Preview

Learning To Read By Sherman Alexie Summary

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
675 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Learning To Read By Sherman Alexie Summary
In this text, Sherman Alexie talks about how he learned to read. He explains why he wanted to read. During his life, he read many different books. He even says in the article that he read anything that had paragraphs or words. The quote, “Despite all the books I read, I am still surprised I became a writer,” means that even though he had read many books, he didn’t think he could try to become a writer. He never knew that Indians could be writers. The Indians were never taught how to write in school. This points out, that he went beyond normal and showed others that anything can happen if you set your mind to it.
Through the text, Alexie has many points that he proves can come true if you set your mind to them. He proved that you don’t have

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In chapter 4 of “The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Reading”, Richard Bullock and Maureen Daly Goggin, The author informs students on how to succeed in college. Student should put in effort into their academics and be engage. They should find the reason they’re in college. They should do multiple things for a subject to stay focus and retain more information. When in class students should raise their hands if they don’t understand the subject. The more they know the more options they will have in the future. It does not matter if the student does or does not agree with a view point, they should listen and learn. Try to think from a different point of view. Students…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although Alexie had the privilege of attending a school, unlike the slave up-bringing of Douglas, he was influenced by his father into the joys of books. He notes that his father was one of the few Indians who voluntarily went to the schools and became an avid reader his whole life who collected so much books that their house was literally stacked ceiling to floor with books. Alexie used comic books, notably superman, to learn how to read by matching the actions drawn to the dialogue which was written. He then later on likens Superman breaking down a door to him trying to break down the mental block of the Indian population towards education while he tours the Reservations of North America as a successful author.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “Learning to Read” an excerpt from his autobiography, Frederick Douglass writes about the steps he took to learn to read and write. He shows all the steps in this excerpt. He was a slave in a house; he didn’t have any opportunity to go to school or get any educations but the mistress in the house helped him and taught him the alphabet. But then Douglass’s master asked his wife to stop teaching him. She listened to her husband and turns into inhuman, an evil woman, Douglass could not recognize her anymore. Douglass writes, “She finally became even more violent in her opposition than her husband himself” (36). She changed and she became more evil, more violent than the master. But then that didn’t make Douglass stop and stand hopelessly, he found another way to learn. He tricked a kid from his neighborhood and makes that kid teach him how to read and it went well. After that he continued to find more way to learn, and try improving his reading. He found a book named “The Columbian Orator”. He used every opportunity he got try to read this book and learn the words in there. That was the final step that he took to learn to read. Some years later, after he went to a shipyard and saw and board with words, letters, and he wanted to write. He tried to copy the letters from the board. He didn’t stop; he wanted to know more about writing. He found a boy and asked him to teach him write. The boy taught him to write all the alphabet letters. Finally, the last step he took to learn to write was that he took a book and copy all the words in there and try to remember what the words looked like. That was long and not so easy time for him to learn how to read and write but it didn’t stop him from his interest in reading and writing. Even though he didn’t have any opportunity as a slave to have education, he became strong and found any way that could help him to learn. He keep reading and writing until he…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Being a Native American and living on an Indian reservation, he ran into many issues. Alexie learnt to read at a really early age. Alexie was…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie was a young Indian child that was driven to know how to read and right. He was determined to turn other opinions, that didn't matter to him, down and set out to do what he had the desire to do. Alexie didn't let the stereotype that ¨he was an Indian¨ slow him down either. Indians were expected to be at a lower education level, but Alexie wasn't willing to obtain that thought. Frustrated with the lack of change in his Indian community, Sherman Alexie sets out to defy stereotypes, and save the lives of those without equal chance through reading and writing.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Alexie was given many opportunities yet what he did with them was unexpected. "Most lived up to those expectations inside the classrooms but subverted them on the outside" As Indians; others saw little in them soon they began to feel the same way about their selves. Acting uneducated as if no knowledge was ever known in front of an non-Indian teacher. What people thought was soon becoming a reality. "We were expected to fail in the non-Indian world." Yet Alexie was raised reading books, every kind imaginable. He thought to fail never phased him, he aimed toward success. Really it was him verses the world; people wanted him to be stupid. Except every chance he got, he took to prove them wrong. "I was trying to save my life." Being separated by ethnicity made it hard to learn. Taking things into his own hands, he taught himself how to read, how to understand the meaning of words. If he didn't nobody else would. He showed that if one Indian could do it, why not others as well. As a Result it gave the opportunities to make a difference in the…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Who knew that one of the most meaningful writers at a young age knew and taught himself how to read! How did he manage to do this? What is it like to try and change a certain action that everyone else does? Sherman Alexie was just six months old when he had started to experience a life-changing process. His life was between in life or death.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alexie and Me

