Superman and Me is one among many stories of the stereotypes associated with the American Indian culture. In this essay, the author, Sherman Alexie, writes about his childhood beginnings, and the role education played in his life. Throughout the text, Alexie uses different writing methods to create imagery for the reader. In the end, Alexie leaves the reader with the understanding that getting an education affects more than the individual but the community as a whole. In the beginning of Superman and Me, Alexie writes about he first came to read. His father’s interest in books inspired him to love them as well He began his newfound passion by picking up a Superman comic.(Alexie 583). At one point, paragraphs were far more than words;they were fences. He compared paragraphs in books to the paragraphs in his life. Although people were different, somehow they were linked, and important within their associated paragraphs (Alexie 583). …show more content…
The ridicule comes from his Indian pers as well as “outsiders.” Alexie faces a constant struggle to be like the rest of his Indian community:submissive,”stupid”, and failure. His desire to be different, to excel outlasted the need for acceptance from those who wanted to be mediocre in life. Every chance that Alexie received, he did as his father did;he read. He read at bookstores,the library, from cereal boxes,newspapers, the walls of the school. His love for books exceeded the joy it brought him.“I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life (Alexie
He says, “This might be an interesting story all by itself. A little Indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly.” He says this as an understatement to tell the reader the importance, but he actually is really smart. Alexie is a man who tells important events, but does not dramatise the events in his life and make people unable to focus on the true message of his essay, which is not how smart he
Sherman Alexis a Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian who wrote “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and me”. In the short story explains how he learned to read and write even with limited resources on the reservation where he grew up. He starts his story by using popular culture describing how he learned how to read using a comic book about “Superman”. He also explained why Indian children were never supposed to amount to anything in life and that they were supposed to be dumb among Non-Indians. He wanted to let other Indian students that reading is what saved his life. It opened up his mind and made him a better person today.
In the second last paragraph of this essay, Alexie uses the parallel structure of “I read…” to emphasize his passion in reading and his strong determination to pursue his purpose of saving his life as an Indian who is always challenged by stereotypes. The last paragraph repeats “write poetry, short stories, or novels” for four times in different scenarios, including Alexie himself has never been taught of how to “write poetry, short stories, or novels”, and he is now teaching the Indian kids “writing poetry, short stories, or novels”. Alexie employs this repetition to highlight the fact that reading and writing still play essential roles in the Indian life, and there are always Indian people who are interested in learning about reading and write just like him. The final sentences in the last two paragraphs are only slightly different. Alexie ends the second last paragraph of this essay with his ultimate goal after stating his experience as a passionate reader in the beginning.
In the fictional story, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie, a Native American author, describes the problems of a teenager living between two different cultures; one Native American, and the other white. Alexie uses figurative language elements to convince teenagers to be aware and support people living between two worlds in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. By using these literary elements, Sherman Alexie guides the audience to respond emotionally and act upon about the book’s message. Throughout the story, Alexie uses juxtaposition to show the differences between the two worlds the protagonist lives in.
In Sherman Alexie's “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” the focus is on his struggle growing up poor on the reservation. Many people would have assumed that he was a child prodigy because he taught himself to read at an early age through his hero Superman’s comic book. Reading was the escape from his life of fences on the reservation. Despite the expectations for the children by their tribal elders, he demonstrated his love of the learning process and used the opportunities of the schools to free himself from the reservation; this made him a dangerous Indian. He dealt with the bullies of the school who made sure every Indian child followed the creed o...
How White people assumed they were better than Indians and tried to bully a young boy under the US Reservation. Alexie was bullied by his classmates, teammates, and teachers since he was young because he was an Indian. Even though Alexie didn’t come from a good background, he found the right path and didn’t let his hands down. He had two ways to go to, either become a better, educated and strong person, either be like his brother Steven that was following a bad path, where Alexie chose to become a better and educated person. I believe that Alexie learned how to get stronger, and stand up for himself in the hard moments of his life by many struggles that he passed through. He overcame all his struggles and rose above them
Culture has the power and ability to give someone spiritual and emotional distinction which shapes one's identity. Without culture, society would be less and less diverse. Culture is what gives this earth warmth and color that expands across miles and miles. The author of “The School Days of an Indian Girl”, Zitkala Sa, incorporates the ideals of Native American culture into her writing. Similarly, Sherman Alexie sheds light onto the hardships he struggled through growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven in a chapter titled “Indian Education”.
