“Superman and Me”
SOAPSTone Sample
• SPEAKER: Sherman Alexie was born and raised on the Spokane
Reservation in Washington. He is a strong campaigner for Native
American rights and tries to prolong the culture. The author’s family
was needy by typical standards, but was middle-class on the
reservation (110). Alexie was different from his fellow companions
because he learned to read books at a young age including the
challenging novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Alexie values education and
knowledge and does not let anyone get in the way of him and his
books. The writing can be perceived as being valid since it is a
firsthand account, and he is telling the events strictly as they
occurred. By being educated at Washington State University, Alexie
can also be trusted because he attended college and is not just a
arbitrary, uneducated man voicing his opinions; this also makes him
credible. Although he is trustworthy and credible, some bias may be
found in his work due to his life’s experiences. Being an “oddity” since
he is an Indian child and a minority, Alexie may have some hostilities
built up against the people who doubted his intelligence such as the
non-Indian teachers and other parties who patronized him.
OCASSION: Alexie wrote this in the late 1990’s in California. This piece
was written in order to provide a flashback of his life and to indicate
how he learned to read. Because this was written at the turn of the
century, Alexie may have written this just to spread hope to the
habitants of reservations. Also in the late 1990s, a great influx of
minority groups came to Los Angles. Instead of just appealing to
people on reservations, Alexie was also writing to the all the people
who were oppressed. When the minorities were losing hope in
learning, Alexie wrote this piece in order to indicate that even
someone from a poor background can still be able to partake in
learning. Finally, he wrote this piece in order to invoke change in the
Indian reservation education system by saying how when he goes to
teach “they look at me in bright eyes and arrogant wonder” (112). This
example shows that the children just need a role model to teach and
make the children think.
AUDIENCE: The audience of Sherman Alexie’s essay is wide spread. Because it
was first published in the Los Angeles Times, many different social-cultural
groups may have picked up the newspaper since Los Angeles houses many
different types of people. Alexie may have made this essay appealing to the
upper-middle class in order to dissolve the stereotypes that all Indian children
are unintelligent. While describing his class, Alexie notes how most of his
classmates were submissive to the teacher and acted as if they were dull; this
was because Indian children “were expected to fail in the non-Indian world”
(111). By juxtaposing himself in this situation and indicating how he broke the
stereotype, Alexie is trying to show to the people who doubted them that this is
not always the case. The upper-middle class audience values diversity (contrary
to before) and most accept others culture. Therefore, they would be open to the
message and may feel empathy for his struggle. Aside from the middle class,
Alexie is reaching out to people like himself. By writing a first-hand account on
his reading adventure, Alexie is giving hope to others in the minority groups.
Most of the time minority groups are stuck in the same cycle and follow their
peers’ footsteps. Alexie is trying to break this cycle by illustrating how he goes
from classroom to classroom and inspires minority students. The minority
groups that Alexie is appealing to may be biased such they have been put down
for many years, and may not be willing to accept Alexie’s views. None- the-less,
Alexie is still trying to show them that education is reachable and they just have
to apply themselves to achieve it.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this essay is to indicate how one does not
need to be affluent to learn. In the piece, Alexie opened up by saying
he learned to read in a “Superman comic book” (110). A Superman
comic book is nothing out of the ordinary; it is a simple book that
most children of any economic class can obtain. This shows the idea
that anybody can learn to read as long as they have the will. Books
were also purchased from thrift shops and other cheap stores; this
indicates that even the underprivileged can afford a few novels.
Later on in the story, Alexie uses anaphora in order to show how
learning to read can happen anywhere; it does not have to start in a
classroom. By starting every sentence for the paragraph with the
phrase “I read books”, Alexie is instilling in the reader’s mind that
any object that houses words can be used for reading. The repetition
of this phrase also shows that learning to read is informal and can
happen in chunks, instead of massive school sessions.
SUBJECT: The main idea of the essay is how Alexie defies stereotypes
by being a prosperous, reservation born, Indian. Instead of being
weak and falling into peer pressure by acting ‘stupid’ in school, Alexie
defies the standard by reading high grade level books and even
spending recess studying (111). Another main aspect of the piece is
the importance of family in the reading process. Although he was an
Indian born into a reservation lifestyle, his father still was passionate
by books of all genres and attended a Catholic school. Because his
father had great feelings about books and was quite passionate,
Alexie “decided to love books as well” (110). If it wasn’t for his
father’s love of books and dedication to getting his hands on them,
Alexie may not have been introduced to this whole, new world of
books. By showing how his father influenced his love for reading and
books, the writer indicates how parents can mold their children, and
therefore have to be positive role models.
TONE: The tone of this piece is inspirational. In its entirety, the essay
only uses positive words such as “loved”, “bright eyes” and “lucky” (110112). The positive words send an inspirational message to the readers of
this story; there is nothing extremely negative about his journey on
learning how to read. Also, even from the title, “Superman and Me”, an
image of a powerful and loving superhero comes to mind. Instead of
being weak and unstable, the superhero symbolizes hope and the ability
to achieve one’s goal of fighting crime or learning how to read. Overall,
through his clever diction and imagery, the inspirational theme is
brought to the surface. Although most of the piece is positive and
uplifting, there is a shift where Alexie becomes critical. When Indians
become smart, they are considered dangerous and are often made fun
of by others. Because Alexie was quite intelligent, he “fought with
classmates on a daily basis” (111). This one critical section of the piece
indicates how there was some hardships in his journey, but overall it was
worth the time. By having a shift that only lasts a paragraph, the main
inspirational tone is greatly brought to the surface.
MOST MEMORABLE: The most memorable part of Sherman
Alexie’s essay is the section where he talks all about paragraphs.
Instead of talking about paragraphs in a formal sense, he instead
describes them as being “a fence that held words” (110). By using
an extended metaphor to state how certain objects are
paragraphs, the reader gets to know Alexie’s creative side and how
his brain works and sees things. This helps one understand how he
grasped the concepts of paragraphs and essays in order to
continue his journey on the reading path. This also indicates the
way that Alexie views the world and his place in it.