Much Madness Is Divinest Sense By Sherman Alexie

Alexie's father was the reason he began to read which later became his passion. His father loved to read, and even though they did not have a ton of money, his father went out of his way to stock up on books. One-day Alexie decided to pick up one of his father's books and taught himself how to read. Before that, he had never read a book and could not even understand the words. A paragraph intrigued him; each house on the reservation was a paragraph, and each member of his family was a paragraph. The family members were separate people; however, there were still related making all of them together an essay. Then there was the Superman comic book he picked up one day. Although he could not read the panels of words the illustrations told the story. He would make up a story to go with the pictures and pretend to read the panels. Looking back at these times Alexie realized how lucky he was growing up with all these resources to teach

“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.

“Despite all the books I read, I am still surprised I became a writer,” writes Sherman Alexie in his article, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” published April of 1998 in the Los Angeles Times. In his essay, Alexie describes life growing up on a Spokane Indian Reservation as a boy who learned to read in a world that didn’t encourage him to. He did this with a Superman comic, using mainly assumption and his three-year-old brain’s perception of pictures. Alexie says that his love for books came from the love and adoration he felt for his father, who collected thousands of books in their house. This love, however, came with the consequence of sticking out like a sore thumb in a society that didn’t want smart Indians. He writes, “I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life.” By reading and writing, and by encouraging young Indian students to read and write, Alexie is trying to prove to the world that there is a place for smart Indians in society.

The audience in this literacy narrative essay is widespread because people from different social-cultural groups might be interested, but most importantly people from upper-middle class. Alexie's purpose is to express how anyone don't need to be affluent to learn. He expresses his point well in the literacy narrative essay and his tone is inspirational because he uses positive words such as “loved”, “bright eyes” and “lucky” to give an inspirational message to the reader. Alexie’s main idea in the literacy narrative essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing”: Superman and Me is how Alexie used his own personal experiences to express his point of view, about his love of reading. He learns to read with a superman comic book for the first time when

“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

Entry 1: “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie Part 1: Alexie’s purpose in his essay was to convey how reading quite literally saves children; more specifically, underprivileged children such as those living on Native American reservations. He begins his essay by discussing how he first learned to read. Alexie taught himself, and says if he was anything but an “Indian boy… might’ve been a prodigy” (216).This demonstrates that if he could teach himself to read and become a prodigy by non-native standards, then so can others. The author uses the simplicity of the superman comic to explain how it changed his life and turned him into a prodigy, and a successful man. This conveys the idea to his audience that one does not need a teacher to learn

Every culture has its struggles and in “Superman and Me” Sherman Alexie addresses the struggles he faced as a Native-American. Alexie grew up on a Native-American reservation. He faced many struggles from poverty to low expectations. Thanks to his father, who had a love of reading, “[Alexie] decided to love books as well” (324). His love of books brought him out of the struggles he faced as a child. Alexie uses anaphora, compartmentalised his life into paragraphs, and talks about his teaching career to show how reading saved his life.

Knowledge is power relates extremely well in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. It relates to the power the books contain, which leads to the reason in which why books are banished. When Montag finds out why books are eliminated from society he decides to do something about it. Knowledge is power is also present in what Clarisse explains to Montag and maybe the reason to why she is now dead by getting “run over”.

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

The last two lines of the poem are a timid reflection on what might happen “Had I the Art to stun myself/ With Bolts—of Melody!” (23-24). The idea that creation is a power that can get loose and injure even the creator illuminates why in this poem the artist positions herself firmly as a mere spectator. In these first two poems, we meet a Dickinson who is not entirely familiar to us—even though we are accustomed to her strong desire for privacy, these poems can be startling in the way they reveal the intensity of Dickinson’s fears. She is, after all, shrinking from what is dearest to her—nature, one of her favorite subjects, becomes a harsh judge, and poetry, her favored medium of communication, can suddenly render the reader “impotent” and the writer “stun[ned]” (19, 23). The extremity of her positions in shrinking from the small and beautiful things she loves creates the sense that this is just the beginning of a journey by leaving so much room for change.

In 'Much Madness is divinest Sense' (435), a definition poem, Emily Dickinson criticizes society's inability to accept rebellion, arguing that the majority is the side that should in fact be considered 'mad.' The perception of madness and insanity are a common theme among Dickinson's poetry, as she fought against society's tainted view of herself as crazy. She focuses on how judgmental society is on non conformist views when she describes the majority as 'discerning' (line 2). As similar to most of her poetry, she writes in iambic meter and uses slant rhyme, as lines one, three, and seven end with 'Sense', 'Madness', 'dangerous', and lines six and eight, in 'sane' and 'Chain' in seemingly rhyme scheme. Dickinson credits the majority

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter there is a man who makes a concord with the devil and descends into the depths of evil. His name is Roger Chillingworth and he was once a virtuous and compassionate man. He cared for his wife and was good to his community. Then he was tarnished and turned into a monster one could hardly recognize. His is a tale of psychosis and what animosity can do to one 's soul.

I was puzzled that the relationship between her and her audience was addressed in what is supposed to be a satirical format. Why would Dickinson ask her audience to go easy on her in such a short and jarring way? The answer is in the second line. She is accuses her audience of not paying any attention to her. Then, she turns around and asks for a tender judgement. It is a little satirical, after all.

The meaning and impact of Dickinson’s work hinges on her employment of a single personification which extends throughout “The Soul Selects Her Own Society”. The personification begins on the first line with “The Soul selects her own Society —”. A soul, on its own, is not something that can select anything, or even have a society. Since it is immaterial, it certainly cannot “shut the Door —” as is stated in line two. This personification continues with lines such as, “she notes the Chariots —”, “Upon her Mat —”, and “close the Valves of her attention —”. The personification of “The Soul” immediately makes the poem feel more intimate. The word “soul” infers a deeper, more authentic, and closely guarded part of oneself. By personifying a soul, having it perform actions and make decisions, it is communicated that the events of this poem are neither an intellectual nor surface level matter. The decision to select those with whom you will be close with, and subsequently shut others out, is one which is based highly on feeling, emotion, and deep personal desires. Dickinson’s decision to write “The Soul Selects Her Own Society” in the context of a soul rather than the whole person allows the reader to pick up on the intended intimacy and depth the poem intends.