Sherman Alexie's "Superman and Me"

About the author:

  • Sherman Alexie was born on October 7, 1966.
  • Grew up in Spokane Indian Reservation
  • Successful writer, poet, and filmmaker
  • Received many rewards for his novels and screenplays
  • Wrote about his experiences as a Native American

About "Superman and Me": It's a literacy narrative about Alexie's childhood as a young Native American boy.

He talks about how he learned to read through comic books.

The speaker is himself. He puts his experiences on something/someone that played an important role in his life.

Purpose:

His essay is meant to stress the importance of reading. He also talks about the struggles he faced as an Indian boy trying to get an education.

"We were poor by most standards, but one of my parents usually managed to find some minimum-wage job or another, which made us middle-class by reservation standards" (Alexie 1).

Get the next generation to be more involved in books.

Main Idea:

Alexie defies stereotypes. Although many people were telling him he was stupid and couldn't do anything, he showed them that he was different and loved books and pursued an education.

His father was a role model in his life. His father loved books; this made Alexie have an interest in books.

Genre:

Literacy narrative: “personal account about any event involving reading or composing.” It can also be a type of autobiography essay in which the author shares the time when he/she learned how to read or write, or when they helped others read or write. When writing a literacy narrative, a combination of the speaking, listening, writing, and/or reading experiences should confirm an author’s significance to that time of their life. There might be people, even yourself, who discourage you, but seeing past the negativity can really uplift and change you for the better.

Important Paragraphs:

a fence that held words

Uses a metaphor to state how certain things in his life are paragraphs. This also allows the readers to see Alexie's creative side and how his brain works. In addition, it helps understands the whole point of paragraphs (in his point of view)