...as land, wealth, and power they forget about the people around them and treat them as if they are not of the same species. The same idea is shared by the author Sherman Alexie in his essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”. The essay reflects upon the life of an Indian boy living in a reservation in today’s America. His main argument highlights how determination is a useful weapon when it comes to facing segregation in a society, and offers insight of how he is trying to save the children currently living on these reservation by getting them to open up to literacy and adaptation. Alexie was made a victim of racism. He was in an environment where the society’s restrictions allowed no one to go further in life. Everyone was required to follow the same old tradition and be under certain standards. Most followed these beliefs, but Alexie, he was different. He always loved reading and hoped to become a pediatrician. He was considered an oddity by his own people for being smart. He never liked the negative influences of the Indians and therefore never followed them. For this he always got in a brawl with his classmates, “They wanted me to stay quite when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers, for help. We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid” (Alexie 17). Alexie views this as an opportunity to show the outside world how an Indian society works. How...
Words: 971 - Pages: 4
...Humanities and Its Value Many times when a person is asked about humanities he may not know exactly what the teacher is asking. “Humanities?” the student may think without realizing how profound and useful it is within the world. Humanities can include many different studies upon the world, in its most general description it is a complete study of human ideas and expressions with emphasis on both developing techniques and skills for studying art, as well as learning about actual artistic creations. Stanley Fish whom argued that Humanities is merely not a tool but a whole category of its own that is taught is most likely hitting the nail on the head. Intriguingly enough, Humanities is useful in its own way of studies of our interpretations through art, music and other categories of historic pieces. For example, throughout the world people may look at a piece and start interpreting it, while referring to its historic features such as the work of Yun Gee’s painting, the Lone Ranger. The lone Ranger is a painting in which has a historic value which refers to the time period where Chinese were migrating towards the U.S. during the time of the gold rush. They were merely looked down upon as workers because of how they looked and acted. Through the use of humanities people may look at this painting and come up with ideas, “Why did Yun Gee decide to paint this man the way that he did?” “What was the reason for the color in the background and the setting that it has taken place in...
Words: 1003 - Pages: 5
...essay called “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” which is written by Sherman Alexie several days before. I noticed this essay because of its heading which is interesting. In this article, Alexie aims to tell millennials, especially those from India that the way he acquired literacy and how he succeeded in a non-Indian World despite the negative expectations of Indian people in US society. Alexie starts this article with a short story about the book which encourages him to read. He says: “We were poor by most standard …… I still remember the exact moment when I first understood, with a sudden clarity, the purpose of a paragraph” (12). Alexie establishes pathos by describing the poverty in his childhood and the happiness when he understood the paragraph. Readers could get into his story and they doubt the relationship between those books and his brilliant literacy. He also establishes pathos with some sentences like “As Indian children, we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world. Those who failed were ceremonially accepted by other Indians and appropriately pitied by non-Indians. I refused to fail” (12). These words are easy to affect the audience’s emotional response. So it will be easier for Alexie to persuade millennials to read books and benefit from books. Then Alexie tells that he read and learned a lot from books after that. According to his own experience, Alexie says that millennials should read books as much as they can. Also, he states that “We were...
Words: 439 - Pages: 2
...In the Novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexei, the two characters I choose was Junior and Rowdy. Junior was a poor cartoonist drawer growing up in Spokane Indian reservation. Junior and Rowdy lived in a town name Rez. While, Rowdy was Junior’s strong best friend. Rowdy protected Junior when he got bullied. When Junior transferred to different school in Reardan, Rowdy started hating Junior for that so they became enemies from best friend. I think these two were the funniest guys in the novel because they did some crazy things together. This novel made me feel different emotions such as laugh, worried and sad. The novel made me laugh because Junior was a funny guy. Junior made funny cartoons, and also used funny quotes in the book such as, ‘I was born with water on the brain.” This quote was the first sentence of the novel. The novel also made me worried when Junior went all white people school. He didn’t know anyone there and especially there were no Indians there. I thought he was going to get beat up by white people but I don’t think that happened. I think he punched a white guy on the face. The novel also made me sad because Junior’s grandma, his dad’s best friend and his sister died in terrible accidents. This was the tragic part of the book and especially for Junior. The three events that I think are important to novel are when Junior has a basketball game versus Rowdy and his old school, he got pushed and was taken to the hospital...
