Superman And Me Analysis

With Alexie knowing that learning and knowing how to read was a skill that everyone needed, he encouraged many other young Indians to learn how to. He would tell them, “I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky.” He was trying to save their lives. He wanted to teach them how to read because they are smart, they are arrogant, and they are lucky. In the story it says, “ They look at me with bright eyes and arrogant wonder.” They looked up to his, and believed him. Then, there were those few that were defeated from the start that would sit in the back of the classroom and would ignore

Reading was his outlet from the negative environment he grew up in, but also the way out. Sherman Alexie also uses selective diction to shape the struggles of young Native Americans in the broken school system. Words like sullen, defeated, resist, refuse and arrogant create the negative atmosphere of the Native American students are face with everyday. Discouraged and already defeated students are the kind Sherman Alexie tries to save because nobody bothers with them, a lost

King claims that reading extensively makes for a better writer as through good and bad literature allows a writer to reflect on his own writing and improve his style. Yet Alexie rather is empowered quite differently by the knowledge he gains in reading literature. Alexie went against the stereotype for Indians at the time which still affects not only Indians but non-Indians as well. He is trying to make a point as to why he did not fail in the non-Indian world and that he deserved to succeed given how desperate he felt at times yet he did not accept fate given that he was considered “dangerous” (17). In doing so he works to change and save the lives of Indian kids but is unable to do so for all of them. He says, “They stare out the window. They refuse and resist. ‘Books,’ I say to them. ‘Books,’ I say” (18). Though the idea of empowerment may not be the same, it came from one source – books. This is how “a novel like The Grapes of Wrath may fill a new writer with feelings to…work harder and aim higher” (222), according to King, while a young Alexie “read “Grapes of Wrath” in kindergarten when other children are struggling through “Dick and Jane”” (17). Furthermore, Alexie stood out in a society which rather put him down for his race, which is not an equal comparison to how King stands out for social norms where he would rather read a novel “at meals” which “is considered

As he grew up to become a writer, we see pain in the story he tells. “I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life” (pg.18). Alexie wanted to be someone greater than what others expected him to be. People would put him down constantly, but he fought back just as much. He tried to save himself from the stereotypes of being just another dumb Indian. He had more determination to prove others wrong when it came too exceeding in reading to further excel in his daily life.

To improve literary skills, lower class citizens should take the initiative outside of the education system to increase the likelihood of breaking through their class’ economic barrier. In the essay, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”, Alexie says that he grew up as a part of the lower class on a Native American reservation. His parents often had to find different jobs that only paid minimum wage, which made it difficult for his family to live comfortably. Even though his family was part of the lower class, his father continuously read books. Alexie began reading to follow his father’s passion. He looked at novels and eventually understood their composition. Alexie’s firsthand experience allowed him to learn how to read in a much more efficient manner than if he learned through the reservation’s mediocre schooling system. Outside reading also motivated him to learn more. Alexie loved the feeling of gaining more information on how to have a positive impact on society. If he did not dedicate time for reading outside of his

There are some children, like the Indian boy in the short story that will simply not be given a chance to learn how to read and must adapt quickly to survive. Alexie took his fate into his own hands at an early age. Although the author never states the age of the boy, we are to imagine he is grade school age. Alexie states that the boy’s father had an extensive book collection from which he had taught himself how to read, but never mentions if the father had helped his son to learn to read. I imagine the father was too busy trying to support his family by working minimum wage jobs and finding work where he could find it. Needless to say, Alexie adapted well given his situation. These experiences give him accreditation with the reader,

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

In the case of Sherman Alexie, reading and writing was a way for him to be a rebel and find success even though the odds were against him. He wanted to be something more than the typical Native American. Reading and writing helped to shape what his life is today (Alexie 6). In the case of the speaker in “Daughters of Invention”, she is trying to adjust to the new lifestyle of living in New York. She deals with several difficulties and uses reading and writing as an

Purpose: Alexie highlights how he ultimately overcame the hardships suffered during his early years due to his Indian ethnicity and displays how Native Americans were, and continue, to suffer from discrimination.

They would make him stay quiet in class because most of them did not like to speak during class with their non-Indian teacher. Even though at home they would talk nonstop about anything. These kids did not grow up to have opportunities they could have had because they were not given a proper education. The non-Indian teachers did not push the kids to learn and they did not care about their student's education. The kids knew that they were expected to fail with their education, and they grew up knowing it was okay to fail because they were Indian. However, Alexie did not accept that. He knew he could pass and that he was smart, so he challenged himself to learn out of the classroom. Reading became the center of his education; he read late into the night, at recess, during lunch, after class, and whenever he could make time to. As a boy he read everything he could find with words on it including all the books his dad had at home, newspapers, library books, cereal boxes, posters, manuals. Even though he loved books he knew reading saved his education and his entire life. His future was opened up to new opportunities because he was educated.

Alexie and Malcolm both faced oppression and shared the expectation to fail by society. Even with many similarities in their disadvantages, Malcolm X's life was changed more significantly by learning to read. Sherman Alexie had set backs for being a Native American, but he had important advantages compared to Malcolm. He was “middle class by reservation standards,” giving him an economic boost. His father's rich interest in literature made books and knowledge greatly available throughout his childhood. He also developed the ability to read at an earlier age: which isn't necessarily uncommon. Yes, he faced resentative treatment by others on the reservation due to his aspiration to be more than the common Indian.”Those who failed were ceremonially accepted by other indians”. Those around him expected him to fit in with the “norm” of being an uneducated Native, but he wasn't having it. Their negative attitude towards him didn't affect him, and he saw the world in a different perspective setting him apart. He saw it as a book and he was gonna write it his own way. With what malcolm x accomplished with his setbacks is far more impressive and important than

Sherman Alexie was just three years old when he had taught himself to read. He believed that he saved himself by learning to read. He was a young little boy who was Spokane Indian, who lived with his family; a mother, father, brother, and three sisters, on a Spokane Indian reservation in eastern Washington state. Sherman Alexie uses pathos to get you; his reader to relate to him. He describes himself as a little Indian boy who taught himself to read at an early age.

Growing up as a Native American boy on a reservation, Sherman Alexie was not expected to succeed outside of his reservation home. The expectations for Native American children were not very high, but Alexie burst out of the stereotype and expectations put by white men. Young Native Americans were not expected to overcome their stereotypes and were forced to succumb to low levels of reading and writing “he was expected to fail in a non-Indian world” (Alexie 3), but Alexie was born with a passion for reading and writing, so much so that he taught himself to read at age three by simply looking at images in Marvel comics and piecing the words and pictures together. No young Native American had made it out of his reservation to become a successful writer like he did. This fabricates a clear ethos for Alexie, he is a perfect underdog in an imperfect world.

Alexie says reading saves lives. I agree and disagree because I believe if someone enjoys reading it could be a great hobby and skill to acquire, but if someone does not enjoy reading they could always find another hobby like sports or video games. Alexie in a way did save his life through reading, because without reading he would have been a typical indian boy and would have fallen through the cracks. However, just because reading was what got him through though times and hard situations does not mean everyone else will have the same experiences. For example, Personally I was never a huge fan of reading, but I did enjoy horseback riding. In a way horseback riding saved me from hanging around the wrong group of children because it kept me busy

One of the circumstances that lead Alexie that influenced all of his work was being born on Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. The tribe name itself means “children of the sun” (Reservation). Contrary to the name, here, like most Native American reservations, there is a high poverty rate. In fact, the average poverty rate on the reservation was forty percent as of 2016 (Spokane