The Joy Of Reading And Writing Sherman Alexie Superman And Me Summary

Summary & Reaction to “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.” Born in 1966, Sherman Alexie was raised by a lower class family, who had little to no money. Alexie was inspired to write “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” after teaching himself to read by using pictures from a Superman comic book. Alexie uses strong emotion throughout this slight essay to engage the reader. Alexie starts off his slight essay by going into background information about his childhood, family financial status, and his first discovery of learning how to read. In the last sentence of the first paragraph Alexie ties the reader in by saying “We lived on a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear, and government surplus food.” Beginning

He finishes up the paragraph by saying “In this way, I learned to read.” The next two paragraphs link together. In paragraph five Alexie refers to himself in third person. In paragraph six Alexie informs the reader why he refers to himself in third person in the previous paragraph. He tells the reader it is because Indians are raised to be dumb, and fail. A smart Indian was considered a threat, and was widely feared among the non-Indian community. He also ties in that Indians don’t show their full potential due to being too afraid to one day leave home, and fear of change among the Indian community. Alexie’s second to last paragraph does a major turn-around from the previous two paragraphs. He no longer refers to himself in third person, he now refers to himself in first person. He knew he was smart, and wasn’t going to let anybody diminish that. He tends to use short, powerful sentences. “I am smart” “I was lucky” “I refused to fail” Alexie says. In the last sentence of the seventh paragraph “I was trying to save my life.” In the closing paragraph of this slight essay Alexie talks about his present day life, and about he visits many schools and encourages other Indian students to reach their full