What Is The Theme Of Superman And Me By Sherman Alexie

I have chosen “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie to discuss about. This literacy narrative first appeared in “The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the pleasures of Reading.” Sherman Alexie is a well known Native American writer that publishes short stories, novels and poetry. Out of the three narratives, I found myself connect with this story more than the others. Alexie tells us about his childhood as a Indian boy that grew up on the Reservation. His father was a big reader so as a kid he’s always had an interest in books and eventually it became a passion. As he advanced in reading at an early age, peers would have difficulty with the content he has already achieved. Other kids would frown upon him because it was out of the
“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. I had a brother and three sisters. We lived on a combination of irregular paychecks, hope, fear and government surplus food.” (p356) Telling us this part of his life means allows us to realize that he’s had a rough childhood. By using the word “managed” it made it seemed like it was always a struggle but somehow his family found a way to pull it together. The last sentence about hope and fear was there to ensure us that there were reasons why his life was hard while living on the reservation because of the situations his family was put through. He’s trying to make an emotional connection to the audience. Later on, he tells us a in particular paragraph in 3rd person that, “If he’d been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity.” (p357) With this sentence, he was referring to how kids thought it was strange for him to be intelligent and it wasn’t the norm to be that way. He’s making a connection to if he was anybody else but a minority, then he would have been acknowledged for his talents. So for us, as the audience, we make an emotional connection because he struggled fitting in and being
He’s gone through the experience so it has a little bit of meaning to him. He overcame the norm because the Indian society thought it was unacceptable or wasn’t possible to become successful. He wants his audience to know that he’s been in the same situation they’ve been in but there’s always hope. Towards the very end of the book, he claims that he visits schools as much as possible because when he was younger he didn’t get the opportunity. He approaches this by explaining two sides of classrooms. “Many are writing their own poems, short stories and novels. They have read my books. They have read many other books. They look at me with bright eyes and arrogant wonder. They are trying to save their lives.”(p358) These children who were just like him when he was younger, that had an interest and wanted to change something about their life instead of being a stereotypical Indian. “Then there are the sullen and already defeated Indian kids who sit in the back rows and ignore me with theatrical precision. The pages of their notebooks are empty. They carry neither pencil nor pen. They stare out the window. They refuse and resist. “Books,” I say to them. “Books,” I say. I throw my weight against their locked doors. The door holds. I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives.”(p358) These are the students who don’t have much of an interest but Alexie is still trying to get through to these