Sherman Alexie’s text, “Superman and Me”, is an inspiring passage about Alexie himself. Within the text, Alexie has a few quotes that help the development of the main claim, or main idea, of the text. One of such quotes is “ I throw my weight against their locked doors. The doors hold. I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives.” Though there are many other quotations from the passage that have relevance to the main claim, this quote is most crucial. The main idea of the whole writing develops and revolves around that quote. A detailed summary of the passage is, Sherman Alexie lived on an Indian reservation growing up. He taught himself to read at a young age using superman comic books. He developed fast and began reading advanced material at a young age. Alexie states, “He [Alexie] reads ‘Grapes of Wrath’ in kindergarten when other children are struggling through ‘Dick and Jane’.” Although he was more than proficient in subjects most were struggling in, he was still …show more content…
He states, “We lived on a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear, and government surplus food.” The tribes were banished from society and put on a small reservation with little to nothing. People in the tribe were taught that they couldn’t be smart, couldn’t get an education, couldn’t want to learn. Alexie’s dad proved to Sherman that he could do all that. He states, “I fought with my classmates on a daily bases. They wanted me to stay quiet when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers, for help.” Since Alexie’s dad gave him that first step with his love of books, he wanted him and others to learn. To Sherman, ignorance was death. He wanted to save them and prove to them that Indians can be smart; he wanted him to not listen to the others and believe, as he did that, they are smart, they are arrogant, and they are lucky. This is what the story is about and why the quote is so