In the short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie, the narrator’s life parallels Alexie’s in many ways. The narrator of this story is a boy named Victor who lives on a reservation with his two parents. Like Victor, Alexie grew up on a reservation in the state of Washington. Both boys were teased and bullied by their fellow classmates and initially decided to go to school outside of their reservation for greater educational opportunities.…
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.…
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…
In "Superman and Me", personal stories and repetition are two solid writing tools used by Sherman Alexie. While both of these writing tools differ in many ways; Alexie creates a similar response from his audience that creates a connection between the audience and Alexie. His essay was not just informative, but also emotional and through his use of personal stories and repetition, he allows the reader to understand the emotional journey he faced growing up on a reservation.…
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.…
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…
“Superman broke down the door,” Sherman Alexie’s metaphor just as he broke through adversity. Internal and external expectations are a basis of identity and how we each perceive ourselves. In Alexie’s writing, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” he describes finding his identity through his struggles as he excelled academically obtaining his unique view on the world and facing many stereotypes. As a young boy expected to maintain limited intelligence and accept the standard of ignorance, he was able to surpass limitations while “viewing his world in paragraphs.” While sharing a love of reading with his father he overcame his expected limitations on his reservation. The struggles he endured allowed him to give back to the community he grew with after becoming an adult.…
Confucius once said, "Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. " This concept applies in my life along with Sherman Alexie's. Starting with Sherman Alexie argues Education is vital to make your lift more successful, as well as pulling yourself from the grasp of poverty stricken culture. Sherman joseph Alexie Jr was born on October 7, 1966 into a Spokane Indian tribe. Alexie wrote a short story “Superman and Me” which was published in Milkweed Edition, entitled “The Most Wonderful Books: writers on discovering the pleasures of Reading in 1997 depicting his lift as a native American child growing up on a reservation. “ Superman and me” explain Alexie’s life as an Indian boy. In the first paragraph, Alexie explains that he first learned to read with a Superman comic book. But before he could read the comic, Alexie taught himself about paragraphs and how they relate to the real world. He thought of everything as paragraphs such as his reservation he lived on was a paragraph to the United Sates, his family as an essay of paragraphs, and each family member being a paragraph. He taught himself how to read the text by looking at the pictures, dialogue and pretending to say aloud what he thinks the story might be saying. Alexie learned quickly while many of his Indian classmates struggled to read basic words and vocabulary.…
In the short story, Superman and Me, the author Sherman Alexie writes, “I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life” (Alexie 6). As a young Indian boy living on the Spokane Indian Reservation, Alexie is “expected to be stupid” (Alexie 5). However, as he strives in school through reading, the other Indian children shun him. Alexie knew from a young age that he would not be on the reservation for all of his life. “I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky” (Alexie 6). Although at first he believed he would become a pediatrician, books became such an influence in his life that he is now a writer. Now he visits young Indian children on the reservation, who are reading and writing and “trying to save their lives” (Alexie 6).…
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…
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…
In The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie shares with his audience his story of when he learned to read at a young age through a Superman comic book. Through stories and memories of his childhood, he explains how Indian children on reservations were expected not to try in school and fail in the non-Indian world. In order to successfully portray his ideas, Alexie uses many rhetorical techniques and ideas. By using these techniques the audience is forced to look more into the writing instead of just being given the direct meaning of what Alexie is trying to share.…
life” (Alexie 18). He is a Native American which means his skills of reading, learning…
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…
Alexie is an Indian boy, who grew up on the Spokane Indian reservation, but he was a very smart child. Alexie admires his father, so he starts to like the books like him. At an early age, Alexie could not read, but he tries to recall the story from the pictures of the book. He starts with superman comic book. Also, Alexie is picking up hi father books. Before Alexie knows the vocabulary to say a paragraph, he understood what is mine. Also, he saw every member of his family like a paragraph, they complete each other. Alexie helped himself to can read in early age when the other boys struggling through reading simple things.…