
In both novels, the main character has depression and while the main character in Thirteen Reasons Why has already committed suicide, the main character in Willow self harms herself and is considering suicide throughout the novel. The main character in both novels is a young female that has had a very troubled life, and even though both of their past are completely different, what they are feeling inside is very similar. There are many differences and similarities between the two novels, especially with how the major point of depression is used with both of the characters and how all of the other characters in the novels deal with what is going on.

Willow is the main character in the novel Willow, and she is a high school student who has moved in with her brother due to her parents dying in a car crash. Throughout the novel, Willow is battling a relationship with herself, her brother, and a college student that she has met. She is battling depression within herself, because she feels that she is to blame for the car crash that killed her parents, and even though her brother does not blame her for what had happened she still feels that he blames her for everything that they are both going through. When she meets this college student, Guy, he finds out that Willow self harms and tries to slowly help her overcome her depression and self infliction. 

In the other novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, Hannah Baker may not be considered the main character, but she is the character that committed suicide and sent out cassette tapes to specific people explaining why she took her life. These cassette tapes are the whole focus throughout the entire novel, and each cassette tape is about one individual person that is either one of the reasons why she committed suicide or is about an individual that was very influential in her life. Hannah uses these cassette tapes to blame many people for her depression, but she also uses them to thank some of the people that did help her through her life. Hannah may not have overcome her depression, but her suicide and her cassette tapes did help a lot of people realize that depression is serious and what these people did to her was not just a harmless joke. In Thirteen Reasons Why, depression and suicide were not the only major points that the author wanted to portray, but bullying was also a main point that can cause both depression and suicide in young adults.  

Both of these novels have many similarities and differences when it comes to the story line and how depression and suicide is used in each novel. The major similarities in these two novels would be the main point that both of the authors are portraying, which would be depression and how it not only affects one person, but many others. In Thirteen Reasons Why, Hannah could not overcome her depression and it affected not only her, but everyone that listened to the cassette tapes, her family, and many other people that knew her. In Willow, her depression affects Willow physically because of the harm that she inflicts on herself, and it also affects her brother, Guy, and her friends.

Some differences that each novel has would be the storyline used to portray the main point of depression, the main characters, and how depression affected each character. In Thirteen Reasons Why, the character suffering from depression has already committed suicide, and the depression is affecting everyone that knows her instead of in Willow where the depression is still affecting her majorly. Hannah and Willow both have similarities, the main one being depression, but they also have many differences. Hannah has already let the depression completely take control of her life, because she let it actually take her life away and the reason for her depression is how she was treated by so many different people. While Willow is learning to overcome her depression and not let it control her life, with the help of her friend Guy. Willow also has a completely different reason for her depression, which is the guilt for the car crash that killed her parents. Hannah was not strong enough to get control of her depression, but Willow does finally get control of her depression at the end of the novel and finally quits self harming herself. 

Depression is portrayed both different and similar in Willow and Thirteen Reasons Why, but the message about depression that both authors wanted to get out was the fact that depression is not funny, but it is a mental disorder that not only affects the person that is diagnosed with it but it also affects the numerous people around them. However, both authors used different perspectives on how to get this point across to their readers. The author of Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher, used a girl that committed suicide who blamed everyone else for the depression that she was battling. Depression can be caused by other peoples’ actions, but if the individual cannot find a way to overcome this depression and strengthen from it then that individual is the only one to blame. Even though she felt that suicide would be the best way to handle her depression, she did not realize how much it would affect everyone else in that community. The author of Willow, Julia Hoban, used a love story between Willow and Guy to show that people can help you overcome your depression, you just have to learn how to ask people for help when it is needed. Even though Guy was not the reason that Willow overcame her depression, he did help her see that her parents car crash was not her fault and that helped her strengthen from the situations instead of letting the depression control her. Both of the authors did a very good job of portraying what depression is to their audience and how it affects people on a daily basis. 
