'Superman and Me' by Sherman Alexie is an autobiographical essay that describes the author's journey to learning to read and becoming a successful writer. Throughout the text, the author discusses the stigma that Indians face. This stigma is due to the fact that Indians were unable to perform according to Western standards. Alexie uses his experience growing up as a Spokane Indian on reservations to convey the main idea of the text to the reader. The main idea of the text is to show the reader that he can overcome stereotypes. Alexie shows the reader that a reserved born Indian can become a successful writer instead of conforming to peer pressure by allowing stereotypes to define you. We see this through personal anecdotes, his family values, a change in narrative, and Superman as a metaphor. Alexie uses a personal anecdote to describe life on the reservations. The Indians on the reservation were subject to a specific type of poverty. The reservations were a closed world that sat on the fringes of society. This shows that traditional society was not particularly friendly towards Indians. Therefore, Indians were forced to sit on the fringes of society and look inward. Alexie wants the reader to understand the socio-economic status of the reservations. Understand how this stereotype is imposed on Indians. Reservations were generally a lower standard of living than traditional society. This meant that access to educational resources was limited. Indians could not afford the same educational resources as traditional society. They were also excluded from some sectors of mainstream society, for example from libraries. The author purchased his resources mainly from second-hand shops. Alexie is showing the reader that despite the barriers of limited resources, it is still possible to overcome the stereotypes we face. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Alexie draws on her family values to show her concern for the larger community. Alexie talks about his father going to “Catholic school on purpose” (Alexie, 1998, p.1). This is an important point in the text as Catholic schools were a place of abuse for Aboriginal people, especially Indians when his father would have attended. So, there was a lot of reluctance on the part of the Indians to attend school. Due to the fact that his father subjected himself to such torture in school, we see that his father valued education. Alexie would have had this determination to get an education compared to other Indians as his father saw education as an important part of life. The reader can understand that other Indians may not have this drive at home because education was associated with abuse for many of their parents. Alexie is trying to share his concerns for other Indian children who don't have this push at home. Alexie recognizes that without his father's push, overcoming this stereotype would have been much more difficult. Alexie makes a calculated shift from first person to third person during the fifth paragraph. To move from Alexie's struggle to a struggle seen on a social level. To do this, Alexie explains that Indian children are able to read advanced books such as “Grapes of Wrath” while in kindergarten (Alexie, 1998). Alexie discusses how if this were a Western child he would be praised for his abilities and seen as a genius. However, since it was an Indian child, they were called strange instead. This shows the reader that the Indians were not only facing the barriers of.
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