The trials and tribulations of Spokane a child “Superman and me” is a short story of a young Spokane boy who uses his natural talent to escape the blighted life laid out for him. Sherman Alexis uses his past and painful history to recant his story to show people how reading saved his life. The story uses a mass amount of vivid description and detail to show the reader what was in store for a Spokane child, such as the cultural issues, expectancy to fail, and lack of an actual education. Alexi’s uses ethos to appeal to the reader as well. After Alexis becomes successful and escapes the clutches of his reservation. He uses his ability to be the helping hand to the young Spokane kids that inhabit the halls he use to roam. The simple task of reading …show more content…
The description and detail used in “superman and me” is very clear. Alexis uses this to place to set the tone for the uphill battle he was going to encounter. The reservation Alexis grew up in was a Spokane reservation. In a time period where the white man looked down upon most Indians. The culture of tribe has been forged after repeated cycles of the same thing. The lack of education and growth that prevented them from doing anything significant with their lives. Most of the Spokane were poor and those who could get minimum wage were considered middle class in the tribe. This is where Alexis family was in. The Spokane didn’t push very much for education, but more for working. The kids in school were expected to fail right from the get go. So much so that when the teacher asked a kid a question most would just hold their head …show more content…
Rightly so since that is, what saved his life. Alexis uses this as his moral compass when he is older. While growing up he wanted to become a pediatrician. After all he experienced he realized that he wanted to be a writer. As a writer Alexis realized a very unfortunate truth. The education he received was horrendous, but that wasn’t the part he realized. He realized that throughout the education he never learned about writing or poetry or short stories. There was not one memory fragment he could find that could tell him he ever learned these things or ever had a guest teacher. This is what led Alexis to become the writer he is and go to the reservation he escaped and teach those kids. Seeing the look of the bright eyes of those who eagerly want to learn and of those dim eyes that accepted the fate placed upon them. Even then Alexis still tries to inspire them and show them that this isn’t there only option. They still have possibilities. The only limits they have are the ones they placed upon
X, Malcolm. "Learning to Read." Rereading America. 9th ed. Boston/NewYork: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. 189-97. Print.
The quote “i read with equal parts joy and desperation “, from the passage superman and me by sherman alexie, helps to refine and develop his claims and further the story . this quote he talks about reading out of desperation ,what he means by this is that reading is the only this quote furthers the claim by emphasizing the fact that he has to learn to read to save his life.
The rhetor for this text is Luther Standing Bear. He was born in 1868 on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He was raised as a Native American until the age on eleven when he was taken to Carlisle Indian Industrial School: an Indian boarding school. After graduating from the boarding school, he returned to his reservation and now realized the terrible conditions under which they were living. Standing Bear was then elected as chief of his tribe and it became his responsibility to induce change (Luther Standing Bear). The boarding schools, like the one he went to, were not a fair place to be. The Native American children were forced to go there and they were not taught how to live as a European American; they were taught low level jobs like how to mop and take out trash. Also, these school were very brutal with punishment and how the kids were treated. In the passage he states, “More than one tragedy has resulted when a young boy or girl has returned home again almost an utter stranger. I have seen these happenings with my own eyes and I know they can cause naught but suffering.” (Standing Bear 276). Standing Bear is fighting for the Indians to be taught by Indians. He does not want their young to lose the culture taught to them from the elders. Standing Bear also states, “The old people do not speak English and never will be English-speaking.” (Standing Bear 276). He is reinforcing the point that he believes that they
To your average white American kid, a comic book is cheap entertainment— a leisure, a novelty. Your run of the mill issue of "Superman," perhaps the most generic superhero of all, is something to be read once, maybe even merely skimmed, while in the bathroom or the doctors' office. When finished with it gets thrown away mindlessly or tossed aside to join a mounting stack of similarly abandoned stories of fantastical heroism. However in the eyes of the young Indian boy, Sherman Alexie, as depicted in his essay, "Superman and Me," a tattered comic found in a donation bin was much more than that— it was a life line.
Life can have lots of obstacles. Some good and some bad. To better your life, you need to learn to overcome those obstacles. “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie introduces that you have to push towards the goals you want in life, which will bring success and joy in the future.
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 73-76. Print
In his essay “Superman and Me”, Sherman Alexie details how he rose above the limits placed upon him because of his ethnicity. Alexie begins the essay by opening up to his audience and recounting how he taught himself to read by using a Superman comic book. Alexie’s family was living paycheck to paycheck, so he began reading anything and everything that he could get his hands on. The purpose of Alexie’s “Superman and Me” is to inform the audience of how one does not need to be affluent to learn. With pathos, repetition, and elaborate metaphors, Sherman Alexie evokes a change of mind from his audience.
