Tell Me I'm Here
Tell Me I’m Here is a multi-genre text; it is written as a narrative, with an expository function. The author, Anne Deveson, takes this approach in order to achieve her two objectives, to educate the reader about schizophrenia and to tell Jonathan’s story. The boundaries between these genres are indistinct, as she educates the reader by including data, within the narrative, that she has discovered throughout her research. Without the use of this information, the reader would have little or no general knowledge of schizophrenia and would, therefore, feel less affectionate towards Jonathon, believing that his episodes are due to his attitude rather than the illness. These two purposes, work together to achieve Deveson’s general aim of eradicating stigmas, which have been presented to society, largely through the influence of the media. These stigmas include such labels as psychotics, and have been stereotyped through movies such as ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Shining’.Many facts and figures are contained within the text of Tell Me I’m Here. The use of these, allows Anne Deveson to inform the reader about schizophrenia, and construct realities such as how large a proportion of society has the sickness, making it more person
Although Anne Deveson wrote the book for an educational purpose, she additionally wrote it to expose Jonathon’s story. The text contains writing conventions that are required in a novel, such as characters, setting, narrative structure, chapters, chronological order and a 1st person narrator. The events of his beleaguered life are significant towards educating society as they give a first hand perspective of what it’s like to closely interact with a schizophrenic, creating sympathy for the Deveson family and strengthening them as characters. By enclosing narrative style as part of the book, it is presented as more appealing to the reader, as it creates more suspense, the reader identifies with the characters appearing to see them in a particular light, and an emotive response is received; which is what often occurs in fictional texts. Eyewitness statements and personal opinions play a large role in the text. This presents other individual’s attitudes on events that have happened around Jonathon’s life and their own experiences with schizophrenic sufferers. The inclusion of these additional views, allows the reader to acquire an idea of what it is like to be confronted by a victim of schizophrenia, and compels them to be a lot more supportive towards the issue. The various opinions and statements come from an array of people; from professionals to individuals who have experienced schizophrenia. For example on pg.189, a professional named Margaret Leggatt, director of the first Schizophrenic Fellowship of South Australia is talking during a public meeting and telling the audience about some previous research she’d done, looking at what happened in families when a son or daughter was diagnosed, and says, “I fo
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Approximate Word count = 1167
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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