Chris loved books and found company in the characters in the books he loved, his favored author was Jack London who also hoboed around the country and returned to school at the age of 19. Mr. London became a writer because he wanted to escape from the horrific prospects of life as a factory worker, just like Chris who doesn’t like the
Anthony Pines Kirsten Higgins English 101 1/23/13 Alexie’s Journey In His excerpt, “Superman and Me” Sherman Alexie tells the story of his childhood as a Native American living on a reservation. Alexie was one of the few Indians during that time that learned to read at a young age. Motivated by his father, who loved to read anything he could find, Alexie set out to do the same. His struggles during the time he was growing up are comparable to that of myself, not because I learned to read at an early age, because I went through similar struggles when I was young. “Superman and Me” offers a great perspective of what it is like to grow up in a place where everybody around expects very low intellectual intelligence.
Weikun Lu 09/16/2014 EAD II, Section 21 1.2 Professor Kalteissen Title Literacy transmits an ability to screen negative and positive while growing and it may help people change their life. Literacy always plays a key role in daily life from past to present. Sherman Alexie is the writer of “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”. Alexie was born to a US family on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington State and his family has[had] very poor living standard[s] but his father is[was] never miserly with books. In his essay he described[s] how he became a competitive student through reading books and gaining knowledge.
People need connections with others, but these connections are not always what brings them to their absolute highest level of happiness. Chris proceeded to record his personal thoughts in his journal, further proving to the reader the point that personal connections are not essential to happiness. “I now walk out and live amongst the wild. Take care, it was great knowing you.” (69), Chris wrote on a card sent to two generous people, Jan and Bob Burres. How briefly this sentence was written and how easily the “good-bye” was said to the couple that took him in and gave him supplies, Chris had displayed that his desire to be on his own was greater than his desire for theirs or anyone’s, friendship.
He explains how he taught himself by looking at pictures and dialogue, “I look at the narrative above the picture. I cannot read the words, but I assume it tells me that Superman is breaking down the door” (16). Alexie is starting to brag when he narrates that he learned quickly to read, while his classmates struggled to read at the basic level. He states that he should have been seen as “prodigy”. After Alexie establishes his confident tone, he reveals his determination tone.
I said to myself after reading the first three paragraphs that “what does Superman have to do with this essay?” I really enjoyed this essay because it will make you look at things a little different than what you probably already do. Reading this essay proves that anything is possible if you stay focused and set your mind to whatever it is that you want to do. Sherman Alexie explained how life was on the reservation that he had grown up on. He explained that there was a stereotype that by him being Indian that he would never amount to anything and they were to fail in the non-Indian world. They were told this for so long that majority of the kids that he had grew up with start to accept it.
They live by the philosophies of writers like Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The boys in the Society were introduced to a new outlook on life when Professor John Keating arrived at Welton Academy. Among them were people who never got the chance to live their lives to the fullest. Through his teachings, the boys are relieved of the harsh pressure put on them by everyone. They find themselves and learn how to express themselves in ways they otherwise would never have been able to.
In Sherman Alexie's, "Superman and Me," Alexie describes growing up as an abnormally intelligent Indian boy with a love of reading, who, despite being suppressed by modern society, is trying to save lives with the power of knowledge. Sherman Alexie began his attempts of reading at the age of three, inspired by his father's love of literature. Surrounded in a house piled with a wide variety of novels from the Salvation Army or Goodwill, all the struggling family could afford, Alexie picked up a Superman comic and pieced together what he assumed the words said. He began to pick up on what a paragraph's purpose was, which sparked an epiphany in the young reservation boy's mind. By the time Alexie was in kindergarten, he was excelling with readings,
After reading ‘Superman and Me,’ the essay written by Sherman Alexie, one can’t help but feel inspired and get that warm feeling inside. My first reading experience was similar to Alexie’s comic in that it was a random piece of literature that was being read. The first thing I ever read was a Christmas letter from my grandma’s neighbor and unbenounced to my family, simply grabbed it and read it from beginning to end. If I didn’t know a word I made it up and kept reading as to not lose my rhythm. For as long as I can remember, I have always been advanced for my grade in my reading abilities but the problem I cross in regards to reading is the interest level.
Granger believes that when people change even a small part of the world thoughtfully and deliberately, they leave behind enough of their roots to enable other people to mourn them properly.Granger’s story about his grandfather, with its moral about the importance of leaving one’s mark on the world, resonates with Montag’s desire to leave a meaningful legacy. From the beginning of the novel he has been growing increasingly dissatisfied with a life based on empty pleasures and devoid of real connections to other people. With the help from Granger, Montag now realized that because Mildred hardly ever did anything, he did not miss her. Montag thinks back to Faber’s words, promising him that Montag would be as a brother. That is Montag-plus-Faber, fire plus water which would mix and turn into wine.