The Joy Of Reading And Writing: Super Man And Me, By Malcolm X

Many people learn to write and read with the help of a formal education. Malcom X in “Learning to Read” and Richard Wright in “The library Card” had none of these blessings. In spite of having great disadvantages both Malcom X and Wright became educated. Even though their journey to literacy have some significant differences, the resemblance are evident Malcom X and Richard Wright were incredibly resourceful and extremely self-motivated during their path towards literacy. Both of these men learned to write and read mostly on their own, and along the way, became visionary thinkers with great influence on others.

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.

Can reading really be influential? Do you believe that reading can change lives? Malcolm X, one of the most influential man of his time thought so. One day he was able to turn his life around by just picking up a book and learning how to read. Whether it was in a jail cell or in a library he was reading wherever he went. In Malcolm X’s essay “Literacy Behind Bars” he writes about the topic of how reading changed his life. Throughout his life in prison, Malcolm X shares his experience of how learning how to read had changed his life forever. This essay shows how the ability to read and write opens new pathways into your imagination that you may not be able to experience if you lacked the ability to do so. Learning how to become literate did not come easy back then especially since he was African American. During his life in prison he realized that you do not need a college education to be successful; you just need to know how to read and write. The way Malcolm structured his essay helped improve his ethos much like other things did. Malcolm X’s encouraging tone was evident throughout the essay. He writes his essay with such a tone, because he is explaining his personal struggle of learning how to read and how it paid such dividends in his life after prison. By using this type of tone he appeals to people’s emotions through the use of logos, which in result helps build his ethos. As well as his tone he also uses different rhetorical devices to keep the reader engaged. The use of irony throughout the essay in appealing to the reader because it keeps them interested in the essay that they are reading. Similarly, his use of opposition within the essay makes the reader think about what they are reading. People may need to reread a sentence or two because how the opposition is used in the essay, which keeps them focused and aware of what they are reading. By utilizing several rhetorical devices, including pathos, opposition, and ethos, that being said, Malcolm X conveys the message of how reading changed his life.

Before one ever starts attending school, their very first lesson is to become literate in the language they speak. From reading sentences to reading paragraphs to reading novels, we try to achieve literacy. However, some of the greatest public speakers and writers did not achieve it through the way most people did. This is shown in the literary works of Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, and Sherman Alexie. Like these people, literacy isn’t achieved by simply going to school. It’s achieved through great perseverance and through great tenacity.

Richard Rodriguez, the author of The Achievement of Desire, and Malcolm X, the author of Learning to Read, describe the ways their lives were profoundly impacted, as well as altered, because of their quest for an education. Rodriguez writes about his academic successes, while Malcolm X describes his education as self-taught. Achieving an education changed both men and both men pursued an education for different reasons.

Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X both experienced teaching themselves how to read in similar ways. They both recognized in order to be free from their situation, you must be free in the mind. You see, once you accept your situation, then you become empowered. That hunger for literacy was as Frederick Douglass states; “In teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell.” Malcolm X states “I became increasingly frustrated at not being able to express what I wanted to convey in letters that I wrote.”

The idea of people being able to read my writing and me not feel ashamed was never something that I could have fathomed. When I first enter the class English 1010, the teacher, Mrs. Bishop, assigned some reading. Of the reading assignments, the two that stuck out to me were written by Deborah Brandit and Malcolm x. The article written by Deborah Brandit was called “Sponsors of Literacy”. This article was about literacy sponsors, which are basically the things that control the spread of literacy. For example, the following are some literacy sponsors: teachers, schools, and parents. This article helped eliminate how big a part sponsors were in me learning to read and write as a child. The article written by Malcolm x is called “Learning to Read.” It really helped me understand how much control I really had in my literacy. It spoke about a man who was not all that educated, and how even though he was in prison he had the choice to become educated. It, also, taught me that

In “Superman and Me”, Sherman Alexie depicts his childhood, growing up, and adapting to the new world of books and education. Alexie’s mind and intelligence are that of a deadly weapon. Education saved Alexie’s life. Being just that “Indian boy living on the reservation” (Alexie, 2) pushed Alexie to beat the odds, and he did just that. Knowing how to read advanced books in Kindergarten, Alexie greatly surpassed those in the same age group as him. The key source that kick-started Alexie’s passion for education would be his dad, and the love for books they both shared at a young age. Alexie faces and dominates many stereotypical barriers throughout his life and also the feeling of alienation. He considers himself an “oddity” due to the fact that he did not resemble those around him; however, he would not let the stereotypes of others

Malcolm X tells us in “Learning to Read” how he felt that he “wasn’t even functional” when it came to writing. He felt that he had always been seen on the street as an articulate person when he spoke. He desired to learn to read and write better so that he could express himself in letters that he wrote.

“I was trying to save my life.” Sherman Alexie and Malcolm X were both in need of being saved with being destined to fail by their surrounding environment. Solely based on their race, these two individuals were being cut short in life: this made the possibility of knowledge and intellect seem like a fool's dream. With their determination to outlive and out smart the expectations, limitations and stereotypes that held them back, Malcolm X and Sherman Alexie were granted the ability to read at their own hands. It seems like simple thing to you or me, but for them it was an essence of life. Literature gave them advantages, as well as a higher purpose. Simply allowing them to set their own path and changing each of their lives in their own special

In his essay, “The Joy of Reading: Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie analyzes how notions such as creative writing and reading high-level texts were considered “beyond Indians.” To combat such unwarranted profiling, he reminds young Native Americans of the importance of resisting negative stereotypes. Alexie claims that no matter into which situations they were born, they can still accomplish their aspirations. He supports this contention through his own experiences, reflecting upon how empowerment from reading, particularly that from the comic Superman, “saved” him from the failure expected from his race. In his essay, Spokane Indian-American writer Sherman Alexie employs relatable and uplifting personal narrative to motivate Native American youth to view others’ success, real or fictional, as validation of their own potential.

Superman & Me discusses how important making a difference in Sherman Alexie’s life was to him. He wanted nothing more than to make a mark on the world. Throughout the story, Alexie describes how books and reading majorly influenced his view point on education and learning. The children he grew up with were not like him. While outside of their learning environment, they had the ability to tell elaborate stories or memorize innumerable “powwow songs,” but in the classroom, they were submissive and struggled with reading. Alexie refused to be like these students. Later in his life, he became a writer; he visits Indian schools, like his own, and teaches them creative writing. Sherman Alexie was so passionate about breaking the stereotype in his

Self-determination is the process by which a person controls their own life. Being determined is having a firm decision and being resolved not to change it. Malcom X, Jimmy Santiago Baca, and Amy Tan were self-determined. They did not like the direction of their life, and decided that they wanted a change. Being determined in ones’ self after life has thrown you lemons is hard to reverse.

In the essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” Sherman Alexie writes about himself as a young boy trying to be more than just an “Indian boy who lives on a reservation,” or an “oddity.” His implied thesis reveals that he used reading to try and save his life and wants to help others to do the same. Alexie presents this thesis through an expressive and literary purpose, and continues to employ patterns of description and classification.

Literacy or the ability to read and write is not only very important but it is a necessity in dealing the everyday life. It is like breathing, you need it so you don’t even think about what it’s like not being able to read or write. Everything we do in based on reading in this world, yet there are 32 million adults in the U.S. that can’t read. The power of literacy lies not just in the ability to read and write, but rather in a person’s capacity to apply these skills to effectively connect, interpret and discern the complexities of the world in which they live.