Summary Of Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie

In his short story, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie narrates his journey of how he learned to read. He shows readers how he overcame his struggle of becoming literate and how he refused to follow the typical lifestyle of an Indian boy. Alexie’s great passion for reading lead him to stand up against American prejudices, becoming an inspiration to many Indians who struggled to read and who were expected to be stupid. Many of his fellow classmates who expected Alexie to fail with them were monosyllabic in the classroom, but once they got home, they were lively and great storytellers. Alexie, however, refused to be stupid in public because he knew that he was capable of achieving success and was not going to accept

Fortunately, Alexie does not, and is able to fulfill his desire of reading by teaching himself, an accomplishment for any three-year-old. Though he didn’t struggle with his task, he and his family faced economic hardships; it was more than just poverty, it was also the limited school system on the reservation, but more significantly, it was the mental barriers Alexie faced with the other Indians in the Non-Indian society. His family, who worked hard to make a salary, served as an example and influence on Alexie to push through obstacles in order to succeed. In Alexie’s household, books were everywhere to be found, since his father was an avid reader; “Our house was filled with books. They were stacked in crazy piles in the bathroom, bedrooms, and living room” (16). This is another reason why Alexie probably learned to read at such an incredibly young age. His passion for books was influenced greatly by his father and this made him surpass the limitations of the typical Indian mentality. And with the same passion, he also serves as an example for other Indians to overcome the stereotypes imposed on them. Alexie’s curiosity leads him to pick up a book before he could even understand it. He could not read yet and he “didn’t have the vocabulary to say “paragraph,” but [he] realized that a paragraph was a fence that held words”

His passion for books, which was greatly inspired by his father, is the power force that permits Alexie to be removed from the barriers of Indian mentality and failure. With the same passion for reading, he also wishes to inspire future Indians by his example that one must refuse to accept and live out the role as an Indian that society has imposed on them. Toward the end of his short story, he shares how he visits the reservation schools to teach creative writing to Indian kids and notices how “[t]hey look at [him] with bright eyes and arrogant wonder. They are trying to save their lives” (18). The words, “they are trying to save their lives” convey such a powerful message; despite all of the doors one must break through just as Superman did in the comic book, hope remains. They are not yet defeated, and still have a chance to succeed. Their bright eyes and supercilious wonder signify that just like Alexie, they do indeed hope to succeed. In the classroom he visits, Alexie also sees “the sullen and already defeated Indian kids who sit in the back rows and ignore [him] with theatrical precision” (18). The children are defeated only because they allowed themselves to conform to the Indian stereotypes. Alexie shares one word with them: “Books.” All of the Indians at the reservation have the power to overcome the social barriers that are imposed upon them if they become highly