Superman and Me is a short written piece written by Sherman Alexie. The overall context is interesting as it is about a boy who has a talent for reading yet seems disoriented. The passage gives background information of the boy and how his ethnicity made him different from everyone else ‘[an] Indian boy living with his family’. He slowly explains his talent of reading and how by the age of 3 he was able to read, which is extremely interesting. By the time he was in kindergarden he was reading Grapes of Wrath while the other kids were struggling to read Dick and Jane demonstrating his potential when it came to reading complicated and higher level books for his age.
Sherman Alexie illustrates through the short story, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” how he developed the same reading and writing skills taught in a classroom solely from a Superman comic book. Alexie’s situation was unique from not only non-Indians but Indians as well. Alexie’s family was not privileged, which was the case for most of the people who lived on the Indian reservation. They, Indians, had access to very limited resources which ceased any aspirations they had at being successful. Alexie, as a young Indian boy, was not supposed to be educated by the societal norms expressed of his era. However, Alexie refused to fall victim to a stereotypical uneducated Indian boy. As a product of an Indian reservation, Sherman Alexie informs his audience, mostly dedicated to Indian children that he did not fail simply because of the joy he had for reading and writing.
“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.
Maturity may come at any age and time in a person’s life. One moment he or she may be a carefree child, and then suddenly realize that they have been transformed into a mature adult by a powerful and traumatic experience. An experience they will remember their whole lives. Young David Hayden, the narrator of Montana 1948 by Larry Watson, has a traumatic experience. He discovers that his uncle has been sexually assaulting Native American women in his town. This is a heavy burden for a twelve year old boy, especially since it reveals that his beloved Uncle Frank is the "bad-guy". However, one discovers, as the novel develops, that David matures and grows in order to deal with this situation. He must come to understand what has happened and how the immoral actions of Frank will affect his family and its name. But most importantly, he must know that his integrity will be changed. He will learn shocking things that would mean nothing to a child, but everything to an adult. Larry Watson suggests that traumatic experiences transform children into adults. Therefore, disturbing experiences lead to changes of mind, growth in morals, and an emerging sense of adulthood.
Angus Bethune, “the Fat Kid with Perverted Parents”(Crutcher 1), starts off in a state of self-doubt, but by the end of this moment in his life, he learns to accept himself and be confident of who he is. Angus has always been teased and has no friends, causing him to build up an aggressive personality shield, so when he is chosen as Senior Winter Ball King, he suspects that someone is playing a joke on him, so he tries to refuse the title, but is told not to by his grandfather. All of Angus’s fear comes back, however, in the few hours before the dance when he is supposed to get ready and wear his maroon tuxedo. Along comes his stepfather, who remarks in his sensible and somewhat confusing way that “Superman’s not brave”(Crutcher 4). This reveals to Angus that the brave people are those who have vulnerabilities but face life head on anyway. Superman is invincible, so he has no reason to fear anything. Therefore Superman is not brave, unlike Angus, whose largeness and parental situation have brought on much t...
In “This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona,” Alexie creates a story that captures the common stereotypes of Native Americans. For instance, in the story the narrator states, “Who does have money on a reservation, except the cigarette and fireworks salespeople?” (Alexie). This quotation shows that the narrator addresses the idea that all Native Americans must own businesses that sell fireworks and/ or cigarettes in order to be successful. In this example, Victor is shown to not identify with the Native Americans because he does not pursue the same job opportunities as many Native Americans do. Victor's character is used as a contrast to the stereotypes that , there he represents reality. Another instance in which the author incorporates a stereotype about Native Americans is when Thomas-Builds-the-Fire first makes conversation with Victor. Thomas-Builds-the-Fire informs Victor about the news of Victor's ...
Waiting for Superman is a 2010 documentary that focuses on the wrongs and solutions to the education system that has been instilled in America. The film features Geoffrey Canada and his importance is obvious but at the same time completely obscured. Michelle Rhee takes a front in this documentary as both the hero and the villain, in the sense that in order to fix what has been wronged she has to make choices and decisions that others view as unnecessary. The documentary itself focuses on the lives of those the education systems has wrong which include 5 children (Anthony, Daisy, Francisco, Bianca and Emily) who in some way, shape, or form have need the education system to save them and give them the kind of education that they need. We follow
education should be all good and no bad should be involved what so ever. In The Defense of Poetry, Sidney states: