

2. Literature Review
This literature review contains previous studies, comments, and theories related
to the writer’s study of Thirteen Reasons Why Season 1. The topic of this study is
about bullying in a teenage school environment and the purpose of this study is to
describe the relationships and characters of the two main characters in the series. In
this literature review there are several theoretical frameworks showing how the writer
uses theory to figure out the results and discussion of study.

2.1 Review of Related Theories

In this study, there are several theories used. These theories are used to
analyze and support the scientific data of this study. These theories are theory of
television drama series, theory of intrinsic elements of drama, theory character
and characterization, and the theory of the relationship between the two main
characters.
1. Television Drama Series
Television series mean production that occurs regularly on television
either free of charge or through subscription-based services which have

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 a running time of at least thirty minutes that usually includes commercial
ads. Television series have many programs such as variety series, daily news
series, sitcom series, game shows, reality shows, drama series, etc.
The series according to Perebinosoff & Gross (2005:7) is a series or
continuous program, consisting of episodes. The series has at least one
view per week, or is broadcast with episodes associated with each previous
episode. The serial storyline of each episode can be continuous or stand-
alone. The name of the program should be the same, but subtitles can be
different, usually the actors in each episode act as the same person. Serial
is a series of related productions aimed at broadcasting television, cable
television, or video on demand in an internet connection.
According to Abrams (2009), drama is a literary form designed for
performances in theatre, where actors take on character roles, perform
shown actions, and utter written dialogue. Drama in TV series has many
genres such as action, live slices, romance, comedy, etc. Actually, drama in
theater or television has the same composition as actors, roles, dialogue,
acting, stories, etc. What makes the difference is that drama in theaters
usually only has one episode per the entire storyline and drama on television
usually has a lot of episodes that make it into a series. The television series
has one drama title but has many subtitles and the storyline continues from
the first episode to the final episode.Teaching drama in student of English
class has been declared by Susanto (2017). He conclude about Incorporating
Character Values in English Class through Mini-drama Performance.
2. Intrinsic Elements of Drama
According to Priyatni (2010:109), the intrinsic element is an element
related to the existence of literature as an autonomous verbal structure. These
elements caused literary works to emerge as literary works. The intrinsic
element is the main element that must be present in a drama. The intrinsic
element is the hose that directly contributes to building the story. Some
combination of these various elements that embodies a drama.
The elements in question are characters, settings, plots, themes,
languages, and moral values. The intrinsic element is the element that builds
the drama. That said, this element is a component contained in a drama.
Part of the element that the writer analyzes is the character. Characters are
also an important intrinsic element in a drama to understand the entire
story in the drama.

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 3. Character
Robert and Jacobs (1989:143) state that characters in literature
fiction in particular are and extended verbal representations of human
beings, the inner self that determine thought, speech, and behavior.
Characters can be defined as any person, animal, or figure represented
in a literary work. Characters can differ by type and each with their own
development in harmony with the story. Character development is a
character developed and complex from the beginning story to the end of
the story with a different mood. Characters can be changed in just one
movie title or developed in sequels. For example is the movie “Maleficent”,
the main character named maleficent can be so evil in the movie “Sleeping
Beauty” but developed into a good fairy godmother in the sequel film. So
characters are important things in the plot of the story.
Characters have many types. According to the Pope (2005:133)
there are two categories of characters that are main characters and minor
characters. The main character is important in the film. They are the
figures at the center of the action or the theme of the story. The main
character is usually referred to as the protagonist who has a conflict with
the antagonist character. The other category is minor characters. Minor
characters are characters that support the main character, the function of
the small character is to light up the main character with the conflict.
a) Major character
Major or central characters are essential for the development and
resolution of conflict stories. The major characters in the story are
protagonists and antagonists. The protagonist is the main character,
around the whole story. Protagonists usually make decisions that
will be influenced by conflict from within. Others are antagonists.
Antagonist characters cause conflict for the protagonist. However,
the antagonist can be the protagonist, it depends on the story that
has problems in it.
b) Minor character
Minor characters serve to complement the major characters and help
move the plot forward. They can impact the decisions of protagonists
or antagonists and support or disrupt conflicts. Minor characters are
usually more static, they don’t change and grow through the story
while the main character is more dynamic.

