Sherman Alexie Superman

“Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie In Sherman Alexie’s autobiographical essay, he uses an extended metaphor to compare and contrast himself and a fictional character Superman. Illustrations that was used by Alexie made a huge impact on this essay. It helps the readers better understand what is being said in Alexie’s “Superman and Me”. On this essay, Alexie mentions how he can see his family being a paragraph. Also, one of an extended metaphor that was used is how Superman and Alexie broke down the doors.

Alexus, a young middle school student can make connections to the story “The Gift Of The Magi” because like Jim and Della she has to make sacrifices for her loved ones. In the story Jim and Della don’t have enough money to buy each other christmas gifts. So Della has to cut her hair and sell it and Jim has to sell his watch to make money for gifts. The author of the story develops the theme when being in a relationship sacrifices is often needed.

Sherman Alexie writes the story “Indian Education” using a deadpan tone to build and connect the years of the narrator 's life together in an ironic way. Alexie is able to utilize irony through the use of separate, short sections within the story. The rapid presentation of events, simple thoughts, and poetic points made within the story enable the reader to make quick connections about the narrator’s life to draw more complex realizations. The art that Alexie uses to write this very short story is poetic in nature through the meaning and structure of his writing. By the fact that the reader can draw deeper conclusions about the narrator 's life from Alexie’s writing is evident that his writing is poetic.

As the wild west opened, so did new opportunities for American to strike it rich. But with the wild west opening up for the Americans, Indian lands were being encroached for railroads and homesteads. Indians were being pushed into reservations, their children sent to assimilation schools such a the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. In the horrors of American assimilation targeted at young Native American children, many children would face the struggle of losing their identity or face punishment of resisting assimilation. In the assimilation stories of Zitkala Sa’s Impressions of an Indian Childhood and Sherman Alexie’s Indian Education, tells the tale of their childhood experience being integrated into “American culture”.

Sherman Alexie discusses many things in his poem, “Crazy Horse Boulevard” such as how many best friends his brother has had and lost, his meaning of the loneliest number, and how much love he has for his brother. He also discusses the greatest human beings he knows that have ever lived, ironies, and his many drafts. What draws me to “Crazy Horse Boulevard” is how different it is from other poems that I have read in the past. For example, the language in this poem is unique because it does not have any form of rhyme and it is divided into six different sections; however, it is considered a single poem that is free verse. While looking over his poem for the second time I read something that I had not noticed before.

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.

In The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie shares with his audience his story of when he learned to read at a young age through a Superman comic book. Through stories and memories of his childhood he explains how Indian children on reservations were expected not to try in school and fail in the non-Indian world. In order to successfully portray his ideas, Alexie uses many rhetorical techniques and ideas. By using these techniques the audience is forced to look more into the writing instead of just being giving the direct meaning of what Alexie is trying to share.

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.

I think one of the best way to tell a sad reality is by making your audience cry and laugh at the same time. The author of "What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona", Sherman J. Alexie, does just that. Victor and Thomas Builds-The-Fire were childhood friends that had not spoken in years. When Victor's father dies in Arizona, Thomas Builds-The-Fire gives Victor the money he needs to bring his father home with one condition: Thomas Builds-The-Fire gets to go along with him to Arizona. My overall response to this story was that I found it both humorous and intriguing.

In the short story “This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, by author Sherman Alexie, his writing style is very prominent. Alexie is about to achieve this by writing in a very blunt manner. When Victor is talking about his father dying he says, “‘He died of a heart attack in his trailer and nobody found him for a week. It was really hot, too,’” (Alexie 512).

Both Cristina Nehring and Sherman Alexie recognize that reading can be lucrative activity. However, Nehring and Alexie differ on why, and in what circumstances, reading is a beneficial investment of time. Nehring’s article faults society for exaggerating the intellectual advantage of casual reading. She writes that there are “two very different ways to use books”, with one-way superior to the other.

In the text, “Superman and Me,”One main quote that explains everything you need to know about this article is when Sherman Alexie says, “I wasrefused to fail. I was smart. I was lucky.” Many people that have read this choose to believe that this quote is just an irritating repetition of how he felt about himself, however, closer examination shows that it actually develops his main claim and central idea, refines his claims, and shows the purpose of this text all in one quote. Alexie was a young, Indian boy who just wanted to know how to read in write in the aspiration of becoming emotionally closer to his father because he loved him so.

Alexie's “Superman and Me” attempts to bring light to a stereotype in his hometown community. Using his childhood as background, he reveals to the audience that he read anything and everything. His small, lower middle class neighborhood never supported higher education. Those in school were told not to live up to their full potential just based on the fact that they were Native Americans. In hopes to change this outlook, Alexie himself got out and revisits to encourage students that just because you are a Native American does not mean you have to stay down with the stereotype.