-
Essay / The Idea of Overcoming Stereotypes in Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie
'Superman and Me' by Sherman Alexie is an autobiographical essay that describes the author's journey to learning to read and becoming a successful writer. Throughout the text, the author discusses the stigma that Indians face. This stigma was that Indians were incapable of meeting Western standards. Alexie uses his childhood experience as a Spokane Indian on reservations to communicate the main idea of the text to the reader. The main idea of the text is to show the reader that they can overcome stereotypes. Alexie shows the reader that an Indian born on a reservation can become a successful writer instead of conforming to peer pressure allowing stereotypes to define you. We see this through personal anecdotes, his family values, a shift in narrative, and Superman as a metaphor. Alexie uses a personal anecdote to describe life on the reservations. Indians on the reservation were subject to a specific type of poverty. The reserves were a closed world and on the fringes of society. This shows that the dominant society was not particularly friendly towards Indians. As a result, Indians were forced to remain on the periphery of society. Alexie wants the reader to understand the socio-economic status of the reservations. Understand how this stereotype is imposed on Indians. Reservations generally had a lower standard of living than the dominant society. This meant that access to educational resources was limited. Indians were not able to afford the same educational resources as mainstream society. They were also excluded from certain areas of mainstream society, for example libraries. The author mainly purchased his resources at flea markets. Alexie shows the reader that despite the barriers of limited resources, it is still possible to overcome the stereotypes we face. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayAlexie draws on her family values to show her concern for the broader community. Alexie talks about his father attending “a Catholic school voluntarily” (Alexie, 1998, p.1). This is an important point in the text because Catholic schools were a place of mistreatment for Aborigines, particularly Indians when his father was said to have been educated there. Indians were therefore very reluctant to go to school. Due to the fact that his father subjected himself to such torture at school, we see that his father valued education. Alexie would have had this determination to acquire an education compared to other Indians because his father considered education an important part of life. The reader can understand that for other Indians, they may not have this push at home because education was associated with abuse for many of their parents. Alexie tries to share her concerns for other Indian children who are not benefiting from this push at home. Alexie acknowledges that without her father's leadership, it might have been much more difficult to overcome this stereotype. Alexie makes a calculated shift from first person to third person in the fifth paragraph. Make the transition from Alexie's fight to a fight that is seen on a societal level. To do this, Alexie discusses Indian children's ability to read advanced books such as "The Grapes of Wrath" in kindergarten (Alexie, 1998). Alexie explains that if it were a Western child, he would be praised for his abilities and considered a genius. However, as it was an Indian child, they were.