Thirteen Reasons Why: Cassettes 3–4

by Jay Asher
After Hannah Baker's death, classmate Clay Jenson receives a set of cassette tapes in which Hannah makes painful revelations.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Cassette 2, Cassettes 3–4, Cassette 5–The Next Day
35 words 414 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. anthology
    a collection of selected literary passages
    Here, Courtney, is your contribution to the anthology of my life.
  2. suspicious
    openly distrustful and unwilling to confide
    And although I was still suspicious, you are who you are and everyone wants to go to a party with you.
  3. outcast
    a person who is rejected (from society or home)
    Why does she insist on being an outcast?
  4. stifle
    conceal or hide
    I can't stifle a laugh at my own lame joke.
  5. rage
    a feeling of intense anger
    My voice shakes from both rage and an attempt to hold back tears.
  6. charity
    a kindly and lenient attitude toward people
    Did anyone at that party actually believe she brought me there as a friend? Or did they simply think I was her latest charity case?
  7. callousness
    a lack of sympathy or regard for others
    Like the person who grabbed my ass at Blue Spot Liquor, what he was about to say was just an aftereffect of someone else's actions—someone else's callousness.
  8. amnesia
    partial or total loss of memory
    And okay, maybe I was willing to have a little selective amnesia.
  9. nocturnal
    belonging to or active during the night
    Did he really have no clue that I knew about his night prowling—about his nocturnal missions?
  10. analyze
    make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical study of
    fill out a survey, a computer analyzes your answers, then it cross-references with the other surveys.
  11. depressed
    filled with melancholy and despondency
    What a horrible first date that depressed loner would make.
  12. decipher
    make out the meaning of
    Decipher a bunch of notes scribbled on the board probably five minutes before class started, then copy them down in your notebook.
  13. pessimist
    a person who expects the worst
    I walked out of that office with my survey still in the box, unsure of what I was. An optimist? A pessimist?
  14. aura
    distinctive but intangible quality around a person or thing
    To me, Rosie's had an aura about it. A mystery. In the stories I heard, it seemed like things were always happening there.
  15. wary
    openly distrustful and unwilling to confide
    I was a little wary of Marcus. A little suspicious.
  16. commotion
    a disorderly outburst or tumult
    No cars. No noise. No commotion in the background.
  17. pathetic
    deserving or inciting pity
    I'm sorry if this sounds pathetic, but you know it's true.
  18. moderate
    preside over
    Mrs. Bradley said Peer Communications was her favorite class to teach—or moderate, as she called it.
  19. impact
    a forceful consequence; a strong effect
    No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people.
  20. audible
    heard or perceptible by the ear
    Silence. Just static, barely audible, in the headphones.
  21. telltale
    disclosing unintentionally
    The first few months of class I received maybe four or five notes. But suddenly, after the telltale haircut . . . nothing.
  22. disclosure
    the act of making something evident
    In the spirit of opening up—of full disclosure-—let me offer you this: My parents love me.
  23. drastic
    forceful and extreme and rigorous
    It seemed so drastic because it had been months since she had acted like that.
  24. tinge
    affect as in thought or feeling
    But everything they said—everything!—came tinged with annoyance.
  25. abstract
    not representing or imitating external reality
    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.
  26. metaphor
    a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
    Is it a stand-in—a symbol—for another idea? Does it fit into a larger, more hidden, metaphor?
  27. subtlety
    the quality of being difficult to detect or analyze
    My first few attempts were a bit sad. Not much depth or subtlety. Pretty straightforward.
  28. bearable
    capable of being endured
    Just knowing I'd be going to Monet's to write poetry made the days more bearable.
  29. perspective
    a way of regarding situations or topics
    I'd race over there to try and make it without being too late, but even when I was late, every one seemed happy to have me there—to provide the "feminine teen perspective" they called it.
  30. motto
    a favorite saying of a sect or political group
    The truth shall set you free. The motto of the Lost-N-Found.
  31. anonymous
    having no known name or identity or known source
    It was anonymous. Just like the poem that appeared in the Lost-N-Found.
  32. flinch
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    I flinched when you told me that.
  33. defensive
    attempting to justify something or avoid criticism
    I got defensive—even angry.
  34. parody
    a composition that imitates or misrepresents a style
    Some even wrote parodies of my poem, reading them to me in the hopes of getting under my skin.
  35. relentless
    never-ceasing
    They were relentless, bringing new poems every day for an entire week.
Created on Mon Mar 23 20:10:36 EDT 2015 (updated Mon Oct 01 15:16:37 EDT 2018)

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