Gloria Steinem stated that, “Comic books have power,” (in the essay “Wonder Woman” (455)). This statement means that even the small or unlikely things can help change the way somebody does something or looks at things. In the essay, “Superman and Me”, the writer Sherman Alexis says, “I learned to read with a Superman comic book” (496). Through his essay he describes the many things he experienced and learned because of his first readings of Superman comic books. These essays were both made to describe the way different groups of people thought about themselves, and how they were expected to play their role in society. But the writers of these essays also tell how they started with these super-hero magazines to bring a more successful and more meaningful life. …show more content…
Wonder woman was a symbol for all women, in that she was everything a woman could be, but also everything a woman was not supposed to be in the eyes of men. She used wonder woman comics to bring hope into her eyes and other women’s eyes. She also used her to put a new perspective on the greatness of woman. The writer believed that through Wonder Woman she could show woman that they are smart and strong and can do more than what they give themselves credit for. The author for “Superman and Me” tells how the comics taught him how to read. He talks about through learning how to read he discovered the way other Indian kids acted towards being smart. The Indian kids were not supposed to be smart and he noticed that reading increased his intelligence and made him something that was unusual for his people. Reading also showed him that the other Indians around him acted to be incompetent because that’s what everybody expected. He says, “As Indian children we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world”
As I grew up learning to read was something I learned in school, yet for Sherman Alexie and Malcolm X can’t say the same. These two amazing authors taught themselves, at different stages of their lives, to read. In Sherman Alexie’s essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” and Malcolm X’s essay “Learning to Read” they both explain the trials and experiences they went through that encouraged them to work to achieve literacy.
At what age did you learn to read? Were you younger or were you older? In “Superman and Me”, Sherman Alexie describes the importance of learning how to read at a young age and how reading saved his life. Sherman Alexie’s “Superman and Me” uses rhetorical analysis effectively to show that by reading he became an example for Indians at the reservations by beating and conquering all of the stereotypes that were against Native Americans.
In the article “Wonder Woman” Gloria Steinem expresses that the making of female super-heroes empowers females by reducing the fixed theme of a Caucasian male saving an inferior female. She displays this by showing how inferior women were before in male super-hero comic books, compares what it was like personally reading female super-hero comics to male super-hero comics as a child, the fight with other women to have the original Wonder Woman published in Ms. Magazine and how even males were changed by the making of Wonder Woman.
The three reading are Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie, You’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you by The Oatmeal, and Girl by Jamaica Kincaid. While analyzing these readings, it became apparent all three contained different rhetorical situations. The purpose, or reason to write, in Superman and me, is the cultural significance. Superman and me is a rare story where a Native American was able to succeed by reading books. The purpose can be identified after Sherman mentions how “A little Indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age”(Alexie, 130). An Indian boy teaching himself how to read was significant since all “Indian children [are] expected to be stupid"(Alexie, 130). Alexie mentioned if he had “been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity”(Alexie, 3). The purpose allowed Sherman Alexie to speak
Like in Gilgamesh and the Iliad, women help encourage and influence the protagonists to be the heroes and protectors they are meant to be. Adventures and wars
Reading a book is a great entertainment, but more importantly, it gives you more knowledge to learn. In a short story entitled “Superman and me” by Sherman Alexie, he discussed how it’s like to be in a minority, or an Indian in a non-Indian world, and how reading helped him get through it. Growing up, his father influenced him into reading books. Due to this he started to teach himself how to read and gained more knowledge. Though he is smart, it was hard for him to be noticed, “Indian children were expected to be stupid,” because of this he worked hard and proved the majority what he is capable of. Alexie’s passion in reading had helped himself and his fellow man rise against all the discrimination and be accepted by
Grammars. Grammar errors. You are missing an “s” at the end of a plural because it is not singular. Whatever the rules are I still don’t get them. As you can see this paper is probably full of grammar mistakes more than anything else. Being a bilingual student is very hard to distinguish the differences in what is grammatically correct or grammatically incorrect. Not to mention, my definition of grammar is that it sounds grammatically correct in my ears, therefore, I don’t know you what you are talking about. Up until this moment, literacy to me means learning how to write grammatically correct unlike Sherman Alexie, article on Superman and Me, definition of literacy. As for Alexie meaning of literacy is the importance of being able to read and outlived the stereotype by declaring that, “we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world...They refuse and resist. ‘Books,’ I say to them. ‘Books,’ I say...I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives” (3-4). The author has a story that built up his definition of literacy while my
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
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 73-76. Print
I began to read not out of entertainment but out of curiosity, for in each new book I discovered an element of real life. It is possible that I will learn more about society through literature than I ever will through personal experience. Having lived a safe, relatively sheltered life for only seventeen years, I don’t have much to offer in regards to worldly wisdom. Reading has opened doors to situations I will never encounter myself, giving me a better understanding of others and their situations. Through books, I’ve escaped from slavery, been tried for murder, and lived through the Cambodian genocide. I’ve been an immigrant, permanently disabled, and faced World War II death camps. Without books, I would be a significantly more close-minded person. My perception of the world has been more significantly impacted by the experiences I've gained through literature than those I've gained
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.
Gloria Steinem, a renowned feminist activist and co-founder of the women’s rights publication Ms. Magazine, gives a commencement speech at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, on May 31, 1970. Steinem’s speech “Living The Revolution” is delivered to the graduating class of Vassar College, founded in 1865 as a liberal arts college for women and then became coeducational a year before the speech was delivered in 1969. The intent of this speech is to inform the listeners and to shed light on the fact that women are not treated equally to their white male counterparts, though society has been convinced otherwise and to argue that it is crucial for all minorities, and even white males, to be relieved of their “stereotypical” duties in order for balance to exist. Steinem executes her speech’s purpose by dividing it up into four parts to explain the four different “myths” put against women while using a few rhetorical strategies and logical, ethical, and emotional appeals.
Many writers and artists can use Wonder Woman’s history as a blueprint for what works, and also what doesn’t. Wonder Woman continues to mirror the complexities of feminism: strong and assertive, yet caring and nurturing. All the while balancing family issues and fighting against stereotypes. As her comic book moves ahead, Wonder Woman will continue to tackle issues relating to every woman, and even, every human. Works Cited:..
The Feminist Movement begin in the in 1848 spearheaded by the Seneca Fall Convention (Smith & Hamon, 2012). Feminism is the reaction to many year of oppression by a male dominated society. In the Feminist Movement women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Canton Stanton desired rights, opportunities, and the identity that women deserved (Smith & Hamon, 2012). Osmond and Thorne (1993) stated that Feminist respond by expressing their desire to “develop knowledge that will further social change, knowledge that will help confront and end subordination of women as it related to the pattern of subordination based on social class, race, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation” (p. 592). The “first wave” of the Feminist Movement
When you think of comic books, what do you think of? If you were to ask your parents they would probably tell you Superman or Spiderman, maybe even Batman or Wonder Woman. Some might mention something more, something that appears to be a comic book, but once opened is revealed to be a work of literary genius; a comic such as Watchmen, or perhaps even V for Vendetta. An author and artist of renowned recognition and admiration wrote both masterpieces.