Superman and Me

In Sherman Alexie's "Superman and Me" the use of repetition and emotive language were shown through the sentence "I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky," which shows the central idea to defy stereotypes and pursue education with a passion. As Alexie talks about his childhood and growing up as a young Native American he recounts that "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." (Superman and Me, 2)

Alexie was one of the individuals who went against what was the norm in his culture and instead avidly pursued a good education, thanks to his love of reading and the fact that "he refused to fail." He refused to conform to the stereotype that Native American children were expected to fail and was ostracized because he wanted to do his best in school rather than be like the other children who stayed quiet to let the other children take a leadership position in class while they were ridiculed for being "stupid." Alexie continuously reiterates his love for reading throughout the excerpt by describing how and where he read at a young age, such as when he says "I read anything that had words and paragraphs. I read with equal parts joy and desperation. I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life." Alexie's love of reading at a young age gave him an advantage over his peers in school since he was reading books as complicated as "Grapes or wrath" while "other children struggled to read Dick and Jane." His passion for reading and his "refusal to fail" gave him an edge in school and ultimately helped him through his struggles with the Native American stereotypes that plagued him and his peers throughout most of his educational life.

Now, Sherman Alexie is working to help other Native American children to help them realize that you don't need to conform to the stereotypes placed upon a culture that you are a part of and instead strive for a good education that will get you far in any future endeavours through opening their young minds to literature.