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4. Characterization
Characters are the product of characterizations they create in a
certain way, such as the way they have conversations, the things they do in
each particular action, the style of their appearance that writer has chosen
to characterize their own characters that can strengthen the storyline.
Characterization in literature is a writer’s process used to develop characters
and create images for the audience.
According to Jacob Sumardjo in Fenanie (2001:87) characterization
is an important part in building a story. To determine characterization,
authors generally use two methods that say direct characterization and
indirect characterization. Direct characterization is the author telling
the audience about a character that is directly told through the narrator
in the film, the narrator can be himself or another character. In other
ways, indirect characterization is the author showing the audience things
about the character by his/her actions in the story. In addition, Murphy
(1972: 161-173) stated that there are nine characterization techniques for
analyzing characters in the story.
a) Personal Description
In the personal description, the appearance of the character can be
explained by the author. These things are direct methods whose the
purpose is to give the viewer a portrait of the details and how the
characters in the story are portrayed.
b) Character as seen by Another
Writers can portray characters in stories through opinions, attitudes,
views, and comments of other characters. It captures what others
characters think about a character, the audience will capture the
image reflected from the character seen in the film. This will help
the audience to get more character perspective.
c) Speech
The author can also describe the character by analyzing the way the
character speaks in the film. The characters create dialogues with
each other to provide clues about character depictions through
the language of dialogue. So every time a character expresses their
opinion of each other, the audience will get more perspective on the
character.

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 d) Past Life
The author uses the character’s past life to build characteristics of
character. With things happening in the characters of past lives, the
audience will see the real characters of the person described in the story
e) Conversation with the others
Murphy (1972) said that writers can describe characteristics through
conversation and what they say or think about his/her personality.
Indeed, conversation is a way of knowing character characteristics
easily.
f ) Reactions
The author can describe the characteristics by looking at how the
character responds or reacts to various situations and events in the
story. Usually the character’s reaction will give the audience more
clues about its characteristics.
g) Direct Comment
This technique refers to direct characterization. Authors can create
narrative monologues to provide explicit comments as well as author
opinions related to the character. Viewers are expected to guess the
meaning of direct commentary by narrative monologues from the
character or monologue of the author.
h) Thought
Writers can also give the audience a direct knowledge of a particular
character from thought. Just like live commentary, writers can create
narrative monologues to explain what character personalities the
author thinks.
i) Mannerism
Manner or habit of the character in her or his action that appears the
movie can also describe about the characterization of the character.
This can be a positive or negative characteristic.
5. Psychology of Literature
Psychology in literature is a study of literature using literary works
as an object of psyche action. The author will use the inside of the main
character in creating literary works. Literary works included in the
phenomenon of psychology.

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 According to Jatman in Endraswara (2002:96), literary and
psychological works do have a close relationship. Indirectly and
functionally. Indirect relationships, because both psychology and literature
have the same object that is human life. Psychology and literature have a
functional relationship because high school - high school to study the
state of the soul of others, the difference in the psychology of symptoms is
real, while in literature is imaginative.
6. Interpersonal Relationship Between Two Main Characters
Interpersonal relationships refer to associations, connections,
interactions, and bonds between two or more. Some relationships are
characterized by member obligations and usually, by their desire to be
highly responsive to each other’s needs. According to Calrk and Mills,
(1979:12) states the difference between the two types of relationships. The
first is that communal relationships are often exemplified by relationships
with kinsman, friends, and romantic partners. In relationships people feel
a responsibility for each other’s needs. They will respond to each other’s
needs in an emergency without expecting some benefits in return. Usually,
they will automatically help each other when needed. Second, exchange
relationships are often exemplified by relationships with strangers,
acquaintances, and people with whom we do business. Instead, members
assume that benefits are provided in the hope of receiving benefits in
return for.
The study uses communal relationship theory to analyze the
relationship between the two main characters. The main characters in this
teen drama are two people with both female and male genders, as the
drama played by teenagers usually slips into elements of a love story. So,
in this study the writer chooses to analyze the relationships of the two
main characters, as they are the main thing in this drama that builds the
problems and moral values of the whole story.
7. Interpersonal Relationship in Psychological Analysis
The writer uses the theory of psychology in writing interpersonal
relationships of the main character. This is an extrinsic theory to write the
friendship and romance between Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen in the
lead role. The writer uses the theory of interpersonal attraction by Robert
S. Fieldman in his book Psychology: Theories, Research, and Application.
In the book there is an instrument as a reference material for analysis of

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 factors that cause interpersonal relationships to occur in a character.
Interpersonal relationships themselves include themes in social
psychology. Social psychology according to Secord and Backham is
a science that learns about individuals in a social context. From this
definition it appears that besides the differences there are also similarities,
and even complete each other. The problem of social psychology is social
influence. It is this social influence that will influence the behavior of an
individual.

