Sherman is attempting to save children’s lives by teaching them the importance of education and not all students take advantage of that. In the story Superman and Me Sherman mentioned, “They wanted me to stay quiet when the non-indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers, for help.” These students may feel different when a non-indian teacher asks for things because it might be out of their comfort zone. Also, Indian children are expected to fail to be accepted by other Indians in school.
In Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie, Alexie’s father’s love for books grew to make his self-love books ending up in Alexie teaching himself how to read. Alexie describes the stereotypes and what is expected of Indian children and how Indian children were expected to basically have no knowledge Many lived up to those expectations inside the classroom but invalidated them on the outside. While other children were doing this, Alexie’s father was one of the few Indians on the reservation who went to Catholic School on purpose and was also an devoted reader. Alexie grew up around books. His father had a strong love for books as he bought them by the pound from pawn shops, goodwill and the salvation army.
An smart Indian is a dangerous person and Indians and non-Indian
Everybody knows about the classic superhero story: a villain tries to destroy everything, the hero intervenes, saves the damsel in distress and the whole population is delighted and accepts him. Yet, behind the familiar, innocent narrative put forward is hidden a much darker tale of support to the elite. The conservative ideology publicized by superhero stories tends to support a worldview in which the interests of the upper-class and the stability of the system are protected. In that narrative, individuals are not expected to think critically or defy authority, but to follow orders and use their natural skills to benefit society as a whole. Benevolence, obedience and security are valued over individuality, creativity and progress.
I was arrogant. I was lucky." (17) Alexie, later on, became a writer and an inspiration to other children. He proved that just because he was Indian didn't mean anything. Your cultural background should not bring down your intelligence, instead, soar beyond to prove others
Life is full of doors, some are open and some are closed. There comes a time when sealed doors need to be broken open so everyone can reach their maximum potential and goals in life, just like Sherman Alexie did in “Superman and Me.” An example of Sherman Alexie breaking down doors is one of his quotes from “Superman and Me,” “this might be an interesting story all by itself. A little Indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly. He reads Grapes of Wrath in kindergarten when other children are struggling through Dick and Jane.
“I’m not the Indian you had in mind” challenges the widely accepted image held by society of what an Indian should look, act, and essentially be like. The short video starts out with a man dressed in casual business attire carting out a life size statue of the stereotypical Indian. He takes the statue, dressed head to toe in what society expects an Indian to look like including a traditional headdress, tomahawk, long hair and clothing then places it next to a television. The man, along with a woman dressed in a blazer and pencil skirt and another man in what society would define as casual clothing, go on to tell the stories of what society believes true Indians are. Stereotypes are essentially preconceived notions or ideas about groups of
Andy Rooney used a stereotype when he made the statement, “Indians were always considered to be brave, strong, stoic, resourceful, true to their word and unconquerable. Anyone with a touch of Indian blood in their ancestry is proud of it” (51). While it may be true that some Indians are “brave, strong, stoic, resourceful, true to their word and unconquerable” (Rooney 51) these attributes cannot be used to describe every single person with Native American heritage as not every single person may necessarily have these qualities. Some Native Americans may possess these qualities, others may possess only some of these qualities, and some others may possess none of these qualities. The statement, “Anyone with a touch of Indian blood in their ancestry is proud of it” (Rooney 51) also may not necessarily be true.
Superman runs into a bathroom and changes into a suit. Vonnegut depicts a man who tries to imagine a war as “heroic” ultimately dying in the same meaningless way as countless other soldiers to illustrate that one cannot escape from traumatic realities. Roland Weary used the illusion of heroism in order to escape from the horrors of war. This is first presented when Vonnegut describes Roland Weary, saying, “His vision of the outside world was limited to what he could see through a narrow slit” (Vonnegut 41) This was an important detail for He had been saving Billy’s life for days,cursing him,kicking him, slapping him, making him move.
This quarter I read the realistic fiction book, The Batboy by Mike Lupica. This book is a story about a 14 year old boy named Brian Dudley. Son of a former pitcher and an avid baseball fan, Brian gets his dream summer job: the bat boy for his favorite team the Detroit Tigers. When it seems like his summer cannot get any better, his all-time favorite player Hank Bishop is signed to the team. At the beginning, Hank is cold and yells at Brian a lot, but in the end they become friends.
In the story the joy of reading Superman and me Sherman Alexie tells an emotional story of both hardship and success. He shares his struggles of being a poor Indian kid destined to fail, but he had a desire to be persevere he wanted to be more than the stereotypical uneducated Indian on a reservation and was determined to do so. He was inspired by his father to love books, and with the love for books came the ability to escape from the boundaries of the reservation and the dream to be more. Alexie shares how he taught his self to read with a superman comic book and with his witty metaphors how it shaped his life. I found Alexis story to be emotional, but yet very interesting.
The author also mentioned that such negative attitude to smart citizens is not common for other developed countries. While he named the region, “in East Asia, a kid who studies hard is lauded and held up as an example to other students” (Fridman), he did not provide more detailed information, like results of surveys or funding statistics of the foreign universities. It is also possible to question this argument, at least in respect of the past. It is difficult to provide a source, but there was a joke that said “the intellectual is a kind of an insult” in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and some of its
In the essay “Superman and Me”, the author, Sherman Alexie recalls the time he first learned to read. He talks about his Indian culture and the perception of people like himself. He also discusses his childhood and the outcome of learning to read. The reoccurring theme of the essay is the love of reading. The author used various literacy devices to express the feelings of empowerment, happiness and the necessity that came with learning to read.
Superman and Me - A Rhetorical Precis In “Superman and Me” (1998), an essay written for the Los Angeles Times, Sherman Alexie Jr. explains how the stereotype that Indian children are less intelligent than other children is not only incorrect, but harmful. Alexie provides examples of his own intelligence, having read “Grapes of Wrath in kindergarten” (5); and exhibits his personal experiences with the intelligence of other Indians (they “could tell complicated stories and jokes at the dinner table”) in contrast to how they acted around those who were not Indian (“They were monosyllabic”) demonstrating how Indians are “expected to fail” in a “non-Indian” society (6). Alexie draws contrasts between the stereotype and the truth in order to clearly
Indian Education Stereotypes can affect people in many ways some negative and some positive. Some positive ways stereotypes can affect people is they could make them stronger or make them wanna be a better person. Some negative ways stereotypes affect people is they can bring them down and make them feel bad about themselves. In “ Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie there are many stereotypes about Native Americans for example alcoholics,dumb and fighters. One stereotype that many people give Native Americans is that they are alcoholics.
