Many individuals from another culture strive to live the “American Dream.” In the excerpt from the novel, The Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez, he leaves Mexico to become a middle-class American man and further his education. Sherman Alexie writes “Superman and Me,” which shows how Alexie, a Spokane Indian, teaches himself American literature. Both of these stories intertwine to show how different cultures step out of their own and try to live the American Dream. This leads the audience wondering if culture affects how far individuals go in life? Whereas Alexie describes the ideology of an American Dream as an Indian young boy teaching himself how to read from comic books, Rodriguez describes the ideology of American Dream by escaping Mexico to seek higher education in America. “Superman and Me” involves the author, Sherman Alexie as an adolescent boy. Alexie lived in Washington on a Spokane Indian Reservation where he grew up with parents who were poor most of the time. Although, his parents “usually managed to find some minimum-wage job or another” (Alexie). The father of Alexie went to a Catholic school where he read whatever he came into sight with. Alexie looked up to his father; therefore, he wanted to be an avid reader just like his dad. Before he could even read, Alexie picked up many books. Although words look foreign to Alexie, he understood the purpose of a paragraph, and “realized that a paragraph was a fence that held words” (Alexie). Everything he looked at, he referred to it as a paragraph. Living a life inside of a paragraph, Alexie one day picked up a Superman comic book. This day became the day he learned how to read American literature. Looking at pictures in the comic book, Alexie assumes what he sees. This method eventually taught him the way of reading English. In the essay, Alexie states, “I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky. I read books late into the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open…” Not the typical student, Alexie would be told to be quiet in the classroom. Never did he expect being smarter would come with consequences. Is this the kind of American Dream Alexie wanted? Despite all the learning and being an outcast, the author became a writer, as well as
The American dream is an example of a national spirit that represents different ideologies. The set of ideas may be of democracy, equality matters, liberty, rights, and opportunities. The American dream believes in freedom for prosperity and success for its citizens. The idea suggests that upward social mobility for individuals can be achieved only through hard work. In a story done by George Saunders, the American dream is exemplified in several instances. The author, George, tells the story of contemporary America through a diary. The main character in the story is a father to three daughters. The family’s struggles are examples of how individuals will go extra miles just to provide for their families and also
In Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez situates his individual experiences with education in such a way as to expose what he sees as the fallacious logic behind bilingual education and affirmative action. He uses arguments to propagate the systematic problems with such programs. His autobiography explains in great detail the entangling problems all American children face by instituting bilingual programs and affirmative action endorsements.
“Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie is a brief passage describing a personal experience of the author’s childhood – specifically, how he learned to read and the impact it has had on his life. He discloses that he is of Indian descent from his father. Sherman speaks of his father in admiring tones, of how he devoured books and was an educated Indian, of how his house was always full of literature and how he chose himself to attend catholic schools (he was one of the very few Indians who purposely did). According to Sherman, he learned to read through the use of a Superman graphic novel by imagining his own meaning to the different panels and deducing what the words meant by doing this throughout the story. Eventually, he ends up reading more and more, and he is signaled out in his
Nobody ever gets remembered for displaying uniformity in their race, culture, and actions. Too often in today's society are people scared to pursue their passion due to the stereotypes assigned by normal people. In the excerpt from The Hunger of Memory, by Richard Rodriguez, and the short story “Superman and Me”, by Sherman Alexie both authors face situations where they have to make a choice to stand out or concur to the stereotypes associated with each of their cultures. While the excerpt from The Hunger of Memory discusses the difficulties of sticking out as an intelligent Indian man and “Superman and Me” discusses the hardships of not adhering to normal Indian standards as a kid growing up, likewise both stories share a theme of overcoming hardships and eventually helping others.
Hunger of Memory is an autobiography of the writer Richard Rodríguez and his transition from youth to manhood told through a series of recollected stories. The premise of his writing was centered mainly on his struggle to maintain both his Mexican heritage and closeness to his Spanish-speaking family, while at the same time being assimilated into American culture and obtaining an advanced education. Within the book Richard Rodríguez illustrates his contempt for affirmative action and bilingual education, two practices that had directly burdened his life while growing up. One of his main conflicts was grounded in his own family unintentionally being pulled away from him by
D’Souza, on the other hand, is an avid supporter of his image of the American Dream and its presence in America. Dinesh explains the popularity of the American Dream worldwide is because people wish for, “the American way of life.” (D’Souza, 73) As if it was coming from a foreigner, he continues to exemplify the American Dream as an outsider looking in and seeing all of the splendor and appeal of Americans’ lives. It is this enchantment that causes people from all ends of the Earth to migrate to the United States and even leave their families and traditions. The most emphasized element and essentially the core of the American Dream is the ability to, “write the script of your own life.” (D’Souza, 83) The writer gives his own real-life example of the American Dream, through his emergence as a writer and later a White House Staff member simply because he pursued his own dream. Through the constant comparisons with the inequalities present in countries throughout the World, D’Souza is fascinated with the diversity of America and the, “tolerant society”, that this diversity has spawned. (D’Souza, 94)
Working hard is the key to success. This struggle for success is most commonly called the “American Dream.” The aspect of the American Dream has been around forever and is often the underlying theme in many pieces of American literature. The theme of the American is especially presented in Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Two Kinds writer by Amy Tan, and in “Sophistication” by Sherwood Anderson.
