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What Is The Meaning Of Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie

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In “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, Alexie is an Indian boy on a reservation who is expected to get nowhere in life because of where he came from. However, he is smart, he knows he is capable, and he is lucky for being that. These characteristics make him special and according to the text, “dangerous”. In the text, he says, “I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky.” This quote sends a very strong message to the audience about how Alexie thought of himself. The quote’s meaning, reasoning, and contribution to the development of the text all aid the author in expressing the main idea. When Alexie says that he refused to fail, he is not just talking about how he refused to fail at reading. He is also refusing to fail at proving all of the others wrong. Everyone around him expected him to fail, but that wasn’t going to be the case with Alexie, and he lets us know that in this quote. The text states, “I read books late into the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open. I read books at recess, then during lunch, …show more content…

He wants the audience to put themselves in his shoes and understand how confident he is feeling. Also, he wants the audience to realize his determination in learning how to read and prove to everyone that Indians can get somewhere in life. It was also maybe added to show that being arrogant is not always a bad thing. This is shown in the text, “Most lived up to those expectations inside the classroom but subverted them on the outside. They struggled with basic reading in school but could remember how to sing a few dozen powwow songs. They were monosyllabic in front of their non-Indian teachers but could tell complicated stories at the dinner table.” He wants others to know that being submissive to others won’t get you anywhere. Alexie is trying to explain that you have to be a little arrogant and believe in your own abilities to succeed and rise above the

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Alexie, Sherman, “Superman and Me: The Joy of Reading and Writing.” Los Angeles Times, 19 April 1998. Sherman Alexie shared how his childhood of reading helped him become a better reader and a leader for others. He first read a Superman comic and then went on to bigger and better books. Alexie explains that in his Native American reservation it’s okay for children not to excel in school.

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His arrogance came a long way for him because he had to fight everyday to do what he wanted; he shows that by stating,”I fought with my classmates on a daily basis. They wanted me to stay quiet when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers, for

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In the novel, "Flight" The author Sherman Alexie put in the eyes of Zits, A native American teenager, who is a troubled, rebellious orphan trouble maker. Zits life has been a rough one. His father left him and his mother at birth. then His mother dies 6 years later from cancer. Has been to multiples foster homes due to abusing foster parents or his self-acting out.

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Douglas had to show him to actually make him believe that he could write. It literally shows that your class and your social status just shows your learning and not actually your education. The boy just assumed the author wouldn’t know cause he was a slave. Somewhat on the same path was Bich Minh Nguyen saying “ My quantity of gold stars was neck and neck with that of my two competitors, Brenda and Jennifer,... Week after week, the lion perched on Brenda’s desk or Jennifer’s desk” (Bich Minh Nguyen).

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“I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. I read books late into the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open” (Alexie 17).

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If the odds are not in one’s favor, it does not mean that he or she cannot accomplish his or her goals. Sherman Alexie proved this by overcoming the barriers and the doubts to become a writer. In his essay Superman and Me Alexie conveys anyone can accomplish their goals, he does this by using the rhetorical devices anecdote, ethos, and anaphora. Alexie utilizes personal anecdotes throughout the essay to demonstrate how he has overcome the odds. In the beginning he discussed how he was introduced to reading, then conveys the extent of his effort towards reading and how it has assisted him in becoming a successful writer.

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Since he was unable to read, all he could do was look at his father’s books and admire them. As a result, an epiphany occurred and he was able to clearly comprehend the meaning of a paragraph, even though he didn’t know the technical term “paragraph”. Alexie began to see his world as in relation to paragraphs. At the same time, he began looking at Superman comic books, which displayed pictures that described the actions that were written. He would describe what the figure was doing and “read” it as though those were the words that were printed.

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