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The Past Is Just The Past In Superman And Me

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The Past is Just the Past
Within the stories “Superman and Me”, “Every Little Hurricane”, “Indian Education”, and “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, which are short stories all written by Sherman Alexie, it expresses the lives of boys and men living on Indian reservations. A famous quote by Sherman Alexie states, “Don’t live up to your stereotypes.” This quote is shown through these four different short stories by the representation of the theme; any historic events from history or negative situations should not contradict a person’s current situational state, nor should it change a person’s attitude towards a certain situation. Stereotypes are historical situations, and Sherman Alexie states that a person should not live up to …show more content…

A great physical fight or ‘storm’ broke out after plenty of negative situations built up between the people living on the reservation, but that didn’t stop the reservation, as a whole, from continuing on from the fight, and they didn’t collapse. The reservation got together, acknowledged the deaths that had happened, so neither nor the deaths or arguments stopped the people on the reservation from getting along. In the story “Indian Education,” an excerpt having involved stereotypes visualizes the theme very well. “I walk down the aisle, valedictorian of this farm town high school, and my cap doesn 't fit because I 've grown my hair longer than it 's ever been. Later, I stand as the school-board chairman recites my awards, accomplishments, and scholarships. I try to remain stoic for the photographers as I look toward the future,” (Indian 110) Alexie writes. Alexie was an Indian, and expectations were very low towards him, although he didn’t let that stop him from continuing life. Alexie continued to be very successful, and even as that happened, he looked towards the future and didn’t let past, historic experiences modify his decisions. Through the stories “Every Little Hurricane” and “Indian Education,” historic events from history should not contradict a person 's current situational state is a conclusive theme for these

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In The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie, Alexie states “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike” (Alexie 364). I would have to disagree with this statement. He is making it sound like just because he is a minority that received somewhat of an education, he should be feared by others. I believe that anyone who is smart and forceful in a community is dangerous because they have the willpower to go to any lengths to uphold their beliefs. On the other hand, I also believe that just because you are smart, you don’t necessarily have to be feared.

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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.

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Writer Sherman Alexie has a knack of intertwining his own problematic biographical experience with his unique stories and no more than “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” demonstrates that. Alexie laced a story about an Indian man living in Spokane who reflects back on his struggles in life from a previous relationship, alcoholism, racism and even the isolation he’s dealt with by living off the reservation. Alexie has the ability to use symbolism throughout his tale by associating the title’s infamy of two different ethnic characters and interlinking it with the narrator experience between trying to fit into a more society apart from his own cultural background. However, within the words themselves, Alexie has created themes that surround despair around his character however he illuminates on resilience and alcoholism throughout this tale.

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