Summary Of The Joy Of Reading And Writing Superman And Me

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.

In the passage, “Superman and Me” Sherman Alexie explains to the readers the life of an Indian and how he defeats and tries to help others defeat the stereotype of an Indian. As a kid, Sherman Alexie dealt with stereotypes about reading and writing based upon the values of his tribe; however, he taught himself how to read from Superman comic books. Throughout the text, he uses figurative language, and quotes that mean way more that what they look like when you read them. One quote that really stood out was, “ I throw my weight against their locked doors. The door holds.

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

“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.

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.

As for Sherman Alexie, a Native American who grew up on the reservation, found an early interest in reading when he stumbled upon a Superman comic book. He had begun to associate the pictures to words that were on a page. “I look at the narrative above the picture. I cannot read the words, but I assume it tells me that ‘Superman is breaking down the door.’ Aloud, I pretend to read the words and say, ‘Superman is breaking down the door.’ Words, dialogue, also float out of Superman 's mouth. Because he is breaking down the door, I assume he says, ‘I am breaking down the door.’” Despite not having a traditional education, Alexie was able to assemble a meaning of a paragraph which opened up a new world to him in multiple ways

“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

“Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie gives insight into his early life of being Spokane Indian living on a reservation who taught himself to read at a very young age. Despite his ability to read so early he was treated as an outside or “oddity” in his community and the world surrounding him because of cultural diversity and issues between his peers and those who weren't part of his culture. The author specifically states “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and Non-Indians alike”; which informs the reader that an educated Indian isn't accepted in really either cultures which sets him as an outcast in both societies. The author describes his younger self as smart, arrogant, Indian boy who without books wouldn't be educated and wouldn't be what he is today.

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.

Throughout literature many pieces of work can be compared and contrasted to each other. In “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie discusses the challenges he faced as a young Indian adult, who found his passion of reading at an early age, living on the Spokane Indian Reservation. He challenged the stereotype of the young Indian students who were thought to be uneducated while living on a reservation. Likewise, in the excerpt from The Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez shares his similar experience of being a minority and trying to break stereotypes of appearing uneducated. He shares the details of his life growing up learning a different culture and the struggles he faced becoming assimilated into American culture. In these two specific pieces of literature discuss the importance of breaking stereotypes of social and educational American standards and have similar occupational goals; on the other hand the two authors share their different family relationships.

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

Imagine you are a smart young Indian child.Now imagine you have just learned to read.How you learned to read?From a Superman comic book.you may think this is preposterous, insane even, but this all happened to a man named Sherman Alexie.

There has been a long pattern of mistreatment of people of color over the course of American History, including the forced relocation of the majority of the Native American population onto reserves. In Superman and Me, Native American author Sherman Alexie writes about his experiences growing up on an Indian Reservation in Washington, and how breaking away from the norms of his culture affected his life. The people around him celebrated their culture, but hid it in the presence of white people, actions presumably formed from years of discrimination to avoid drawing attention to themselves. However, instead of remaining quiet and reserved in the presence of white people, Alexie chose to be different. He states that they were “Indian children who were expected to be stupid”, and “expected to fail in the non-Indian world”, but Alexie refused to be constrained by these expectations (Alexie 17). He was an avid reader, with a purpose. Alexie says, “I was trying to save my life” (18). For him, a life on an Indian Reservation was one where he would never be able to reach his full potential. He had to get out to save

Despite the adversity they faced, our two authors, Richard Rodriguez and Sherman Alexie, are held high in regard for their respective works on minority education. Richard Rodriguez is the author of the novel The Hunger of Memory, his personal autobiography. In this unique and emotional work, Rodriguez explains how his education brought him success, but created a large rift between his Mexican heritage and culture and himself. On the other hand, Sherman Alexie is a Native American author who wrote the essay “Superman and Me.” In the essay, Alexie explains how his love of books began his education, how hardships that follow being an intelligent Native American forced him to persevere, and how his education has brought meaning to his life. To both of these authors, the most important subject in these literary works is their education as minorities, and the success resulting from this education. In The Hunger of Memory, Rodriguez focuses on themes of how education can be beneficial, but at the same time can cause separation from one’s original identity. “Superman and Me” visits themes of caring for others and how success is achievable by anyone. Each author sheds a different light on the education of minorities, but they share similar thoughts in theory. Education can bring an individual great success, but with this enlightenment comes the responsibility of understanding what the world truly contains.