Tell Me I'M Here

Tell Me I’m Here “Tell me I’m Here” by Anne Deveson does not simply present facts and realities. Rather it presents particular attitudes towards schizophrenia, selects information and language appropriate to present her ideas, values and attitudes.
It is an expository text intended primarily to inform, instruct and explain. Deveson uses particular techniques to present her detailed ideas, attitudes, experiences and issues as to position the reader to respond sympathetically towards people suffering from schizophrenia.
Selection of detail is a key technique; Deveson is able to use selection of detail to influence the reader’s response to the text. The text is written in the first person presenting Deveson’s point of view, which means she is able to express her first hand opinions, feelings, emotions and thoughts. She chooses to enclose personal accounts of people suffering from schizophrenia so the reader can gain an insight into the way society treats them and the feelings this creates. One man with schizophrenia says, “Doctors rarely talk to us or look at us as if we are human”. By including a comment like this Deveson is able to influence the reader, eliciting a negative response to the medical profession. Deveson is also able to influence the reader to feel sympathetically towards people suffering from schizophrenia and achieve the realization that they want to be recognized as humans with feelings and emotions too.
Anne Deveson uses structure as a key to positioning the reader to respond compassionately towards people with schizophrenia and their families. This is conveyed to the reader through the way the text is put together. Deveson doesn’t write about the events in the order they occur, she writes about them as her memory is triggered. This positions the reader to see that Anne is a real person with real