Suicide

4 Pages 1062 Words

In the Internet based text entitled “If you are thinking about suicide, read this first” I aim to discover and analyse the techniques used to persuade the reader.
The author, in the first paragraph of the text explains that she is not a professional, instead, a normal person who “knows what it is like to be in pain.” This colloquial, less removed approached may help the reader cope with what is happening to them and how they are feeling. The text on numerous occasions congratulates the reader for getting that far into the text, to build self-esteem and build confidence in the reader.
“That is good.”
“Well, it’s been a few minutes and you’re still with me. I’m really glad.”
The author is clever in the way she attempts to persuade, rather than making suicide a taboo, she lets the reader know that, although suicide is not an acceptable option, she understands how the reader feels. The author does however, plead with the reader to finish reading the text before making the life ending decision, she does this by putting herself into the readers’ position, attempting to understand the misery that they are reading. The author has then bought herself enough time to attempt to dissuade the reader from suicide. The author attempts to use her writing as a place rather than a textual piece using phrases such as “I can assume that you are here because...ending your life.”
During the text there is a quote in much larger letters, which reads:
“Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain.” This quote is emboldened and enlarged to
attract attention to the fact that the reader is not at fault for feeling suicidal, and this is a very powerful and important quote.
The author uses a friendly voice to get her message across she is sensitive to how the reader is feeling and says nothing that could possibly make the reader feel more hatred for themselves, “I would prefer to be t...