Sherman Alexie And Malcom X's Coming To An Awareness Of Language

Have you ever met anyone who has read the whole dictionary or copied every single word and sentence? In Sherman Alexie’s short story “Superman and Me,” he argues that Native Americans are expected to fail, therefore, he proves through out the story that reading is key. He demonstrated this by telling his own story of how he taught himself how to read at the young age of three. He also became the prime example of how he overcame the stereotype by reading relentlessly and with all the knowledge he gained, he later became a professional writer. Alexie’s passion for reading is comparable to Malcom X’s who ended up understanding the language thoroughly while imprisoned. In Malcolm X’s “Coming to an Awareness of Language” he expresses his lack of knowledge of the English language. He knew how to make his way around the streets with slang, but until he ended up in prison, he then realized that he needed to know the meaning …show more content…
Granting all this, they still managed to achieve their goal and understand why reading is key. They both had the capability and ambition to teach and guide themselves to learn how to read and understand the construction of writing using their reality as their blueprint and adapting to their circumstances. They saved themselves. Alexie did not want to be a stereotype and X did not want to use his slang he picked up from the streets. Both authors wanted to be better than they were expected to be and not be seen for what they look like nor where they come from. Reading and language definitely took a toll on them and they became better men. They worked hard day and night to be able to obtain and store all the knowledge they gained from reading and used it to their benefit. They definitely mastered the art of reading and understanding the