In Sherman Alexie’s, Superman and Me, Alexie uses multiple literary devices such as conflict and metaphor to help encompass the idea that education/society changes over time and opens doors of opportunities for people. Within Alexie’s story, he described the hard life of growing up as an Indian. Growing up as an Indian was a big challenge due to the fact that the world already had a set perspective on their lifestyle (which was that Indians were born illiterate and were made for one purpose and one purpose only, which was to hunt). The first literary device mentioned was conflict, where Sherman was in a pool of doubt and said “as Indian children, we were expected to fail.” This piece of evidence relates to conflict (person v.s. society) because the children were consistently looked down upon with their education and always told that “they couldn’t do it.” Society had placed them with a self conflict that makes them constantly doubt themselves when in reality the majority of them are educated and have a bigger picture in life. Furthermore the education changed overtime because society allowed to view these Indians as people rather than just …show more content…
As Sherman, once again was doubting himself with his education, Alexie wrote “I throw my weight against their doors. The door holds. I am smart.” Sherman Alexie was referring to society as the weights holding him against the door of opportunity so they cannot open. He actually educated, he read his father's books and they gave him a bigger perspective on the world. By reading his father's books on his own, despite what others would say, show that the more children put effort into their education, the more they'll gain self confidence in themselves which will help open more doors in their lives (opportunities) for the future. Reading helped Alexie, not only with his education but to prove society wrong and to display that he has more potential than the given
In "Superman and Me," Alexie's main claim declares that reading can make a major difference in a person's life. To Sherman Alexie, reading and books helped him get off the reservation and find his way out in the world. However, "Superman and Me” comes alive for readers due it implies that all a person needs is courage to fly pass their current situation, this story shows how the hostility of such bravery can even be emphasized in classrooms. In addition, he demonstrates to readers that all it takes is effort to make dreams come true, especially when living in a hostile world. Although, Alexie uses rhetorical strategies to appeal to the reader in more than one way and his ethical appeal comes from him illustrating what reading did for his situation
"As Indian children, we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world." (Pg. 24) Sherman Alexie, a significant Indian writer who grew up on reservation, discusses his childhood experience in seeking hope and salvation in readings and writing to break the stereotypes of Indian kids. In Alexie's article "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me", he proves that one doesn't have to be affluent to enjoy readings and writing, whereas one has to be resistant and persistent to "save their lives" from poverty. He not only provides courage and hopes for Indian children from a lower class, but also shows the non-Indians that Indians are smart and talented as well.
In the ending paragraph he writes, “These days, I write novels, short stories, and poems. I visit schools and teach creative writing to Indian kids.” These two sentences certify all that he has said previously. For all the reader knows, Sherman Alexie’s whole story was full of dramatic and heartwarming events just to create a good paper. And as a reader one should understand that he not only needs to establish himself as a writer, but also as a struggling Indian boy living on a reservation. “… a Spokane Indian boy living with his family on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington State. We were poor by most standards, but one of my parents usually managed to find some minimum-wage job or another, which made us middle-class by reservation standards. I had a brother and three sisters. We lived on a combination of irregular paychecks, hope fear, and government surplus food.” Alexie gains our trust by establishing himself as a struggling Indian
He gains the trust of the audience by admitting, “These days, I write novels, short stories, and poems, I visit schools and teach creative writing to Indian kids….. In all my years in the reservation school system, I was never taught how to write...” (paragraph 8). This lets the audience know that even though Sherman Alexie grew up in the same environment as them he become successful in the future because of his desire and motivation to read and acquire knowledge. He demonstrates to his readers that reading had opened up many opportunities in his life and allowed him to accomplish many things. Ethos helped Alexie achieve his purpose of inspiring his audience to follow his footsteps of reading more in order to save their life . Additionally, the use of ethos was effective in proving that hard work and reading pays off to the Native American kids who trusted Alexie because of his
Alexie compartmentalized his life in paragraphs which shows how important reading was even as a young child.. In the beginning of the essay Alexie writes that he grew up poor with “a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear and government surplus food”(324). His parents hopped from one minimum wage job to another so his life lacked stability. Once alexie realized the purpose of a paragraph he “began to think of everything in terms of paragraphs”(325). Alexie then goes into specifics on how catagorized every part of his life. He organized his life into paragraphs to bring a sense of stability. Making that connection shows that literature was essential in his development since before he could
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.