The story of America is an exciting one, filled with swift evolution and an amazing energy unprecedented in world history. In America's short existence, it has progressed from a small collection of European rebels to the economically dominant nation that it is today. Mixed up in the provocative reputation of America is the celebrated ideal of the American Dream, the fantasy of complete independence and self-reliance mixed with the opportunity to attain wealth through one's labors. On the surface, this reverie seems almost enchanted, offering people the unprecedented prospect of achieving success regardless of one's race, religion, or family history. The American Dream is exactly what it appears to
This story takes place in old Sacramento, California around the 1950’s. A lot of this excerpt from Hunger of Memory covers Richard Rodriguez's childhood and how he has become a grown-up. He is the third of two Mexican immigrants in Sacramento and has two sisters and one brother. Rodriguez shows his youth as "unusual," because of to the battle between his private family life and his public life outside of the family. Before Rodriguez was seven, Spanish was the everyday spoken language and is a part of his home, (qtd. par. 17)…
Asia Houston Ms. Bottoms English VI 4th period The Native American race was stereotypically supposed to fail in society and in the class rooms. With many Indian families living in poverty, it was very hard for one to focus on their education and the importance of reading. Sherman Alexia’s purpose in “ I was trying to save my life,” “ They are trying to save their live,” and “ I am trying to save our lives,” was informing his readers of the challenges he faced as a young Indian boy that was not supposed to be educated by societies standards.
In the short story "Superman and Me", the writer, Sherman Alexie, points of interest how he figured out how to peruse in spite of having exceptionally restricted assets on the Native American reservation where he grew up. Alexie begins his story by acquainting how he figured out how with read utilizing a "Superman" comic book. Alexie figured out how to peruse by taking a gander at the photos and expecting what the discourse boxes would state in view of those outlines. Alexie notices that he doesn't recall the plot of the "Superman" comic book he utilized. This is significant in light of the fact that it focuses on the way that he utilized a comic book to peruse on the grounds that not at all like Alexie did not have the immeasurable instructive assets that the advantaged white youngsters had. He needed to utilize whatever he could discover keeping in mind the end goal to get a training. This is likewise communicated when he enlightens the peruse regarding how he would read his dad's odd accumulation of books. Alexie read whatever he could discover, he couldn't have cared less what
In the short story, “Superman and Me”, Sherman Alexie wanted to break the intelligence barrier between the Native-American Indians and the majority of Americans. In section 7 of “Superman and Me”, he is trying to break that barrier. One quote that stood out to me in his short story was, “I read with equal parts joy and desperation”. This quote implies that he enjoys reading, but he also feels obligated to read. This is because of the desperate situation between Native-American Indians and the majority of Americans. This quote has an important impact, develops Sherman Alexie’s claims, and contributes to development of his purpose and the central idea of the text.
Sheman Alexie values education and knowledge. Education helps him to change his ordinary life to extraordinary and achieve his goals. In the essay “Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie, reveal his journey learning how to read. He also says that he grew up in an Indian house in eastern Washington State, and his family was very poor in American society. Throughout the story, Alexie talks about how he strived to study and becoming successful. In the middle of the essay, he says that by doing so, “I was trying to save my life” (Alexie 50). He felt he was expected to fail, and being discriminated against by his peers and teachers. The other student wants Alexie to stay quiet when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers, for volunteers and for help.
Alexie's essay told about his life as a young child, a student in school, and as a teacher. As a child, Alexie learned to read with a Superman comic book that had pictures on every page. He would look at the pictures and guess what the words
The American dream can be defined as a national ethos which encourages freedom for all individuals regardless of their race, religion, colour or socioeconomic status. Through the theory of American Exceptionalism and the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal”, the American Dream presents itself as a system of equal opportunity and prosperity for all citizens. Author, Harper Lee, effectively draws attention to the hypocrisy of the American Dream in her enchanting novel “To kill a mockingbird”. Texts such as the front page of Malcolm X’s novel “By any means necessary” and Tupac’s song “White Man’s World” also reinforce