Words: 504 - Pages: 3
...2015 Yujie Chen Poverty influences Poverty is one of the main problem in the world, either developed country or developing country. Poverty both influence developed country, America and developing country, Mexico. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian and The Devil’s Highway, they both facing the poverty issue. Sherman Alexie is telling us about the Indian American living in a hard life and Luis Alberto Urrea is telling us about the poor Mexican people migrating to United States for gaining wealth. Both of the two stories meets the same problem which is poverty forcing them to make change. The path to success are tough and hard, both of them have to discard something for the cost. However, their ending are not the same. Sherman Alexie is telling us the real life of Indian American who still lives in the Indian reservation. For those people, their poverty are generational and inheritance. “Seriously, I know my mother and father had their dreams when they were kids. They dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams” (Sherman Alexie 12). As Arnold talks about his parents living in poor, he is helpless and feeling despairing because he knew that the poverty has been an issue for the Indian American for many generations. To think about more deeply, another view of what Arnold says is, he still believe that Indian people are equal to other ones. Not only they have the equal...
Words: 1040 - Pages: 5
...Heaven" Sherman Alexie writes about the importance of songs and stories in the lives of the people on the reservation through drug induced visions, the character of Thomas Builds-A-Fire, Jimi Hendrix's music, and basketball players on the reservation. In the short story a drug called tradition the main character, Victor, and his two friends Thomas Builds-a-Fire and Junior take drugs that give them visions of themselves in strange historical Indian settings. The stories they tell of these visions relate to Indian culture and tradition. Junior has a vision of Thomas performing a dance around a campfire that brings back all the dead Indians. Victor has a vision of Junior singing. Both visions include real things from history, end with the idea of the Indians winning and/or driving out the white people, and use music or dance to show this. This shows their...
Words: 911 - Pages: 4
...One of the obstacle Junior faces at Rearden is racism. Junior states, “None of those guys punched me or got violent. After all, I was a reservation Indian, and no matter how geeky and weak I appeared to be, I was still a potential killer” (Alexie 63). Junior sees that many white people view him as barbaric or a killer showing he understands the racism he faces at Rearden, but despite this he continues to go to school. However, this discrimination is also evident on The Reservation. On The Reservation Junior says, “Those rhythmless, talentless, tuneless Indians are most likely going to get drunk and beat the shit out of any available losers. And I'm always the most available loser” (Alexie 26-29 ). Junior notices that he is a considered a loser on the Reservation, and many Indians would want to beat him up, showing the readers of the bullying that Junior faces. In both cases Junior has to endure many of the insults and abuse that are thrown at him, resulting in a tolerance to build up. This common characteristic between life on the reservation and at Rearden results in Junior to continue fighting, showing that he is a...
Words: 1282 - Pages: 6
...In the essay “Superman and Me”, an extended metaphor is used to explain the connection between the author and Superman. Superman and the author have had a strong connection for a long time. When Sherman Alexie was three years old, he picked up a Superman comic while lying in the floor. Alexie’s dad always brought home books all the time, so Alexie read all the time. Superman and the author have always been together through Alexie’s childhood, school days, and adulthood. In Alexie’s childhood he was teased for being an indian child so he decided to stand out from the rest. “ I learned to read with a Superman comic.” This explains that Alexie was a young prodigy in school while others struggled. “I was three years old…” This shows that Alexie...
Words: 350 - Pages: 2
...Should the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian be taught? The book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian should be taught at Douglas High School. It has a lot of good life lessons in it for people to learn. It has many themes that are relevant in today’s society such as, loss, addiction, alcoholism, hope, and many more. The book may have many inappropriate things in it, but it’s still worth taking a lesson from it. If taught at a high school, those inappropriate things might actually keep people reading and get a kick out of it. The book itself is pretty short, so it’s a short and sweet lesson teachers can do with their class if they can look past the inappropriate humor, harsh language, racism, talking about sexual things,...
