The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me

Reading Leads to Prosperity 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. Alexie uses metaphor to illustrate his experience of reading and writing. As an Indian, he reads a large number of English books to expand his knowledge. He recollects how he becomes enthusiastic about reading when he attempts to the learn new vocabulary “paragraph”, then he begins to brainstorm and states that, “I realized that a paragraph was a fence that held words……Our reservation was a small paragraph within the United States“(16). Alexie describes that a paragraph is like a fence or a barrier to restrain or hold the surrounding things. In this case, it shows his wide and deep thinking during reading while other Indian boys struggle with basic reading. He is involved in the process of reading and it reveals his confident to make a different. On the other hand, Alexie’s metaphor indicates that he tries to break through the fence of education. He refuses to fail, and his attitude toward reading explains his aspiration to success. 2 Alexie frequently uses metaphor in his essay. He demonstrates an image in details about how he learns to read by associating the words on the Superman panel with his assumption. He quotes that,” Because [the Superman] is