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages

    "I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky." These were the words Alexie used in his story. Indian children were stereotypically supposed to fail in the classroom, and most did. Alexie was smart though and the Indians who weren't, ridiculed him. Those who failed were accepted, those who excelled weren't. But Alexie loved to read. He read everything he possibly could, even if they weren't books.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie Superman

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages

    And for Alexie, life on the other side of the barrier is truly different. By working past his barrier, Alexie could read “books in the car”, “bits and pieces” of books in the bookstores, “the “newspaper”, “bulletins”, “magazines” and “junk mail”, He could read virtually anything that interested him because he “picked up that Superman comic book” and behooved himself to learn how to read. This choice was not because someone told him too, but because, as he said, “I refused to fail.” But what would failure encompass? Perhaps Alexie thought of the “already defeated Indian kids” who ignored him. After all, “They struggled with basic reading”, “They were monosyllabic”, and “They submissively ducked…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie Save Lives

    • 2253 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Sherman Alexie’s essay “Superman and Me” is about how Alexie changed his life, and the lives of others, by learning to read. “Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, grew up on a reservation surrounded by poverty, alcoholism, and disease. . .” (About Sherman Alexie), though his family was poor, his father loved to read; and Alexie adopted that love of reading at an early age. Alexie soon started to see the world around him like paragraphs. He would read anything and everything he could get his hands on. Indians like him were not supposed to be smart. Those who failed were excepted, but Alexie refused to fail and soon became a writer, “His work carries the weight of five centuries of colonization, retelling the American…

    • 2253 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Guided Reading 6

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages

    -Warfare between the light skinned Aryans controlled the dark skinned Dasas. It happened because of their skin color.…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many of the techniques that Alexie uses allow his writing to improve in sophistication rather than be a simple story of an Indian boy that learns how to read. In the beginning of this essay, Alexie uses forms of ethos in order to improve his credibility in the eyes of his audience. Since Alexie is telling his audience that he remembers learning from a book from when he was three years old it is kind of hard to believe. He…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He’s gone through the experience so it has a little bit of meaning to him. He overcame the norm because the Indian society thought it was unacceptable or wasn’t possible to become successful. He wants his audience to know that he’s been in the same situation they’ve been in but there’s always hope. Towards the very end of the book, he claims that he visits schools as much as possible because when he was younger he didn’t get the opportunity. He approaches this by explaining two sides of classrooms. “Many are writing their own poems, short stories and novels. They have read my books. They have read many other books. They look at me with bright eyes and arrogant wonder. They are trying to save their lives.”(p358) These children who were just like him when he was younger, that had an interest and wanted to change something about their life instead of being a stereotypical Indian. “Then there are the sullen and already defeated Indian kids who sit in the back rows and ignore me with theatrical precision. The pages of their notebooks are empty. They carry neither pencil nor pen. They stare out the window. They refuse and resist. “Books,” I say to them. “Books,” I say. I throw my weight against their locked doors. The door holds. I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives.”(p358) These are the students who don’t have much of an interest but Alexie is still trying to get through to these…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Superman And Me Essay

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Alexie’s belief is right because the more someone reads is the more knowledge someone gains. This helps people in life because it allows them to be smart in the world and it can teach them to express themselves in a positive way. In his essay states, “ The indian kids crowd the classroom. Many are writing their own poems, short stories and novels.” This shows that the indian kids are learning to read and write as well as express themselves which will give them a better place in society. Earlier in his essay before he states that he talks about himself when he was in school. He states “ In all my years in the reservation school system, I was never taught how to write poems, short stories or novels.” He also talks about never seeing any guest teachers in the school and that is why he tries to visit as much as possible. He tries to save their lives as indians by encouraging them to pick up books, so that way they won’t be known as stupid or won’t need pity but so they can have a important role in…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Literacy Dbq

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “I read anything that had words and paragraphs. I read with equal parts of joy and desperation. (document A)” He read anything and anywhere he could to better understand the world around him. The small indian boy who didn't have much grew up to be a successful writer thanks to the art of…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays