Preview

Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
278 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie wrote the biography “Superman and Me”. His biography is an extended metaphor about the connection between him and Superman. As you read Alexie’s biography you begin to understand his connection between them. Like Superman, Alexie is also trying to save people’s lives.

Alexie learnt to read at an early age. He learnt to read from a Superman comic book he can’t even remember. Throughout his biography, he compares himself to Superman. Alexie stated in his biography, “I am trying to save our lives’’. Alexie is doing things Superman would do. Alexie acts just like Superman in many ways.

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
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Comparing Sherman Alexie And Frederick Douglas
    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comparing Sherman Alexie And Frederick Douglas

    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
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Does Sherman Alexie Overcome Stereotypes
    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Does Sherman Alexie Overcome Stereotypes

    Sherman Alexie in “Superman and Me” proves that no matter what stereotype other label a person with, that person can still succeed with effort. Sherman Alexie proves that you can overcome stereotypes with effort. What Sherman tells people reading his story is that “I pretend to read the words and say aloud ‘ “I am breaking down the door,’ in this way I learned to read”. The author of “Superman and Me” Sherman Alexie proves that you can overcome any stereotype or anything people label you as with effort. This evidence proves that he overcame a stereotype with effort.…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Superman: Short Story and Julia Thompson
    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Superman: Short Story and Julia Thompson

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sharman Alexie Character Analysis
    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sharman Alexie Character Analysis

    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.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Of Sherman Alexie's 'The Joy Of Reading And Writing: Superman And Me'
    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Of Sherman Alexie's 'The Joy Of Reading And Writing: Superman And Me'

    “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.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Response Paragraph Analysis
    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Response Paragraph Analysis

    So he wants to be there to support them and express to them that they can have a future, and open their eyes to the possibilities they have in their future. He even wants to help the same type of children that had beat him up. Those children are his main target. Alexie could have forgotten about where he had come from, but he didn’t he goes back, and he’s helping these children that otherwise wouldn’t get any help, or ever have been shown that just because they are Indian, and they are from a reservation that they are smart. He won’t give up on them. Alexie is a very good role model for these children that don’t have very many role models in their lives at least any good ones. It’s a very special thing he does; not very many people would do what he is doing. Even in today’s society people still think like when Alexie was a child. They think that Indians are dumb drunks, but people don’t realize what all they have been…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Alexie and Me
    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Alexie and Me

    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.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie
    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie

    In Sherman Alexie's "The Joy of reading & writing: Superman and Me" he uses his credibility as an author and the appeal of Superman to educate his audience…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie Save Lives
    • 2253 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Sherman Alexie Save Lives

    In kindergarten, he is reading Grapes of Wrath while the other kids struggle to read Dick and Jane. In the article “Song Of Myself”, Rick Margolis interviews Alexie and asks him this, “When you were five, you read The Grapes of Wrath, which remains one of your favorites. Back then, what appealed to you about the story?” Alexie’s response to this question is, “Fleeing poverty. Getting in the car and going and trying to find a way, and being stopped at nearly every turn-the struggle against poverty” (Margolis). As a child, instead of being called a prodigy, he is called an oddity, just because he is an Indian boy living on the reservation…

    • 2253 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Superman And Me
    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Superman And Me

    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.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Is The Theme Of Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie
    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages

    What Is The Theme Of Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie

    I have chosen “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie to discuss about. This literacy narrative first appeared in “The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the pleasures of Reading.” Sherman Alexie is a well known Native American writer that publishes short stories, novels and poetry. Out of the three narratives, I found myself connect with this story more than the others. Alexie tells us about his childhood as a Indian boy that grew up on the Reservation. His father was a big reader so as a kid he’s always had an interest in books and eventually it became a passion. As he advanced in reading at an early age, peers would have difficulty with the content he has already achieved. Other kids would frown upon him because it was out of the…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Part Time Indian Stereotypes
    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Part Time Indian Stereotypes

    According to Booklist Alexie is able to portray Junior as a mentally tough, poor, underprivileged indian student in a white school, and in the school is able to “level his eye at stereotypes both warranted and inapt”(Chipman). Two of these social issues are alcoholism and stereotyping. Stereotyping is an unfortunate issue that occurs on a global scale. However, it occurs in smaller scales, for example when asked my ethnicity I answered asian, but they refused to believe me as the stereotypical asian to them was only a person of chinese descent, even though India as well as many other countries come together to form the continent of…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me
    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me

    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.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Superman And Me
    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Essay On Superman And Me

    His passion for language began with a Superman comic book; although he didn't understand words, he used his imagination to discern the meaning of the panels. Alexie was particularly fascinated with one particular panel, in which Superman was breaking down a door. Alexie personalized this remarkable feat, saying that "because he is breaking down the door, I assume he says, 'I am breaking down the door'" (13). Superman represented all the things that Alexie aspired to be — brave, heroic, and strong. American Indian youth are victims of prejudice and insularity, but above all, society's ignorance-driven fear: "A smart Indian is a dangerous person" (13). Alexie recognizes that Native Americans are set in a system that keenly works against them. Having this in mind, he hopes to inspire his fellow American Indians — as Superman had inspired him — to not be afraid of society's intolerance and break the door of cultural barriers. In this way, Superman was Alexie's ultimate role model, motivation to pursue knowledge in a world that works against him and his…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sherman Alexie: Superman and Me
    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Sherman Alexie: Superman and Me

    The essay is introduced with the Superman comic books that taught Alexie how to read. He uses the repetition of “I cannot recall” to explain that he does not recall the exact details of what he read but the idea of reading. He then contrasts this by stating what he can remember – being “a Spokane Indian boy living with his family on the Spokane Indian Reservation.” This contrast is continued by emphasizing that his family was “poor by most standards” and that they lived on “irregular paychecks, hope, fear, and government surplus food. This creates more insight into Alexie’s childhood and situation. The comparison between the Superman comic books and Alexie’s family draws attention to his love for reading, although his family could barely afford books for him.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics