Hall Smallwood 1

Cicely Hall Smallwood

Mr. Wolfe

English 101 and 101 - Lab

26 March 2023

Superman Learns How to Read

Malcolm X and Sherman Alexie are two great men that were inspired to self-

educate themselves; their goal was to be great examples for their community. Malcolm X

was born Malcolm Little, a street hustler convicted of robbery in 1946. He spent seven

years in prison where he was now forced to use written communication. The street

hustler, who had a slick talk, is now forced to find a new way to communicate. Sherman

Alexie, a Spokane Indian, lived on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Eastern

Washington state. Alexie describes his household as, “We lived on a combination of

irregular paychecks, hope, fear, and government surplus food” (Alexie 1). Alexie’s

strong love and devotion for his father led him to the world of reading. He wanted to be a

reading scholar like his father. Alexie also strived to be different from his cultural

stereotypes that Indians were uneducated. These two pieces “Learning to Read” and

“Superman and Me” are similar regarding self-education and pathos; however, they differ

in relation to the tone of the pieces.

A man and a boy both had to learn and to self-educate themselves, but they both

also understood the importance their culture. Malcolm X describes the steps and plan

that he put forth to self-educate himself. X emphasizes this by stating “I saw the best

thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary – to study, to learn some words” (X5). He

also discovered that his penmanship needed to improve. He could not write in a straight
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line. He discovered a whole new world when he picks up a book and read, he note “I

could for the first time pick up a book and read and new world that opened: (X 11). He

spent every free moment reading; he committed all his time to his education plan. Even

with all that dedication, he was amazed how his vocabulary broadened. Alexie was

inspired by his father and picked up his father’s books before he could read. He

describes the experience, stating: “the words themselves were mostly foreign, but I still

remember the exact moment when I first understood, with a sudden, clarity, the purpose

of a paragraph” (Alexie 1). Even though he did not have the vocabulary to say

paragraph, he knew that a paragraph enclosure that held words. He knew that this little

Indian boy could do something that others could not do. He displays how this Indian boy

taught himself to read at an early age. While others were reading Dick and Jane, he was

reading “Grapes of Wrath.” X and Sherman both show how self-education move them to

be great scholars. Education allowed them to be aware of the many issues within

humanity that they want to help change.

Another comparison, Malcolm X and Alexie use pathos to reflect on their

journey, their outcomes, and benefits. Malcolm X expresses his personal difficulties, to

connect with his readers and convince them to take action for their civil liberties and

obtain quality education. Malcolm X describes how reading gave him more substance in

his life, claiming: “I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the

course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long

dormant craving to be mentally alive” (X 22). Malcolm X wanted others to be inspired

and to achieve self-empowerment. Alexie used pathos to cause the reader to feel some

emotion of pity, sympathy, and sorrow. Alexie exhibits sympathy and pity; for example,
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the way he talks about the stereotypes Native Americans are uneducated. He displays

pity and sorrow when he writes, “A little Indian boy teaches himself to read at an early

age and advances quickly” (Alexie 2). In another statement he pleads “If he might have

been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a

prodigy” (Alexie 2). In these above statements Alexie wanted the audience to see his

view of inequality for Native Americans, that racism enables hardship in one’s life. Just

like Malcolm X, Alexie brings a call to action, encourages the audience to indulge in

education, especially the Indian community to beat every stereotype. Both men depict

personal difficulties to emotionally connect with readers and want their audience to take

immediate action.

X and Alexie use pathos to reach their audience, but their tone was different in

their pieces to get reaction from their audience. X in “Learning to Read” has a

passionate, serious tone yet displaying gratitude. X express, “In fact, up to then, I never

had been so truly free in my life” (X 10). He shows his gratitude for books, depicting

how books really set him free. He displays a serious tone when he talks about what he

discovered through reading by stating, “I never will forget how shocked I was when I

began reading about slavery’s total horror” (X 20). Alexie uses a different tone

throughout the piece for the purpose of explaining how his childhood was rough and how

he was a survivor. He became more than a survivor because he equipped himself with

knowledge. He became more than that Indian boy; he was an Indian prodigy. The piece

also depicts a tone of inspiration. Superman, one of the most inspirational superheroes in

the world, empowered Alexie to read these comic books. Both authors use the variation

of tones with the purpose of explaining their journey to self-education, but the tone they
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set is different. X displayed serious but passionate and grateful tone. Whereas Alexie

gave us inspiration through strength of Superman. Even though tone is different it

informs us on their educational journey.

Two powerful men in their communities with humble beginnings describe their

personal experiences to empower and inspire the people in their communities. Each

essay details the journeys of their self-education, even though others would think it’s

impossible because of the color of their skin. They were victorious, and they are great

names in their communities encouraging others to empower themselves with education.

X and Alexie use emotion to display their feelings and develop good credibility with their

personal attributes. Where the two men differ is the tone set in their pieces. X shows an

impassionate tone throughout the piece. A man that was a street hustler, that did not

know how to read or write, taught himself how to read; his gratitude is well displayed for

his time in prison. Alexie displays how the Indian man can be more than stereotype. He

can be a well-educated man. “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X and “Superman and Me”

by Sherman Alexie both demonstrated power and motivation to self-education and

display pathos to strike emotion to their audience but also to empower people to be great,

but they differ in the tone of their message.

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Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. “Superman and Me.” Umsl, 1998, pp. 1-3,

http://www.umsl.edu/~alexanderjm/SupermanandMebyAlexie.pdf. PDF file.

X, Malcolm. “Learning to Read.” The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Smccd, 1965,

http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/readerlearningtoread.htm. Accessed 21 March 2023.