Analysis Of The Lesson By Sherman Alexie

“Indian Education” is about the author Sherman Alexie, an Indian boy growing up on the reservation and moving on to better his education. As a child he was bullied, both by other kids and even his teachers. His ability to learn was hindered by peoples’ inability to look past the color of his skin. Up until Alexie attended school at the farm town junior high at the beginning of his eighth grade year, his teachers had not given him the opportunity to truly learn to the best of his ability. Alexie went on to graduate high school; I believe his hope came from his fourth grade teacher, Mr. Schluter, who told him to become a doctor. “The Lesson” told the story of the author, Toni Cade Bambara, as a child learning from a college student and her views …show more content…
This particular reservation was home to some 1,100 Spokane tribal members. Alexie endured bullying from other kids on the reservation and in eighth grade he realized that his education had minimal opportunities for growth. He then attended high school off of the reservation and went on to become a college graduate. Toni Cade Bambara, who wrote “The Lesson”, grew up in New York and New Jersey with her mother and brother. Her mother encouraged her to write, Bambara graduated high school six months early and went on to receive a B.A. and Master’s degree. She focused her education on theatre arts/English and modern American …show more content…
In “The Lesson”, Bambara tells about Miss Morris’s idea that since she had been to college it was her responsibility to educate the young ones of her community. This was very much like “Indian Education” when Alexie’s third grade teacher says “Guilty. You always look guilty.” (Alexie: P3) and took it upon herself to segregate Alexie from the other students. There were also similarities in the raising of both authors. They were both brought up, for the most part, in a close minded community; Where they weren’t encouraged like they should’ve been or given the opportunities to better themselves. This was displayed in “Indian Education” when Alexie tells his reader about his cousin sniffing rubber cement from a paper bag and describes it as chemistry, and biology. In “The Lesson” Sugar asked “Can we steal? … very serious like she’s getting the ground rules squared away...” (Bambara: P2). Sugar didn’t know the proper etiquette for going into a F.A.O Schwarz toy store because no one had bothered to teach her how to present herself. The one major difference between these two core readings that spoke out to me was the difference in opinion over the topic of education. In “Indian Education” Alexie was consistently trying to better his education from when he decided to attend school off the reservation, right up to his graduation day of college. Whereas in “The