The Joy of Writing with Alexie Sherman

The essay, Superman and Me, written by Sherman Alexie, could be

used as an example of becoming educated and successful in despite your

childhood. There were always numerous amounts of books in Alexie's home

as a child, and he eventually picked up a comic book to teach himself how to

read. Pictures came alive and told his own stories with his imagination. His

Indian culture never did see him as gifted, they only seen him as peculiar. His

culture had the notion that the Indian people were not supposed to succeed.

But failure was never an option for Alexie.

Alexie takes a serious topic about Indian children and how their Tribe

viewed education, and makes it much easier to relate to. We might not have

had the same experiences as he did, but we still can be an influence to our

children. He states "Indian children were expected to be stupid" (Page 584).

As a mother, this statement broke my heart. Alexie knew he was different and

he wasn't going to let anything hold him back. I felt proud of him because he

knew that he was "smart, arrogant, and lucky" and these traits are what

carried him through those tough years.

Alexie had an adoration for his father and how he "was an avid reader"

(Page 583). I see him asking himself, "Why are these books more important

than me?" The essay gives the impression that his father was not very

attentive. Alexie's curiosity gets the best of him and he begins to have a

peak into his father's world. He dives in, head first, into the world of books

and never looks back. Reading numerous amounts of books is how he coped

with everything. He even compares is family to forms of writing, "I can see

my changed family as an essay of seven paragraphs." (Page 583) Alexie's

message is for all readers to take the prior chapters of their life, and begin to

write positive ones for their future.