In the short story "Superman and Me", by Sherman Alexie, tells how he learned to read having very limited resources on the Native American reservation where he grew up when he was a younger kid. Alexie starts his story by introducing how he learned how to read using a "Superman" comic book. Alexie learned to read by looking at the pictures and assuming what the comic book boxes would say based on those pictures. Alexie mentions that he does not remember the plot of the "Superman" comic book he used. This is crucial because it stresses the fact that he used a comic book to read because unlike Alexie did not have the correct educational resources that the white children had. He had to use whatever he could find in order to obtain an education. This is also expressed when he tells the reader about how he would read his father's odd collection of novels. Alexie read whatever he could find, he didn't care what it was about, and as long as he was reading he was pleased. Alexie details the fact that growing up on a Native American reservation meant that you were look at to fail. Knowing a lot of people were stereotyping Alexie, it motivated Alexie to become an exception to this rule. He knew that a key to success was reading and an education. Later in the story, after becoming a successful writer, Alexie went to a Native American reservation to speak to a class about reading and writing. He stressed the fact that an education was crucial to being successful, but no one was listening it when in one ear and came out another . Although the students do not listen to him, he knows that he cannot give up and that he must continue to attempt to break through to these students. Alexie's use of personal anecdotes fortifies the impact he has on his audience. Alexie's personal anecdotes create a connection with his audience that allows him to further captivate them. One anecdote that Alexie includes is about how he learned to read from a comic book. This anecdote evokes sympathy and amazement from the reader. These emotions are inspired by the anecdote because he becomes successful despite his depressing situation. He does not have any of the educational resources that white children have when they are learning to read, but he uses his minimal resources and becomes a successful writer. His depressing situation causes people to feel sympathy for him. The irony in the fact that he used a comic book to learn how to read and then he became a successful writer amazes the reader and the reader develops a deeper respect for him. Alexie's effective use of anecdotes inspires me to use them in my own writing. I would use them to supplement my writing in the same way that Alexie does; I would use them if I wanted to connect with my reader and evoke certain emotions from them. Anecdotes are a very simple, efficient way to elicit variety emotions from your audience. Throughout Alexie’s short story he uses repetition in order to introduce a point and then reference back to it later in the article. The phrase that Alexie repeats is, “I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. I was trying to save my life.” Alexie first introduces this point when he is talking about how he was growing up on the reservation and wanted to succeed in life and was trying to escape the depressing life on the Native American reservation. Later in the story he goes to a Native American reservation and attempts to make a breakthrough with the students. At this point he repeats the same phrase, however, he changes it to, “I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives.” He changes the tense used in his phrase and changes ‘my life’ to ‘our lives’ because he is now talking about how he wishes to change not only his life, but the lives of the Native American children he meets. Alexie's use of repetition effectively shows the recurring theme of his desire for success. Alexie introduces and reintroduces this phrase at very two critical moments in the story. I think that he placed the phrase correctly at two points in the story because both points in the story discuss the same central idea of succeeding and Alexie's motivation for success. The difference, however, is that at the first point in the story Alexie is talking about success in his own life. At the second point in the story Alexie is talking about success in the lives of the Native American children. I would use repetition in my writing. I would only use it, however, if there was a recurring theme that needed to be connected throughout the story. As a reader, this repetition clearly shows the connection between the two points in the story. Alexie's repetition also evokes emotion from the reader. The reader becomes immediately interested in Alexie's life and they see to see him succeed. When Alexie uses the same phrase that he used to relate to his life to talk about the Native American children the reader feels that same desire for them to succeed that they felt for Alexie. In "Superman and Me", Sherman Alexie uses personal anecdotes and repetition as two very strong writing tools. His use of each leaves a lasting impact on his audience. Both writing tools are very different in nature but, Alexie uses them to create similar responses from his audience. Personal anecdotes and repetition can be used to evoke emotions from his audience. The fact that Alexie uses both writing tools to do this shows the impact he wanted to leave on his audience. He did not want this piece to just be informative, he wanted this piece to be emotional and he wanted his reader to catch a glimpse into the emotional whirlwind that is growing up on a Native American reservation.
Overall I had a lot of trouble with this essay. At first I could not understand what exactly I had to do to answer the prompt correctly. After solving this problem my next problem was the analytical summary. This was my biggest problem and the hardest to solve. At first my summary was extremely lacking and I didn't know how to fix it. After leaving it to settle for awhile I came back to my essay and I finally understood the concept of an analytical summary. When I figured this out I decided that I had to completely revamp my essay. I changed much of my summary and added a lot of pertinent information that I had left out. I also changed my body paragraphs. I added more analysis and more evidence. My conclusion was also edited. I tied the two writing tools, repetition and anecdotes, together. At the beginning I was very reluctant to edit my essay because I thought it was alright as it was. After I came back after not looking at it for a few weeks I realized how badly my essay needed editing. I feel like it is so much better now that I have edited it.