2.2 Previous Study

There has been some previous study related to Jay Asher’s novel Thirteen
Reason Why which was adapted into a series. Thirteen Reasons Why: Season 1
became so popular after airing in 2017 on Netflix Originals. Since the story
of the series was highly controversial, many researchers have researched this
American series. There are five researchers who create articles or research papers
with the same subject and object. In this study, the writer uses five of them as
considerations to make study papers.
The first is Yuliani (2013). Her journal entitled Analysis of Main Characters
and Plots in Habibie and Ainun novels by Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie. In this
previous study discussed how the main characters Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
and Hasri Ainun Habibie in the plot of the story. This previous study uses the
theory of intrinsic and extrinsic elements of drama, theory of plot, and theory
of character. The result of this study is that the main character of Habibie and
Ainun have similar characters. They are genius, beautiful, intelligent, romantic,
caring, responsible, religious, loyal, hardworking, and patient. This study tells
about the love story between Habibie and Ainun which means also analyzing the
relationship between the two of each other. The plot of the story is progressive
from start to finish.
The second is Tyan Wulandari (2017). Her journal article entitled
Maleficent’s Personality Changes in Robert Stromberg’s Maleficent. This research is
a descriptive qualitative method. The results of this study focus on maleficent
fairy personalities that are actually good but turn into bad fairies in “Sleeping
Beauty”. The researcher uses dialogue scripts and quotes in movie scripts to find
structural analysis of characters. The results of the analysis in this journal are
Maleficent as antagonist, protagonist, round character, and dynamic character.

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 The third is a journal article by Leila Cynthia Dewi in 2018 entitled Analysis
of Major Character Conflicts in “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher. The research
method used is qualitatively descriptive. This research focuses on discussing the
conflicts of the main characters, so this research only describes Hannah Baker’s
character. The results of this study are divided into two parts. The first part is
the result of the main character’s internal conflicts; disappointment, sadness,
confusion. Anxiety, fear, panic, suspicion, trauma and boredom. The second
part is the result of an external conflict of the main character; the conflict
between Hannah and Jessica, the conflict between Hannah and Coutney, the
conflict between Hannah and Marcus, the conflict between Hannah and Zach,
the conflict between Hannah and Ryan, the conflict between Hannah and
Jenny, the conflict between Hannah and Mr. Porter.
The fourth is article journal written by Ifrah Ali in 2014 entitled The
Structural Analysis of “Thirteen Reasons Why” a Novel by Jay Asher. This article
analyzes the basic of the following structural analysis elements namely; plots,
titles, genres, settings, points of view, characters, etc. So, this previous research
focused not only on the analysis of the main characters but also focus in the
whole story. This research described the novel entirely but in a short analysis.
The fifth is a journal article written by Astri Wulandari in 2018 titled
Communication Failure in the Netflix Drama Series “13 Reasons why”: Pragmatic
Analysis. The researchers focused on analyzing the pragmatic failures of the
drama. The result is to find that there are 25 pragmatic failures that occur in
this drama and that are caused by 5 reasons, namely failure in understanding
the intentions of others, failure in understanding the circumstances of others,
rejection of reality, trauma and failure in understanding the situation.
Like previous studies above, this study tries to analyze the characters
Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen and what their relationship is in this series.
Trying to analyze the intrinsic elements of drama by the main character as
well as bullying as the reason why the writer chooses this topic. This study
tries to dissect the behavior of the main character and conflicts between other
characters such as the topic of the third previous study. To analyze intrinsic
elements in a drama is just like the fourth previous study, but this study focusses
only on the character elements and what their relationships are.

