What Is The Thesis Of Sherman Alexie Superman And Me

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The Strive for Greatness “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” -Malcolm X. Ever wondered how difficult it might be to achieve greatness while others around you are constantly attempting to bring you down? In Sherman Alexie’s essay “Superman and Me”, the author informs the reader of the struggles he has experienced as a young American Indian boy striving for success. Alexie faces poverty and stereotypes while growing up, yet despite these challenges, he wants to learn, which shows the reader how education can be a gateway for success. As an American Indian boy growing up with stereotypes and challenges already against him, Sherman self motivates himself to learn, and this leads …show more content…

Sherman describes his situation at home, “We lived on a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear, and government surplus food” (1). When the author is describing his family's situation, he uses zeugma as a device to further show that the family not only lives on paychecks and food, but also emotions, which isn’t logically correct. The reader understands this is zeugma because you can’t physically live off of hope or fear like you can paychecks or food, showing the reader that hope and fear are constantly amongst them in their lives. Sherman faced many battles against stereotypes while growing up, but that wouldn't hold him back from his knowledge or education. “If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity” (2). When the author is talking about himself and how he was simply just an “oddity” he uses parallel structure as a way to express a stereotype against American Indians and what they can achieve. When understand that the author is using parallel structure because he uses the same pattern of words to show the importance of the

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