Kids around the world start to learn literacy when they enter school. With our little experience with illiterate people we can not fully understand the complete impact literacy has. By reading the essays “Learning to Read and Write: Superman and Me”, by Sherman Alexie and “Learning to Read”, by Malcolm X I have gained a better understanding of what literacy does for us. These essays have brought up the question, how is literacy linked to issues of empowerment in society? In the excerpt, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”, by Sherman Alexie, he learned to read using a Superman comic book but does not remember any of the details. He states that he does remember being three years old and living in Spokane, Washington on an Indian
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In his piece he expresses his journey through pathos and ethos, but failed to use logos. For example his statement, “They wanted me to stay quiet when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers, for help. We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid,”(Alexie 13) applies to pathos because it pulls on the emotions and makes one feel sad for them for being seen that way. He appeals to ethos with the statement, “A little Indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly. He reads ‘Grapes of Wrath’ in kindergarten when other children are struggling through ‘Dick and Jane’”(Alexie 13). It applies to ethos because he read a very challenging book at a very young age. Sherman Alexie’s essay is more entertaining than taken seriously and showing his ideas. He starts out his excerpt by telling how he learned to read through a superman comic book. In the end of his essay he comes back to the beginning by comparing superman with himself. His story may seem repetitive, he says “poetry, short stories, and novels”(Alexie 14) within one paragraph four times. His idea to explain the struggle he faced to learn to read and write really grabs the attention of some
In his piece he expresses his journey through pathos and ethos, but failed to use logos. For example his statement, “They wanted me to stay quiet when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers, for help. We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid,”(Alexie 13) applies to pathos because it pulls on the emotions and makes one feel sad for them for being seen that way. He appeals to ethos with the statement, “A little Indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly. He reads ‘Grapes of Wrath’ in kindergarten when other children are struggling through ‘Dick and Jane’”(Alexie 13). It applies to ethos because he read a very challenging book at a very young age. Sherman Alexie’s essay is more entertaining than taken seriously and showing his ideas. He starts out his excerpt by telling how he learned to read through a superman comic book. In the end of his essay he comes back to the beginning by comparing superman with himself. His story may seem repetitive, he says “poetry, short stories, and novels”(Alexie 14) within one paragraph four times. His idea to explain the struggle he faced to learn to read and write really grabs the attention of some