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Overcoming Obstacles In Sherman Alexie's Life

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Despite the negative stereotype of American Indians, the objections and disapproval of fellow Natives, and the criticism of others, Sherman Alexie went on to become a successful writer that has inspired many. Alexie overcame many obstacles that would have deterred him from his goal, but he was able to remain steadfast and continue on in his pursuit of writing. As a result, he has published many literary works that include several short stories, poems, and a variety of novels. He allows his culture to seep into his writing, and continues to inspire young American Indians who also desire the path of knowledge. The Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State was where Alexie first began to cultivate his love and understanding of reading. Although his parents were never able to obtain a consistently paying occupation, they were able to find an assortment of minimum wage jobs. This, by reservation standards, made his family middle class, and enabled his father to purchase numerous books that continued to fuel his love for reading. As a three year old toddler, Alexie made the defining decision to love books due to his love for his father who zealously pursued knowledge and reading. …show more content…

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. From that point forward, Alexie fell in love with

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