Sherman Alexe's Role Model In Superman And Me

Having support while doing something difficult is very nice, you feel better and it makes you want to complete the task your facing even harder. Becoming literate is a difficult thing to do and you will need all the support you can get. Support such as having a role-model, being encouraged and being determined is the most essential things to have in becoming successful at being literate. To become literate it is important for the person to have a role-model for them to look up too and strive to be like. Having a role-model or mentor in their life will make them feel supported but it also gives them strength and shows them that someone else did it and so can they. Role-models can be a support system but they can also be a teacher and help

He states “My father loved books, and since I loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well.” (Alexie 16) Without having his dad there, Sherman probably wouldn 't have ever picked up a book. He would have been like all the other Native Americans and wouldn 't have learned to read and write. Alexie’s dad was an important part in him learning how to read and write and his support system and mentor. Sherman looked up to his father and wanted to be just like him in every way possible so he did. The role-model doesn 't always have to be a family member but it can also be a friend. In Frederick Douglas’s Learning to Read and Write he had a mistress at the start helping him and when she stopped he turned to boys his age to help him read and write. He says “ My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me..” (Douglass 118) Douglass’ mistress may have not been a role model but she was a teacher to him and that gave him support and someone to communicate with. He also had the little boys that he tricked into teaching him how to read. He says “When I met with any boy who I knew could write, I would tell him I could write as well as he” (Douglass 123) Douglass’ again had

With learning how to read and write, having encouragement while doing so would make the process a lot easier than having no encouragement at all. Encouragement to a person learning how to read would make them want to learn so much more and want to feel that the encourager is proud of them. An example of this is I know from personal experience that having encouragement does make it a lot easier to do something and it makes me happy. When I played hockey having my parents and family in the crowd cheering me on, made me want to try as hard as possible and made me want to be the best. Rather than not having anybody on the side cheering me on, I would be more lazy and not try my hardest. That’s why having someone or something encouraging the person learning how to read would make it easier and have them try their best. Encouragement can come from family, friends and even a community. Alexie wasn’t encouraged by his Native American community to read and write and that probably made it harder for him to do so. He states in The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me “ Those who failed were ceremonially accepted by other Indians and appropriately pitied by non-indians.” (Alexie 17) Alexie probably agrees that if he would have been encouraged and supported by his community he would have had a much