A Comparison Of Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie

Traditions and old teachings are essential to Native American culture; however growing up in the modern west creates a distance and ignorance about one’s identity. In the beginning, the narrator is in the hospital while as his father lies on his death bed, when he than encounters fellow Native Americans. One of these men talks about an elderly Indian Scholar who paradoxically discussed identity, “She had taken nostalgia as her false idol-her thin blanket-and it was murdering her” (6). The nostalgia represents the old Native American ways. The woman can’t seem to let go of the past, which in turn creates confusion for the man to why she can’t let it go because she was lecturing “…separate indigenous literary identity which was ironic considering that she was speaking English in a room full of white professors”(6). The man’s ignorance with the elderly woman’s message creates a further cultural identity struggle. Once more in the hospital, the narrator talks to another Native American man who similarly feels a divide with his culture. “The Indian world is filled with charlatan, men and women who pretend…”

“Superman and Me” is a personal essay Alexie wrote to talk about his experience of learning to read at a very young age despite living in a poor family and having limited resources available to him. The main topic of the essay discusses the importance of books and defeating the stereotypes put on Native Americans. He was born on an Indian reservation with his three siblings and very little money but, he was lucky in the aspect of having a father who enjoyed reading and thus sparked his interest in reading. He details how he was determined to succeed in an environment that he was expected to fail in. He goes into depth with the quote, “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared

Inspired by his father, Alexie took to reading at a young age. He taught himself how to read through comic books; by looking at a picture and explaining in his own words what is happening. If it weren’t for his father’s love of reading, I think there is a good chance Alexie’s life may have turned out completely different. He most likely would not have had access to all of the reading material throughout his childhood, and most importantly, the Superman comic book which began

The audience in this literacy narrative essay is widespread because people from different social-cultural groups might be interested, but most importantly people from upper-middle class. Alexie's purpose is to express how anyone don't need to be affluent to learn. He expresses his point well in the literacy narrative essay and his tone is inspirational because he uses positive words such as “loved”, “bright eyes” and “lucky” to give an inspirational message to the reader. Alexie’s main idea in the literacy narrative essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing”: Superman and Me is how Alexie used his own personal experiences to express his point of view, about his love of reading. He learns to read with a superman comic book for the first time when

Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his

Have you ever considered if a literary education is a necessity or a privilege? After reading Sherman Alexie’s article “The Joy of Reading and Writing : Superman and Me” I definitely began thinking on this question. Alexie argues that low socioeconomic groups specifically Spokane Indians need a better literary education to help counter the cultural expectation. I feel Alexie effectively persuades the reader through his personal experiences and by using pathos and ethos.

In contrast, “Superman and Me “ by Sherman Alexie tells the story of Alexie, as a young Indian boy, fighting his way through life. Alexie’s autobiography tells a story of how tough life can be as a Spokane Indian boy. He lived in Eastern Washington State on the Spokane Indian Reservation, this is where he and his brother and sisters resided. Alexie stated that, “ We lived on a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear, and government surplus foods”(Alexie 1). Poor, below the poverty point, but managed to find a job here and there making them middle-class. With the money Alexie’s father makes he provided them with their every needs. Additionally his father buys books because he is an

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Unfortunately Native Americans have deep roots with racism and oppression during the last 500 years. “In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven,” Sherman Alexie tries to show racism in many ways in multiple of his short stories. These stories, engage our history from a Native American viewpoint. Many Native Americans were brutally forced out of their homes and onto Reservations that lacked resources. Later, Indian children were taken from their families and placed into school that were designed to, “Kill the Indian, save the man.” In the book there are multiple short story that are pieces that form a larger puzzle that shows the struggles and their effects on Native Americans. Sherman Alexie shows the many sides of racism, unfair justice and extermination policies and how imagination is key for Native American survival.

Education for minorities is a common theme addressed in both passages. In The Hunger of Memory, the narrator, Richard Rodriguez, is the son of Mexican immigrants. He and his family stayed alienated from the rest of society due to their appearance and background. There was no mention of anyone in Rodriguez’s family having had a proper education before him. They took comfort in their familiarity and their closeness with each other and their culture, but even so, Rodriguez's educational odds were against him due to aspects of his life that he had no control over. This affected him to the point that he started separating himself from his heritage in order to pursue an education and a higher status. The author of “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie, faced similar problems. As a Native American who lived on a reservation during his childhood, Alexie grew up in poverty and attended schools filled to the brim with disinterested, undervalued Native American children who did not receive any opportunities to learn how to write poetry, short stories, or novels while growing up. “We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid,” (Alexie 2) Alexie says, affirming that many other Native American children took to this stereotype while in the classroom. Despite this, those children were not as slow as society thought them to be. Outside the classroom, Alexie described the abilities of the “stupid” Indian kids to memorize and sing dozens of powwow songs and tell complicated stories and jokes around other Indians, but because of the expectation to fail placed upon them, the Native American children took to

Have you ever felt like you can’t be yourself because you don’t want to be different? Have you ever wanted to prove someone wrong about something they thought about you? In Sherman Alexie’s The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me he was stereotyped to be just any old Indian American that wont be anything in life but it turned out that he did what he wanted to and became a successful poet and writer.

Sherman Alexie read anything and everything he could , the only reasons he could is because he read superman comic books . Even though he went through the worst he somehow remained positive and still learned to develop skills of learning to write and read. He never gave up on himself. He didn’t stereotype others. He learned how to read and write from Superman comic

Sherman Alexie is a Native American man who is well known for his novels and short stories based on his experiences as a member of many different Native American tribes. In his short story “Indian Education”, Alexie details the struggles with bullying and discrimination one Native American boy went through during his time in school. Although “Indian Education” is written differently from other short stories it still conveys a solid theme and has a well written plot. Alexie’s style is also a benefit to the reader as they make their way through grade school with the main character, Victor.

What really makes an event crucial to who you are? That was the question I had to ask myself as I wrote this paper. I can recall the first time I had truly felt proud of something I had accomplished. As a young child, starting in kindergarten, I had always exceled over my peers in reading, and writing. Reading and writing just clicked for me. I understood that when certain letters are put together it makes words, and those words made stories. This paper will compare “my story” to the Jung personality test, as well as, Sherman Alexie’s story “Superman and Me.” I will explain the similarities/differences between each.

Sherman Alexie seems to be a great fan of ‘Superman’ comic book as he started telling how he used to spend time when he was small. He also told about how he got attracted to books from his daddy’s habit of reading books and about his dad going to Catholic School which use to be very rare to go to traditional school those days. He started telling about his personal assets about his house. He considered himself as a bright, smart and talented student. He described the problem he faced being of different culture and religion how he struggled that day he has described it through his word. He showed how difficult it use to study for Indian boy like him those days proper frustration can be seen in his words. This story is basically showing the relation

By reading both “Superman and Me” and “Daughter of Invention”, the significance of their stories to me are about their passion towards literature, reading and writing, and how it sets them free. The Indian boy, Alexie, continued on pursuing reading at any opportunity came to pass to him, thanks mostly to his father, likewise Cukita was passionate in pursuing herself in her writing in the style of poetry. As going as far to develop a speech which she recited in front her teacher and peers. As a matter of fact, both main characters come from a background as outsiders by society. The general public, mainly students and school, looked at both main characters as nuisances. Alexie coming from a Native American family was perceived to be of lesser