English Teaching, Literature and Linguistics (Eternal) 183

3. Research Methodology
In this study, the writer used descriptive qualitative design. The study focused
on analyzing the relationship of the main characters in the television series “Thirteen
Reasons Why: Season 1”. The source of this study data was “ Thirteen Reasons Why:
Season 1”. It was a 2017 American television series on Netflix originals. The series
have 13 episodes directed by Brian Yorkey and an adaptation of Jay Asher’s 2007
novel with the same name. The writer used movie scripts with subtitles on videos
transcribed into sentences as data resources.
Ary, et.al (2002:322) states that descriptive research methods used to obtain
information about existing conditions and have been widely used in educational
research. The purpose of descriptive research was to describe “what exists” with
respect to variables or conditions in a situation. The method of data collection was
to observe events from popular culture documents, such as books, movie scripts, TV
series, and videos.
The writer used the method to complete an analysis of the relationship of the
main characters Hannah Bakers and Clay Jensen in the American television series
and the writer took several steps to respond to the three statements of the problem.
The first step was to download movies and subtitles as data sources. The second step
was transcribed movie subtitles into written language. The third step was indicated
Hannah Bakers’ character, the main character relationship, and the character’s
development before and after the Hannah Bakers scandal. The writer classifies the
answer data of the 3 problems using character theory and characterization by Murphy.

4. Findings and Discussion

This chapter consists of three parts of study question analysis. The writer shows
the answer to the question problem with three questions. The first part is to portray
the characters Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen. The second part is an analysis the
character development of Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen. The third part is the
analysis of the relationship between the two main characters.

1.1 The Description of Main Character’s Characteristic

This part the writer analyzes the characters of Hannah Baker and Clay
Jensen. The writer used a theory characterization technique by Murphy (1972)
to find the details of Hannah and Clay’s characters. Analyzing the main
characters helps the writer to understand the plot of the story and find the
meaning about the character at the end of the story.

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1. The Description of Hannah Baker’s Characteristic
Hannah is a good person, friendly, romantic, and cheerful before
having a lot of trouble at school. She is easy to make friends with and easy
to falls in love with. She is quite open to her parents. Below the writer
describes the characteristics of Hannah Baker.
a) Friendly
Hannah is a relatively simple girl, she easily enjoys the simple
pleasures of life. She moves in small town of Cresmont and began
working at a local cinema before the new semester of summer began.
She enjoys her part-time job. When she meets Clay as a new partner
in the work, she welcomes him and enjoys working together. On
her first day at Liberty School, she met Jessica Davis. Jessica was
Hannah’s first friend. She really enjoyed her new life with simplicity,
met new friends, and discovered a romantic high school experience,
and she was very cheerful when meeting Clay. Hannah was the kind
of person who easily states that she has a group friend that was called
“hot chocolate” friend because they often gather in cafes and drink
hot chocolate, her gang members are Jessica Davis, and the new
one is Alex Standall. Indeed, she is a very friendly person who easily
enjoys the simple pleasures of life.
It was a hot chocolate friendship, good for cold months ... we did a
disgusting things like shop together and compare what we bought
and talked about boys. You need friend, even just hot chocolate
friends. Especially when your life goes to shit. (Hannah Baker
Ep.2)
b) Romantic
Hannah is like the other girls. She wants a lot of friends, find
out the true love and experienced it well. But on the way she tries
to find her true love, she finds a major problem that damages her
mental and social life, and eventually decides to kill herself. That is
what makes Hannah so desperate in her love.
So, you see, that is where the trouble began. That smile, that
damned smile, the way that Kat moved away before the start of
school. She was the kind of friend that couldn’t be replaced, she left
her boy for me. Justin you were my kryptonite. (Hannah Baker
Ep.1)

