Superman and Me

                Sherman Alexi grew up on an Indian reservation where many things that are important to American society were not seen as important to the people of that reservation. Literacy became a very important factor in Alexi’s life from an early age. He saw books that his father read all over the house, and they always had his interest, but he really learned to read through a Superman comic. He began to read text very prematurely, and with that he had a very sophisticated outlook on what he was doing. He says in his literary narrative “I am trying to save our lives” (88). Alexi felt a need to extend what he has learned through becoming literate and educating himself to the younger Indian people who are subjected to stereotypes about Indians not needing to work hard for an education because they aren’t going to get very far anyway. He reads, and writes to save his people and acts as a role model for other Indians who have ever been pushed into those stereotypes.

                Becoming a literate person was very different for me compared to Alexi. I was never interested in reading and writing to become some sort of vision to others who need someone to look up to. I never found myself caught in a stereotype. Alexi felt a need to save those people who get drowned out in those tough years. I was never caught in a situation where I saw a need for someone to take that position. I can relate to Alexi’s literacy narrative in some ways though: he said “My father loved books, and since I loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well” (86). I believe that my literacy was influenced in some ways by my mother. She always made an effort to read a story to my sister and me before we went to bed at night. Having my mom read to me at night, made it a very enjoyable thing. It was a bonding activity for both of us, and I was able to ask my mom questions if I didn’t understand what was happening in the book. Like Alexi, I was very interested in pictures and the way that they tell a story without any writing involved. I remember looking through numerous Dr. Seuss books and widening my eyes at the colors and odd features of every tree, building and creature. I didn’t know any words to put to the pictures, but the images in those books match the rhyming nature of his writing that I figured out later down the road of my literacy. Alexi’s journey to literacy is one that full of self motivation and determination to make a difference for his people. I can relate in some ways to small details of his journey, but mostly I am a bystander who gets to see the barriers that he has broken through, and the differences he has made for so many others in a similar situation as him.