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Rhetorical Analysis Essay

The document provides an analysis of Sherman Alexie's essay "Superman and Me". It summarizes that Alexie uses anecdotes from his own life to argue that reading was important in helping him succeed as it allowed him to "save his life". He learned to read from Superman comics and his father's novels. Alexie aims to convince readers that cultivating an interest in reading through any material is important. While his only evidence is personal anecdotes, he uses repetition, simple sentences and language to make his argument accessible to all readers.

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Jake Schnall
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148 views3 pages

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

The document provides an analysis of Sherman Alexie's essay "Superman and Me". It summarizes that Alexie uses anecdotes from his own life to argue that reading was important in helping him succeed as it allowed him to "save his life". He learned to read from Superman comics and his father's novels. Alexie aims to convince readers that cultivating an interest in reading through any material is important. While his only evidence is personal anecdotes, he uses repetition, simple sentences and language to make his argument accessible to all readers.

Uploaded by

Jake Schnall
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Jacob Schnall

ENG 110-047

ANALYSIS OF SUPERMAN AND ME

At the beginning of his essay, Sherman Alexie begins with the struggles of his

upbringing. Instead of focusing on his story to gain sympathy for his struggles, he uses it as a

way to introduce his father and his love for reading. He talks about his father's immense passion

for reading and the lengths that he would go to be able to have books to read. This was where

Alexie would get his love of reading from. Since he loved his father so much he began to love

the same things. He then transitions into his childhood, through the books he read. He begins by

picking up his father's books and being fascinated by his discovery of a paragraph. From there he

began to learn to read and see the world through the lens of a paragraph. Throughout his essay,

Alexie seems to be creating his argument through anecdotes from his own life to inspire future

generations to never give up on their passions, no matter what.

Anecdotes are the main source of evidence from beginning to end. Alexie starts the essay

off with a snippet about how he got super into reading, where he learned to read through looking

at the pictures of the Superman comics and staring blankly at the paragraphs in his father’s

novels, but swiftly moves past that to get to the main argument of his piece, reading is a

necessary skill to become successful. This is made evident by Alexie’s argument that reading

was a way “ to save my life” (Alexie, p. 2). Alexie compares what he has to go through as a

Native American student with a hunger for knowledge, with the expectations of the “normal”

Indian kids, whose societal expectations for them were to not care about anything having to do
with school. The difference that Alexie drew between him and the expectations of Native

American students was that Alexie had an almost obsessive interest in reading, which helped him

“save his life” and become a successful author. The author continues to compare his experience

as a reader to the expectations that are set for the kids, writing that they were “Indian children

who were expected to be stupid” (Alexie, p. 2) in a school setting. Alexie also says reading

“anything that had words and paragraphs,” and cultivating an interest in literacy, he “[refused to

fail” (Alexie, p. 3). The way that Alexie writes allows him to convince the reader to take his side

with what he has to say.

With most of Alexie’s evidence being snippets from his own life, Alexie seems to be

persuading us to continue to read off of his own credibility. As written earlier, Alexie repeatedly

writes “trying to save my life” while talking about his love for reading. The constant use of this

phrase is there to emphasize the importance of reading. Repetition can be found at the end of

page 2, where Alexie starts most sentences with, “I read…” (Alexie, p. 2/3). This use of

anaphora is important because it is another attempt to emphasize his experiences reading, and the

overall importance that he places on the act of reading to succeed. Alexie views reading not only

as a form of leisure but also as a way out of a life devoid of purpose. Alexie’s use of simple

sentences in this same paragraph also appeals to a general audience, without alienating poor

readers.

Alexie ends his essay by talking about his time as an educator, where he would travel to

different reservation attempting to appeal to students who are uninterested in reading, stating that

he is “trying to save our lives” (Alexie, p. 3). Including this does not strengthen his argument of

the importance of reading, but it does suggest his personal interest in reading as not just a hobby
but a way to become successful. Alexie does have a persistent argument throughout the piece, his

only source of evidence is his own life. He does use repetition, anaphora, and simple sentences

which allow the paper to be read by a larger audience. This fits seamlessly with his argument on

the importance of reading. By including all readers with his simple style of writing, he doesn’t

leave out any type of reader. Through his rhetorical choices, I believe that Alexie formed a

comprehensive, credible argument, through his informal style, and his use of evidence from his

own life which were able to convey his main argument well.

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