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 At first the story began when she met her schoolmate, Justin
Foley. Justin was Kat’s boyfriend. Kat was Hannah’s only friend when
Hannah had just moved to a new town on summer vacation. Kat
moved out of Liberty School when Hannah attended Liberty School.
Kat gave Justin to Hannah because she did not want to live the story
of a long-distance relationship. Hannah was very happy and started
dating Justin. But Justin was such bad person, he posted a photo of
her personal body when they first dated. It was the beginning story
that makes Hannah going through mental breakdown and everyone
at school started calling her as slut. Despite the events, Hannah
still believes that her true love will come. She was quite open if a
man shows his interest to her. The other people who were close to
a romance relationship with Hannah were Marcus and Zach, but
it all ended badly. The last person was Clay. Eventually, she fell in
love with Clay who actually both of them liked each other from the
beginning of the story, but Clay never expressed his feelings towards
Hannah. When the two have a good time to express their feelings,
Hannah was suddenly became mentally unstable. Hannah threw the
Clay away and their relationship never happened. Of all the events
that have passed, it can be seen that she is a romantic, but fate does
not side with her.
2. The Description of Clay Jensen’s Characteristic
Actually Clay is an Introvert, nerdy, and kind man. He do not have
many close friends, but he is known to everyone. He is also a member of
the Liberty School’s student council. The writer explains the details of
Clay’s character below.
a) Nice
Clay Jensen is a good man. He has a good personality can be
seen from conversations between Clay and other characters,
I said thank you for helping me. That was really nice. (New girl at
school Ep.7)
The sentence said by a fresh student who was having trouble
opening the locker. Clay was easy to helping others, he cared about
others. His kindness was also shown when he cares about what
happened in Hannah, when everyone calls Hannah a slut, only he
was the one who never hated and talked bad things about Hannah.

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 Clay, Helmet, your name does not belong on this list. But you need
to be here if I am going to tell my story. If I am going to explain
why I did what I did. Because you are not every other guy, you are
different. You are good and kind and decent. And I did not deserve
to be with someone like you. (Hannah Baker Ep. 11)
The monologue from Hannah’s 5-sided B. Hannah tapes
describes Clay as a good and kind person. This is proof that Clay’s
character is good.
b) Introvert
It’s certain that Clay is an introvert. He doesn’t have a big circle
of friends, although he is very popular and everyone loves him. He
spends a lot of time alone and he is not open to his parents. When
he received a shoebox containing tapes, he hide it and lied to his
parents that the tape is just historical homework. Many of Clay’s
dialogues with his parents as proof that Clay is an introvert person.
Might’ve been a more subtle way to introduce the idea. He’s
keeping secrets. He’s 17. I’d be worried about him if he weren’t
keeping secrets. Secret-keeping is learned behavior’s is the silence.
(Clay’s parents Ep.2)
His parents were always worried about Clay’s day at school,
when his parents asked him about how his day at school was, he
always replies “I’m fine” and did not talk too much. He kept it
secret. When at home he spends alone in the room and hangs out
with family only at dinner.

A. Description Character Development Of Main Characters

This part the writer analyzes the character development of Hannah Baker and
Clay Jensen. The writer used a theory characterization technique by Murphy (1972)
to find details of Clay’s character. The main actor, Clay Jensen, shows a slightly
different attitude after Hannah’s death. Main actress Hannah Baker also shows a
very different look after her first scandal with Justin and after people from her school
viewed her as a slut.
In previous studies, these findings are similar to journal articles by Tyan
Wulandari (2017) that also describe the development of characters in films. The
difference between my studies and previous studies is the object of study. In previous
study the writer analyzed one film only and in this study the writer analyzes the entire

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series containing 13 episodes. The writer identifies character differences occurring
between before and after the Hannah Baker scandal, as the writer sees character
differences in Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen after the incident. Details of Hannah
and Clay’s character development are described below.

1. Character Development of Hannah Baker

After Justin posted an indecent photo of Hannah Baker while they were
dating. People at school saw Hannah and called her a slut. Once her character
changes, she becomes more pessimistic and selfish.
a) Pessimistic
Hannah records all the reasons why she killed herself into 7 audio
tapes with 13 side. She never expressed her anxiety or against the friend
who attacked her. She finds no other way to stop her friends’ attacks and
do not even tell her parents about what was happened at school. That is
because she is scared. She is afraid of what people thinks of her, afraid to
do the right things because she feel she had fallen into too deep a problem,
and afraid to defend herself.
b) Selfish
Selfish is the most obvious description character of Hannah Baker.
Although, she was bullied by her friend, deciding to kill herself was a bit
selfish. She recorded 7 audio tapes with 13 side reasons why she killed
herself to tell the people on the tape that they didn’t care about Hannah’s
feelings. Most of the people that mentioned in the tapes also suffer from
their own problems in high school, they also have trauma during puberty.
They were not silent on Hannah’s problems, it’s just that they are busy
with their own business, so they don’t pay attention to Hannah.
She becomes an introvert. She keeps her feelings and never told
anyone else, despite her parents. She doesn’t think about the feelings of
her parents who have always loved and supported Hannah’s life. Hannah’s
parents never get mad at her even if she sometimes makes some mistakes,
but Hannah never tells her parents about what happened at school and
about her problems that ruins her life. Many of the people in Hannah’s
recording mentioned such as Alex Standall, Jessica Davis, Zach Dempsey,
Sherry Holland, and Clay Jensen are actually completely unworthy of
blame as the reason she commits suicide. It causes the people in this tapes
also have trauma for fear of being guilty of Hannah’s death. Her selfishness
to commit suicide also destroyed those people around her.

