Sherman Alexie Use Of Rhetorical Analysis Of Superman

Superman Learns to Read Four star general, Colin Powell once said, “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and eliminate doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.” His quote rings true for many elements that great leaders and strong arguments share. In order for arguments to be successful, they must be simplified, eliminate doubt, and propose an easy-to-comprehend solution. The argument must be simplified through clear and concise prose. The argument must acknowledge opposing views and void the opposition’s claim. The argument must be fueled by logical claims and assisted by emotional appeal. Lastly, an argument must provide a rational and simple solution to the spat. Weak arguments

Alexie uses parallel sentence structure, utilizing “I cannot remember the plot,” “I cannot recall which particular Superman comic book.” Alexie then puts the reader in a heightened state and says, “What I can remember is this,” insinuating what’s about to be said is tectonic. The author then discusses how poor the boy is through ambiguous rhetoric about the family’s financial situation, using “most”, “usually”, and “irregular,” although in the last sentence the author excludes ambiguity, and displays precisely what situation the boy is in: “We lived on a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear, and government surplus food,” he states. The boy discusses how he is proud of his father and how he strives to be like him someday. He insults the Indians intellect, saying his father was one of “the few indians who went to Catholic school on purpose.” He implies that if Indians went to Catholic school, it was a mistake. He discusses how his father is obsessed with and devoted to reading by using enumeratio; the boy chops and breaks down every aspect of what his father reads, how his father buys his books, and how his father stores his books using a laundry list of

In “Superman and Me”, Alexie demonstrates an effective story of a boy’s gradual escape from his tribe. Through various techniques used by Alexie, the boy’s story grasps the reader’s attention and provokes an emotional response, leaving a lasting impression for the reader to contemplate, Although this is a successful essay, his style could have mislead some. In paragraph seven, he forced the reader to read quickly and seemed overly repetitive, resulting in a lack of attention to the text. The author also seemed arrogant in this paragraph, possibly resulting in lost credibility, depending on the readers’ views. To improve paragraph seven, the author could delete many of the unnecessary supports and simplify the points he keeps, then also combine paragraph seven and eight. Regardless of the scant shortcomings, Alexie, who grew up on an Indian tribe himself, wrote a exceptionally efficacious piece on an Indian boy’s journey trampling