How Does Sherman Alexie Use Rhetorical Strategies In Superman And Me

(Well, most of them.)”, also contains many different language styles and rhetorical devices. Imagery is very evident in this passage. By using very descriptive adjectives in his writing, like “handsome, blue-eyed”, “impossibly pale neck”, “splattered with Day-Glo Hollywood war paint”, and “greasy popcorn, flat soda pop, fossilized licorice rope”, Alexie paints a vivid image in the mind of the reader. Any writer can describe something, but he takes it one step higher with adjectives that appeal to the senses, especially sight. This imagery adds intensity and value to the piece that otherwise would not have been there. Much like in “Indian Education”, “I Hated Tonto (Still Do)” contains repetition. In the last section of the essay, Alexie discusses cinematic Indians and how he was so different from them, which really discouraged him as a child. He explains, “A cinematic Indian is supposed to climb mountains. I am afraid of heights. A cinematic Indian is supposed to wade into streams and sing songs. I don’t know how to swim. A cinematic Indian is supposed to be a warrior. I haven’t been in a fistfight since sixth grade and she beat the crap out of me.” The repetition of the phrase, “A cinematic Indian is supposed to”, in contrast to what Alexie was like emphasizes how he would often feel that his dreams were unattainable. Overall,

Sherman Alexie, author of Superman and Me, uses choice diction, syntax, and both literary and rhetorical devices to communicate to his audience the struggles he and many other Indian kids living on a reserve face in their education.

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

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

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.

Sherman J. Alexie, is a short story written in the first person focusing on two Native American Men who grew up together on a Reservation for Native Americans but have been estranged from each other since they were teenagers. Victor who is the narrator of this story is a young man who lost faith in his culture and its traditions, while Thomas our second main character is a deeply rooted traditional storyteller. In the beginning of the story Victor, our Native American narrator learns the death of his father. Jobless and penniless, his only wish is to go to Phoenix, Arizona and bring back his father’s ashes and belongings to the reservation in Spokane. The death of Victor’s father leads him and Thomas to a journey filled with childhood

Half of the person we become is an impression of the ones we admire. Growing up in the United States every child has someone they look up to. This most likely is an individual that represents success and the values we are taught to respect. Superheroes have always served as something good in our lives because they make us want to help the world and feel like we can do anything. Superheroes represent qualities that we should all attempt to embody. What Captain America truly represents can be interpreted in many ways, but there are messages being conveyed. The authors of “Captain America: The First Avengers” use rhetoric to express the social ideology that being a hero is not exactly how strong you are, but what values

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

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

Purpose: Alexie highlights how he ultimately overcame the hardships suffered during his early years due to his Indian ethnicity and displays how Native Americans were, and continue, to suffer from discrimination.

Sherman Alexie had a different mindset than the other Indian kids on the reservation. He was smart and arrogant with the mindset and discipline to the refusal to fail. His will not be put into the stereotype set by the non-Indian world around him. He would not be denied the opportunity to better his future despite the hatred that he experienced on a daily basis. To guarantee that he would not fail he began reading at any given point in time he had. He would read before and after class, before and after bed, etc. etc. At any given time Sherman Alexie would read anything

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.

In Sherman Alexie’s “Superman and Me,” he uses rhetorical strategies to achieve his purpose of reaching his audience. He uses analogies to depict something confusing with something simple to understand. Syntax gives the readers an idea of Alexie when he was first learning to read. Finally, his emphasis on anaphora allows the audience to see his relentlessness to keep reading. The use of analogy, syntax, and anaphora persuades his audience to agree with Alexie’s purpose of this essay.

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.

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.