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2. Character Development of Clay Jensen
Actually the old character of Clay after Hannah died doesn’t change much.
He is still nice, introvert, shy, awkward, etc., but he’s become a little different.
When he received a shoebox cassette about the reason Hannah Baker died, he
became stress, sensitive and scared. He think too much about it because he feel
accused of being the cause of his friend’s death. The writer explains the details
of Clay’s character after Hannah Baker’s death below.
a) Overthinking
Clay Jensen started listening to Hannah’s recordings. He just
heard the first tape and the tape tell of Justin’s bad behavior towards
Hannah and he started thinking a lot about himself. He still did not know
if he belongs to the list of people on the tapes and the one of the suspect of
his friend’s death. He became negative thinking and see all his classmates
are bad people, he became a lot of silence and thinks about what he feels
in his mind. Listening to the tapes further seemed to get Clay stuck in a
lot of trouble, the first of which caused him to hit the pavement, leaving
a gaping wound on his forehead. This is because he thinks a lot about the
contents of the tape, he always thinks about it for quite a long time and
keeps him out of focus.
Clay thinks too much. He always sees the illusion of past scenes
that led to Hannah’s death. One day, he thought he saw Tony’s car
parked outside his house in the morning. Tony is his friends at school
and Hannah’s trusted person to share her tape for other people on the
tape lists. Actually in front of his house, there was no Tony’s car, he just
hallucinated that he did something wrong.
b) Scared
After Clay received the audio recording, he was really scared. He
was afraid that if he did something wrong to Hannah, he was afraid that
his classmates who also received the tapes would listen to the Clay’s audio
tape part and find out what mistakes he made. He listens to the tapes very
slowly and always looking for Tony who has listened to all the tapes to
the end.
You have to be kidding me. Tell me how you know what you know. Tell
me what I did to Hannah. Actually I hope I don’t. Ever (Clay Jensen
Ep.8)

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 He always asked Tony about what happened and what mistakes he
made to Hannah. Tony never told Clay about what mistakes Clay made,
he told him to listen to the tape himself. He was so scared that it made
him so stressed.

B. The Relationship Between Two Main Characters

In this section divided into two parts. The first part is the writer analyzes the
characters Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker using relationship theory by Calrk and
Mills (1979). Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker’s type relationship according to Calrk
and Mills is a communal relationship. A communal relationship is a relationship
between a character and another character connected to the main conflict of the
story. The second part is using theory of Robert S. Fieldman to find the factor that
influencing interpersonal relationship in psychological analysis.
These results are related to a third previous study by Lelila Cynthia Dewi that
discussed conflicts of relationships that connected Hannah Baker’s interpersonal
feelings. How Hannah Baker felt in the face of trouble when she was in a relationship
with her friends.

1. Communal Relationship Between Two Main Characters

There are some communal relationships Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker;
a. Workmate
Hannah Baker and her family moves to a small town in Crestmont,
California. Automatically, Hannah had to change schools and go to a
Liberty School. Hannah doesn’t know her friends at school yet and she
works part-time at a local cinema in the city for a while until the summer
holidays are over. She meets Clay Jensen, a new worker, and it turned out
that Clay is also attending Liberty School. As an older worker Hannah
tells Clay Jensen what to do to serve customers.
Like so. Now, if they ask you it its real butter, what do you say? And
smile when you say it. I know, terrifying. But it sells the big lie. Oh, and,
uh, little trade secret: if they are cute, only put butter on top, so they have
to come back for more during the movie. So you can chat them up. I like
it. I think we’re going to get along. As long as you remember I started
here three weeks before you, so I have seniority, which is why I’m training
you. Which is insane if you think about it, because I just moved here two
months ago and I have no idea what I’m doing. (Hannah Baker Ep.1)