In the first branch of his essay, Sherman Alexie explains growing up as a native american boy in a impoverished house hold with his dad. Who had a addiction to books, and one of those books would change Alexies's life forever. He picked up the book and something inside him sparked, though he didn't know
The non-Indians and Indians alike alienated young Alexie at school. In order to conform to subservient expectations, smart Indian children were bullied into not actively talking or participating in class further emphasizing “Indian children who were expected to be stupid” (Alexie). Teachers would ignore the peer pressuring and bullying happening around them. Because the non-Indians actively denied the Indian kids of participating in school, they could not assimilate. Despite the persistence of non-Indians and Indians to deny Alexie the right to learn, he persevered and overcame adversity. His father inspired him “My father loved books, and since I loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well” paving the road to the rest of his life (Alexie). Alexie assimilated to the American way of life, but he did not forget his roots. Contrary to what he originally thought the direction his life was heading toward,
Alexie comes across as intelligent when he discusses that he taught himself to read high-level books at a young age. He informs, "A little Indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly. He reads "Grapes of Wrath" in kindergarten when other children are struggling through "Dick and Jane" (Alexie 17). People who are intelligent advance and learn quicker than most. Alexie illustrates how he learned quickly by referring to reading "Grapes of Wrath" while other students struggle with a way simpler book. Additionally, intelligent people can comprehend information quickly. Alexie builds off the idea that his intelligence to comprehend reading is what helped him advance in life at a young age.
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.
The phrase that Alexie repeats is, “I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. I was trying to save my life.” Alexie first introduces this point when he is talking about how he was growing up on the reservation and wanted to succeed in life and was trying to escape the depressing life on the Native American reservation. The constant pressure of the society setting ridiculous standards and typical expectations, the author is impacted throughout his childhood whether he should follow every other Indian child. Sherman Alexie knows he has the power to fulfill his dream, but struggles whether to use the power and come out of the emblematic way his people are looked at. “Where they are expected to fail in the non-Indian world. Those who failed were ceremonially accepted by other Indians and appropriately pitied by non-Indians.” The author was impacted to live either a pitied life just like every else, or to make a decision to stand up, and make a turnover the tradition of failure. Later in the story he goes to a Native American reservation and attempts to make a breakthrough with the students. At this point he repeats the same phrase, however, he changes it to, “I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our
He even explains this when he says, “My father loved books, and since I loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well” (Alexie 279). Alexie’s upbringing shows the reader that he was not wealthy, but he was still able to be exposed to massive amounts of literature and therefore could contribute to his education. His family’s wealth could be attributed to less opportunity in life, but in this case, it was not.
In the beginning of the essay, Alexie talks about how knowledge is a power that opens a window to success by using an anecdote about his personal experience with knowledge. As Alexie talks about his childhood in the beginning, he says, “We lived on a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear and government surplus food...” (Alexie). When Alexie discusses the conditions his family lived in, he is setting this frame of pity that makes the reader understand that education wasn’t the first thing on their mind, but what they we’re going to eat next. Later on in the beginning, Alexie explains how his father surrounded him with books and how his love for books started. His love for books was sparked from the love his father had for books. Alexie states this when he says, “...My father loved books...I loved my father...I decided to love books as well...” (Alexie). Alexie also explains how he didn’t understand at first when he first picked up a book but soon learned that “The words inside a paragraph worked together for a common purpose...this knowledge delighted me. I began to think of everything in terms of paragraphs...”(Alexie). This could be seen as a power because although he doesn’t understand, he’s learning how to understand what he’s reading and this could count as one of his first steps to success. As Alexie explains his personal experience with knowledge, he proves how he is an example of
While Alexie states his voice by using metaphor, he emphasizes the meaning of reading repeatedly in his essay. He stresses how he strives to read variety of books, and he records that,” I read the books my father brought home from the pawnshops and secondhand. I read the books I borrowed from the library. I read the backs of cereal boxes… I read magazines. I read anything that had words and paragraphs” (18). Alexie lists out all the material he has read with the same sentence structure, yet he does not conclude all these things in one sentence. He exemplifies his passion to reading, for he tries to save his life. Due to his parallel repetition, Alexie impresses the audience by these
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.