Sherman Alexie's Childhood

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.

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.

“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.

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”.

Life is full of doors, some are open and some are closed. There comes a time when sealed doors need to be broken open so everyone can reach their maximum potential and goals in life, just like Sherman Alexie did in “Superman and Me.” An example of Sherman Alexie breaking down doors is one of his quotes from “Superman and Me,” “this might be an interesting story all by itself. A little Indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly. He reads Grapes of Wrath in kindergarten when other children are struggling through Dick and Jane.

Rodriguez and Alexie have quite some similarities and differences in both of their passages they 've written. Rodriguez comes from a Spanish family that he wasn 't really close, and he obtained degrees from both Stanford and Columbia University. He learned to read from a nun at his school when he was a child. Alexie comes from an Indian family that lived and still lives on an Indian Reservation in Washington. He learned to read from a Superman comic book.

“Superman and Me” Essay In the essay “Superman and Me”, the extended metaphor that is used to connect Superman and Sherman Alexie is that they break down doors mentally and physically. An extended metaphor is a metaphor developed at a great length or occurring frequently in or throughout a piece of work. In Alexie’s essay, he is comparing himself to a fictional character, Superman, who breaks down doors grabbing the attention of the person he is trying to save; Alexie, on the other hand, breaks down the mental doors of other people’s mind grabbing their attention, so he can explain why reading and writing is important. “ The Indian children crowd the classroom.

Sherman Alexie is a Native American poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, comedian, filmmaker and scriptwriter. He represents the second generation of Native American writers who have become prominent in the 1990s. He is the most recognized, prolific, and critically acclaimed author in modern Native American literature. He has been described by David Moore as "the reigning world heavyweight poetry bout champion in the second generation of Native American literary renaissance begun in the 1960s".1 Alexie was born on October 7, 1966, in the town of Wellpinit on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington State. Alexie's father, Sherman Sr., is from the Native American tribe of Coeur d'Alene.

Have you ever compared yourself to superhero before? Well Sherman Alexie has! Throughout the essay “Superman and Me” he compares himself to Superman because they are both writers, they are both different from other people, and they both break down doors. To start with, according to paragraphs 8 and the Superman comics, movies, and other stuff they are both writers.

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).

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.

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.