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Sherman Alexie's Essay 'Superman And Me'

1209 Words5 Pages

Carla-Cristina Melo Orellana
Georgia Pearle
English 1303
9/12/16
The American dream. A concept we all are familiar with: the good paying job, the house with a white picket fence, the 2.5 kids. A concept that we have been told that we can all reach. A concept that we are told when we are young. That we can be anything anything we want if we put grit and persevere through it. A concept that is known to us all, regardless of our background and we came from, but is it a real concept that we can achieve?
In the essay “Superman and Me” by Sherman J. Alexie, he proves to be a prime example of this concept of getting where you want to be regardless of where you came from. In the beginning of his essay he talks about how Sherman Alexie he is from a Spokane Reservation in Washington state. His family was in need by normal standards, but overall he came from a middle class background. The main plot of his essay was that Alexie was different than his fellow other Native Americans due to the fact that he learned how to read and could read very challenging works, such as the Grapes of Wrath at a young age. Has he gets older, Alexie values education and knowledge and does not let preconceived ideas of the stereotypical concepts of how Natives Americans “are” let them get in his way. In this essay Alexie juxtaposes himself in his own essay to demonstrate how he broke the stereotypes against him. However, Sherman is trying to demonstrate to his audience (upper-middle class who now “values diversity”) who are the people who were types to probably doubt him. For …show more content…

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