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 In the conversation between Hannah and Clay above, she tells Clay
how to serve butter-flavored popcorn and she says she started working at
the local theater three weeks ago, so she’s a good senior for Clay who has
just started his first day of work. Hannah and Clay are very happy working
with new friends. She invites Clay to her home for a self-recognition party
as a transfer student at a Liberty School.
b. Classmate
After Hannah and Clay get to know each other in part-time
work, she meets Clay at school with the same class. Hannah is originally
a bubbly girl, she enjoys new things at the new school and couldn’t wait
to get a complete high school friendship and love experience at her new
school. Hannah calls to Clay as “Helm” because Clay always uses a bike
and helmet on his head to go to work or go anywhere. One day at a
sporting event at school Hannah watched basketball to see the man she
was love and accidentally met Clay who had just come onto the sports
court and was looking for an empty chair around the stands.
Jensen, Clay Jensen! Helmet! Did you get lost on your way to the library?
So, sit. You always stand and fidget. It makes me anxious. I want to get
the complete high school experience. (Hannah Baker Ep.1)
In that conversation, Hannah is quite close to Clay and always teases
Clay because Clay is a stiff boy and a bit anti-social. She really enjoys
her day at school, meeting a lot of new friends and seeing guys she loves
playing basketball.
c. Awkward Crush
Hannah likes someone when she first came to Liberty School. Her
first love is Justin Foley, but it turns out that Justin is just bad person and
embarrassing her for exposing indecent photos of her at her new school.
Hannah is depressed at the time. She forgets about Justin and faced her
school days badly because everyone looked at her cynically. She tries to
make new friends, but always fails and faces new problems. After that
event she becomes a quiet girl, but always starts a conversation if she
meets Clay. Clay is actually a funny person close to Hannah, it’s because
Clay has loved Hannah since meeting her at work at Cresmont cinema.
However, Clay never admits his feelings to Hannah, he is a shy
person. The day they both realized each other’s feelings were when they
came to Jessica’s party. Jessica is Hannah and Clay’s classmates, in fact

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 Clay doesn’t want to go to a party, but Jeff, Clay’s best friend forces him
to come because of one way how Clay can talk to Hannah and express his
feelings at Jessica’s party. At the same time, Hannah is depressed because
a lot of things happen to her, cuts her hair short and ready to start a new
day and find the right person. She really loves Clay, but she never realized
how her feel. Hannah never told Clay if she loves him, she recorded her
feelings on one of the tapes before she killed herself. The recording says:
I do talked to you a million times before, but tonight is different, and I
did not know what to say to you. But when you finally came up to me,
you knew just how to break the ice. I was so nervous that night, but you
made it seem so (Hannah Baker Ep.11)
The recording says that Hannah loves Clay, but she was very nervous
that night and never told him that she liked Clay until she recorded it in
the recording. At the party, Clay actually confesses his feelings to Hannah,
but Hannah screws him up. When the two of them do a romantic scene,
suddenly she remembers a problem that just happened at the party and
suddenly Hannah gets angry and tells Clay to get away from her. Clay
didn’t know about what happened and just walked away from Hannah.
Their relationship became fractured and awkward even though they both
really loved each other.

2. The Factor That Influencing Interpersonal Relationship in Psychological

Analysis.
To find out what factors can affect the relationship of a character in
analysis psychology. The writer uses Robert S. Fieldman’s theory of interpersonal
attraction in his book Psychology: Theories, Research, and Application. There
are five factors that I will describe, namely:
a. Similarity
Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen have some things in common:
a) Family Background.
Hannah and clay have similar family backgrounds. Hannah
and Clay are the same as an only child from an ordinary, harmonious
family. Both parents are very loving and attentive to their children’s
activities. In the family the two have a dinner routine together while
establishing a good communication.