In a world dominated by technology, reading novels has become dull. Instead of immersing into books, we choose to listen to Justin Bieber’s new songs and to scroll through Instagram posts. We have come to completely neglect the simple pleasures of flipping through pages and getting to finally finish a story. Sherman Alexie and Stephan King’s essays attempt to revive this interest in books that has long been lost. They remind us of the important role that reading plays in our daily lives. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” for instance, demonstrates how being literate saved the narrator from the oppressive nature of society. The author explains that even though he was capable of reading complex books at an astonishingly young
At a point in time, Arnold and Rowdy become best friends once again. This friendship between Arnold and Rowdy that Alexie has integrated into the novel illustrates a hardship between personal companions and personal prosperity, perfectly. Hardship is everywhere, but Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” is an amusing and intelligent novel that clearly provides the reader with perfect examples of poverty and friendship on an Indian reservation. Alexie incorporates those examples through the point of view and experiences of a fourteen year old boy named Arnold Spirit Jr.
American Indian students make up less than one percent of college or higher education students, and less than one third of American Indian students are continuing education after high school. In his memoir essay The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie recalls learning to read, growing up on a reservation where he was expected to fail, and working tirelessly to read more and become a writer. Sherman Alexie had to overcome stereotypes in order to be accepted as smart and become a writer, which shows that it is harder for people who are stereotyped to be successful because they have less opportunities.
In his essay “Superman and Me”, Sherman Alexie details how he rose above the limits placed upon him because of his ethnicity. Alexie begins the essay by opening up to his audience and recounting how he taught himself to read by using a Superman comic book. Alexie’s family was living paycheck to paycheck, so he began reading anything and everything that he could get his hands on. The purpose of Alexie’s “Superman and Me” is to inform the audience of how one does not need to be affluent to learn. With pathos, repetition, and elaborate metaphors, Sherman Alexie evokes a change of mind from his audience.
The description and detail used in “superman and me” is very clear. Alexis uses this to place to set the tone for the uphill battle he was going to encounter. The reservation Alexis grew up in was a Spokane reservation. In a time period where the white man looked down upon most Indians. The culture of tribe has been forged after repeated cycles of the same thing. The lack of education and growth that prevented them from doing anything significant with their lives. Most of the Spokane were poor and those who could get minimum wage were considered middle class in the tribe. This is where Alexis family was in. The Spokane didn’t push very much for education, but more for working. The kids in school were expected to fail right from the get go. So much so that when the teacher asked a kid a question most would just hold their head
“I read with equal parts joy and desperation.” This sentence from Sherman Alexie’s Superman and Me is thought provoking because at this point in the story you think he reads because he loves to. But when you read this sentence in particular you start to think about the reasons he would be reading besides just for joy. The quote says that he reads with equal desperation and joy, so he reads books for joy and despair. Though what is there to despair overall he has a good life, good home, good food? What was he agonizing over trying to save his life. So he could get a good job and have a life.”I was trying to save my life.”
Sherman Alexie illustrates through the short story, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” how he developed the same reading and writing skills taught in a classroom solely from a Superman comic book. Alexie’s situation was unique from not only non-Indians but Indians as well. Alexie’s family was not privileged, which was the case for most of the people who lived on the Indian reservation. They, Indians, had access to very limited resources which ceased any aspirations they had at being successful. Alexie, as a young Indian boy, was not supposed to be educated by the societal norms expressed of his era. However, Alexie refused to fall victim to a stereotypical uneducated Indian boy. As a product of an Indian reservation, Sherman Alexie informs his audience, mostly dedicated to Indian children that he did not fail simply because of the joy he had for reading and writing.
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 essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.