Words: 363 - Pages: 2
...Notably Sherman Alexie was an intelligent and extraordinary filmmaker, poet, performer, and novelist. Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit. Then, he attended Washington State University in Pullman and received his BA in American Studies. Alexie childhood years were very strenuous for him. Being born with a condition called hydrocephalic caused him to suffer from random seizures and bed wetting. He was also dealing with the pain that his father caused by leaving him and his mother at a young age without any explanation of his actions, which caused Alexie to become exceedingly hostile and bitter towards his father. Through every piece of work that he has written, we learn more about Alexie's childhood. Alexie's poems...
Words: 985 - Pages: 4
...Submit your text hIn the book, An Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie it talks about a young boy named Junior who lives on the Spokane Reservation. On the reservation, the only thing Indians do is drink and try to forget about the dreams they never achieved. Junior believes that he shares the same fate as everyone else. But Junior decides that he wants to succeed in life, he wants to go beyond staying at the reservation in his parents' home to be left alone with only two things, alcohol and the regret of knowing he didn't do anything great in life. Instead, he tries to understand the world with cartoons and wishes to be the first to truly follow their dreams in life. Junior is the only survivor of leaving the reservation, he knows he doesn’t have to feel helpless...
Words: 646 - Pages: 3
...Arnold is the misfit Native American teenager outcast that just wants to find his place in the world. In the novel, the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written by Sherman Alexie, Arnold discovers his true self by trekking his way through a series of challenging events. He breaks stereotypes by coming to realize the struggles of an alcoholic, addictive lifestyle and in the process, finds himself. There are three hundred and thirty six reservations in America. One of the biggest difficulties each reservation faces is addiction. Arnold, as well as many others on these reservations come across the reality of this, in their own homes. The stem of alcoholism among Native Americans can be one of many things, including hurt being passed down among generations and generations. Native Americans have lived in America for years and years, even so, they...
Words: 842 - Pages: 4
...Once, there was a boy named Arnold Spirit who lived on the Spokane Reservation and he wanted the luxury that most people had. Arnold wanted a better life for himself because of the deaths of people around him, he was going to live in a world that might not be at his favor to achieve his goal. In the Absolute True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Sherman Alexie explains how Arnold wanted to explore the world and move around more, he decides to transfer to Reardan High School and leave Wellpinit High School, because of his actions, he resembled the traits of a Nomadic Indian, which were the need to travel and ambition. Transferring from Wellpinit to Reardan made Arnold more of an old type of indian, which made him more unique with the hope he had in...
Words: 914 - Pages: 4
...Arman Zarbashi Professor Jeremy Harris English 1101 13 September 2017 Superman and Me Rhetorical Analysis Sherman Alexie uses many rhetorical devices such as repetition, hyperbole, alliteration and imagery. Many people around the world do not know how to read or write. It is a worldwide dilemma. Nearly every school requires some kind of reading/writing in order to advance in the education world. Sherman Alexie, taught himself to read and therefore saved many people's lives. People did not believe in him but Sherman Alexie was self-motivated. In the whole passage, Alexie talks about how he self-taught himself and wants the audience to know that. He talks about how his family was poor and how they "lived on a combination of irregular...
Words: 304 - Pages: 2
...Breaking the Stereotype In his writing “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie explains how he taught himself how to read through a Superman comic at the age of 3. He did this by imagining what the illustrations were portraying and then putting words to the pictures. He then became fascinated with reading at a young age and began reading anything and everything he could get his hands onto. He got his fascination of reading from his father who read a lot as well. Growing up Alexie was exposed to piles of books throughout his home. These included murder mysteries, gangster epics, basketball biographies and anything else he could find. In this writing about his childhood Alexie makes it very clear that as a minority he refused to fail and fall into the stereotype surrounding his Native American heritage. He knew he wanted to learn, and that he loved to read. According to the writing, most Indians in that time were expected to be short, quiet and uncommunicative in-front of their non-Indian teachers, and did not want to speak up or seem smart in the classroom, especially at the young age Alexie was. Therefore they were comfortable around other Indians but came off as completely un-intelligent around non-Indians. He always spoke out in class and asked questions, he was not afraid to stand out, because he knew it was not necessarily a bad thing. Alexie describes a smart Indian viewed as “a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians...
Words: 785 - Pages: 4
