As I read the story “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and me,” it surprised me how much one Indian can suffer. As I read the story it became clear on why people think a “smart Indian” can be dangerous. Sherman said, “As Indian children, we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world.” (13) People who were his own ethnicity were even scared of him, but you may wonder and ask yourself why? Back in the day Indian’s were believed not to be educated and Indians were used to do the dirty work of others, because they believed Indians wouldn’t question what they were doing, and they weren’t going to know what they were doing was bad.
Sherman Alexie was a man everyone feared. They were scared of him because he knew too much. He educated himself by reading books. The non-Indians were afraid because if one Indian could get smart, they feared that all would get intelligent and then be able to over power those non-Indian people. The main thing they thought of Indians was that they were savages. So for the non-Indians to see an Indian man be well educated not a savage scared them and they feared that the Indians would become to smart to do their dirty work for them. It just saddens me on how much one has to suffer in order to get heard.
Hey Myra....
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that many people did fear Alexie because he was educated. Having an education is a tool that not everyone has in their belts. Indians were not expected to become educated as they were to live on the reservations and learn the cultures and their way of life only. It was very sad to read that there were no expectations of the indian children becoming anyone. Alexie broke the mold and that is why people started to fear indians with educations. I couldn't agree more with your point of view on this reading assignment!!
Hi Myra,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insights! It's amazing how much power people attain through education and by acquiring knowledge. Deviating from the expected norms is a threat to the status quo, and not everyone is comfortable with change.
Lauren
Hello Myra,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your comments because, they are different than my own. I find it very helpful to read something and than be able to get another point of view from another reader. I had not thought about the fact that uneducated people were often asked to do things others thought were wrong.
BetteJo
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog, because now days people don't realizing how others are taken advantage of because of their lack of knowledge. I thought your blog gave us all an open insight on how people of other ethnicity are treated sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHi Myra,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how sad it is that Alexie was treated the way he was, in fact the way any of the Indians were treated. It’s true what you said that Indians were meant to stay uneducated so that they would have to do the dirty works of others. Although as much as we would like to think that our country has changed regarding this it’s still going on today and this is really sad.