Book Review Of Sherman Alexie's Superman And Me

Many children will be born in poor regions and low income areas around the world and may not ever be presented with the opportunity for a decent education. Sherman Alexie brings this fact to the reader’s attention on a personal level in his short story “Superman and Me”. This story follows a young Indian boy into his struggle of illiteracy and acceptance from his peers and friends. Alexie was able to focus the reader’s attention and convey much of his feelings into his written words because the story was about him and his own personal experiences. “Superman and Me” projects a message to the reader, that when faced with adversity, and when all odds are against you, willpower and determination can overcome even the toughest of obstacles.

Sherman Alexie the author of the essay "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me" was born and raised on a Spokane Indian Reservation. Growing up, his family did not have a lot of money, yet today Alexie is known as one of the most prominent Native American writers. Alexie reminisces on his childhood when he first taught himself how to read. In the essay "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me" Sherman Alexie suggests, that for Native Americans reading is the key to education and education is the key to prosperity in life.

As Mary Bethune once said, “The whole world opened up to me when I learned to read.” Through the personal essay of “Superman and Me”, a widespread audience learns the importance of reading and the concept that one does not need to be wealthy to learn. In this personal essay by Sherman Alexie, he uses appeals such as ethos, logos, and pathos and styles such as diction and syntax to achieve the purpose and reach the audience.

In Sherman Alexie’s short story “Superman and Me,” Alexie writes about his life as an Indian child growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the state of Washington. He depicts his life from when he was three years old, living on the reservation, up to his current self, as an adult writer who frequently visits that reservation. He primarily describes his interest in reading and how it has changed his life for the better.

“Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie is a brief passage describing a personal experience of the author’s childhood – specifically, how he learned to read and the impact it has had on his life. He discloses that he is of Indian descent from his father. Sherman speaks of his father in admiring tones, of how he devoured books and was an educated Indian, of how his house was always full of literature and how he chose himself to attend catholic schools (he was one of the very few Indians who purposely did). According to Sherman, he learned to read through the use of a Superman graphic novel by imagining his own meaning to the different panels and deducing what the words meant by doing this throughout the story. Eventually, he ends up reading more and more, and he is signaled out in his

Sherman Alexie recalls his childhood memory of learning to read, and his teaching experience in “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”. He devotes his interest to reading. By this way, he breaks the stereotype that Indian boys are expected to be stupid and dumb, and later on he becomes a successful writer because of his endeavor to read. Alexie vividly narrates his younger life by using metaphor and repetition with a confident tone, in order to strengthen his description of his reading talent, his influence to the other Indian boys and how he struggles in poverty to change his life.

Authors write for many reasons; most often because they want to tell a story. This is definitely the case with Sherman Alexie, “a poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker known for witty and frank explorations of the lives of contemporary Native Americans.” He grew up on the Spokane and Coeur D’Alene Indian Reservations, and has devoted much of his adult life to telling stories of his life there. Alexie expertly uses language and rhetorical devices to convey the intensity and value of his experiences.

Have you heard of Superman and his strange ways well here is a texet and how the

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.

“Superman and Me” involves the author, Sherman Alexie as an adolescent boy. Alexie lived in Washington on a Spokane Indian Reservation where he grew up with parents who were poor most of the time. Although, his parents “usually managed to find some minimum-wage job or another” (Alexie). The father of Alexie went to a Catholic school where he read whatever he came into sight with. Alexie looked up to his father; therefore, he wanted to be an avid reader just like his dad. Before he could even read, Alexie picked up many books. Although words look foreign to Alexie, he understood the purpose of a paragraph, and “realized that a paragraph was a fence that held words” (Alexie). Everything he looked at, he referred to it as a paragraph. Living a life inside of a paragraph, Alexie one day picked up a Superman comic book. This day became the day he learned how to read American literature. Looking at pictures in the comic book, Alexie assumes what he sees. This method eventually taught him the way of reading English. In the essay, Alexie states, “I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. I read books late into the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open…” Not the typical student, Alexie would be told to be quiet in the classroom. Never did he expect being smarter would come with consequences. Is this the kind of American Dream Alexie wanted? Despite all the learning and being an outcast, the author became a writer, as well as

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

Sherman Alexie the author of the essay "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me" was born and raised on a Spokane Indian Reservation. Growing up his family did not have a lot of money, yet today Alexie is known as one of the most prominent Native American writers. Alexie reminisces on his childhood when he first taught himself how to read. In the essay "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me" Sherman Alexie suggests, that for Native Americans reading is the key to education and education is the key to prosperity in life.

A large similarity between the two works of literature consist of the journey of breaking certain standards of education particularly in people of color. In the essay “Superman and Me,” Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation where to a non-Indian adult the expectation of the Indian students were very low. With these exceptions set at such a low standard the desire to give students a proper education were extremely limited. The students, as Alexie says, “struggled with basic reading,” and overall, “were expected

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

In “The Joy of Reading and Writing : Superman and Me” published in the Los Angeles Times, Sherman Alexie brings attention to the cultural divide between Indians and non - Indians, specifically in the area of education. Alexie uses himself as the example in the article, a “Spokane Indian boy” who lives on the reservation. Alexie chose to mimic his father's love for books, because of that he taught himself to read at a very young age. He learned to read by looking at the pictures in a Superman comic book. After teaching himself he “advances quickly”, unlike other kids he is able to read “Grapes of Wrath in kindergarten”. If he hadn’t been an Indian boy he may have been called a “prodigy” but he was so instead he was an “oddity”. At this point in the article Alexie brings us out of his past as a child and into his present as an educated Indian man. Much to his surprise he has become a writer. He says, “I visit schools and teach creative writing to Indian kids”. Alexie talks about how Indian children have lower