192 English Teaching, Literature and Linguistics (Eternal)

 b) Communication with Parents.
Both have similarities about poor communication with their
parents. Actually Hannah and Clay’s personality is quite different.
Hannah is more joyfully and open to her friends and Clay is
more reserved, but both have similarities in communication with
parents. Both are very private about personal issues with parents.
They harbored a mistake and tried to fix it themselves without the
intervention of both parents.
c) Complicated Life Issues.
The two have similarities in life and are related to each other.
Hannah had problems with bullying and sexual abuse that resulted
in her mental illness being so bad that she decided to commit suicide.
Meanwhile, Clay had problems with Hannah’s death. Hannah made
an audio recording of the reason she committed suicide and sent it
to all her friends including Clay. It is quite mentally shaky for Clay
to think excessively about the mistakes he never made. Both have
complicated life problems.
b. Reciprocity of Liking
The two have similarities to the reciprocity of likes. Hannah initially
showed an interest in Clay but Clay did not respond to her because he
felt doubts in his feelings. Hannah doesn’t continue to love for Clay. In
the middle of the story, Clay begins to put his heart to her by showing his
interest in Hannah, but she ignores Clay because of her bad heart. It’s a
complicated feeling for both of them. The two look out for each other as
best friends.
Therefore the two have a mutual similarity in the same love that is
the same as wanting to have a relationship that is clearly love but hampered
by situations and conditions and ends up only as close friends.
c. Positive Qualities
Hannah and Clay have a positive quality relationship. Despite not
having a romantic relationship status, Hannah and Clay share each other
as friends. Hannah was often plagued by bad issues, accused of being a
prostitute against everyone at school. Clay, however, never thought badly
of her, but always had a good relationship with her. Hannah has almost no
friends due to successive problems at school, but she is always comfortable

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 talking to Clay even from the very beginning they meet at work, she can
immediately chat nicely and comfortably feel by Clay’s side. Hannah and
Clay basically have a warm quality of friendship despite the fact that their
relationship became bad due to Hannah’s changing personality after many
incidents of abuse against her, at the end of the story Hannah conveys her
heartfelt feelings to Clay on her tape.
d. Physical Attractiveness and Liking
Hannah is the kind of person who easily falls in love. Basically in
this series she does not show in detail the criteria of physical attraction
to someone. Hannah loved someone who approached and cared for her.
She easily puts her heart to someone who likes her by looking at his
personality. While Clay is also similar to Hannah, he does not show in
detail the criteria for physical attraction of someone. He fell in love with
someone at first sight.
e. Physical Appearance and Social Behavior
Hannah has the usual physical appearance like a normal high school
kid. She is not too tomboy nor too feminine. She is very pretty curly hair
and she likes to wear a backpack, jeans and jacket but sometimes wears a
dress. While Clay is a pretty handsome guy but has a monotonous style of
outfit, even he is confused if he wants to attend a party at a friend’s house.
He’s a geeky kid when he sees his physical appearance. Beside, Hannah is
more attractive than Clay who is quiet and shy.

5. Conclusion
There are three things that can be inferred from this study. The first is the
characteristics Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen. The second is the development
character of both lead roles and the third is the relationship that is established
between the two during the story.
The first finding is a description of Hannah Baker and Clay Jensen
characters. Hannah’s character is Friendly, Romantic. It can be concluded that
Hannah is kind and friendly to everyone, but her bad luck makes her mental
health go down and makes her decide bad things. Then the description of Clay
Jensen’s character is Nice and Introvert. It can be concluded that Clay has a
quiet personality but still friendly.
The second finding is the character development of Clay Jensen and
Hannah Baker. Hannah Baker’s character development is pessimistic and selfish.

194 English Teaching, Literature and Linguistics (Eternal)

 Meanwhile, Clay character development is Overthinking and Scared person. It
can be concluded that Clay Jensen is a good boy, but puberty makes his attitude
up and down. He is a pretty shy guy and never had any bad behavior so this is
something new for him that makes him scared him and quite sensitive.
The third finding is about the relationship between Hannah Baker and
Clay. This section divided into two part. The First is communal relationship
between two main characters that are workmate, classmate, and awkward crush.
Then the second is the factor that influencing interpersonal relationship in
psychological analysis that are similarity, reciprocity of liking, positive qualities,
physical attractiveness and liking, and physical appearance and social behavior.
It can be concluded that they are good friends and really love each other, but
due to the stress of Hannah and shy of Clay face make their relationship chaotic.
The last is a conclusion made by the writer who has watched the series
‘Thirteen Reasons Why Season 1”, concluding that the series is good for
teenagers to watch. The series contains education about mental health and
bullying in schools. However, junior high or high school teenagers who watch
this series must always be accompanied by their parents because many scenes
are not suitable for Indonesian children.

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