Sherman Alexie wrote a semi-autobiographical essay over the experiences in his upbringing entitled “Superman and Me.” In this essay, he writes of his home life on an Indian reservation and his strive to learn through reading. It began with a Superman comic where in he combined familiar actions and nouns with the events taking place in a panel. His father’s love for reading lead to a home environment that was always filled with books covering a broad range of topics. The father, who has had a good education through a Catholic School, projected a positive image of furthering one self through academics.
While the story itself may be an interesting tale of self perseverance, the essay takes a turn when the author describes his activities on an Indian Reservation labeling him as an “oddity” instead of “prodigy.” Learning to read and being eager to learn led the author to being an outcast as he desired to better himself in life. The author’s classmates did not share in his ideals. Instead, it is described as a learning environment where the young Indian children held a misconception that they are destined to fail in a non-Indian world. According to the author, an intelligent Indian was feared and ridiculed which led to himself being at odds with his classmates. Submitting to a lack of intelligence but holding onto their values of their culture led to acceptance from other Indians and pity from those who are not.
This is to me an example of indifference to intelligence, or the change in rationality. What is defined as rational is not of thought, but what is felt. Today what is being seen every where is a decline in intelligence and a push towards emotional irrationality. Society in the United States has degenerated into a society that does not value intelligence. While someone with an education can become a haughty elite, this is not a product of the subjects learned; it is a product of the mind.
I, as a Native American, have felt a shame towards my own culture. Growing up in the predominate Native American environment, I have been around many children my own age and have see the same children at different intervals in my life. While I sped ahead in my studies of the core curriculum, I noticed that the sentence structures and speech variations amongst some acquaintances became severely lacking. However, being involved in their ethnic backgrounds or culture clusters was very high on their list. Unfortunately, a pattern I have seen with these individuals came with poverty or what I would consider sub-standard living.
Sherman Alexie writes several of his classmates were struggling to read, but were able to memorize several pow wow songs. The classmates would duck their heads at a non-Indian teacher but would rise to the challenge of a much older bully. I compare the few examples provided by the author to experiences in my own life to see that environments play a large role in what we individuals value. It is distressing to see generations of minorities in their own right do not value the importance of bettering one self for the sake of their families and personal benefits. Intelligence, in some circles, is frowned upon and those who struggle in those families are chastised at every step in the journey to obtain higher education.
Why would anyone bother with such practices? Sherman Alexie expresses that his love of reading had only one purpose, he was “trying to save his life.” Reading opens a whole new world to an individual whether it be a fictional world where anything can happen or an ocean of knowledge ready to be absorbed and applied in the real world. Intelligent people learn and take pride in learning. The idea of being intelligent in today’s world comes with the stigma that one is sacrificing their background, ethnicity, or culture. Intelligence, in a lot of ways, makes an individual seem intimidating and less able to relate to.
Saving one’s life through education and intelligence is sometimes viewed as a way of putting others down. The other Native American children in Sherman Alexie’s essay looked down upon him and out-casted him as someone who would dare defy the status quo of the reservation that had been taught to the children their whole lives. The idea that someone would want to better themselves and live in a world where they work hard and achieve things in life that the majority does not have would seem to be an act of abandoning the heritage. By wanting a better life, not spending life in poverty, wanting a good home for himself and a family, a secure life where jobs and luxuries are within grasp would be forsaking the values of the group of people they belong to.
Intelligent people are capable of many things. While education does help to enhance our natural abilities, it is how we use them that begins to define what it means to be intelligent. It is important to retain the values and ethics that make each of us a unique individual while still retaining a sense of heritage. As Sherman Alexie wrote in his essay, we must return to places we began and make sure to pass on what makes us successful and inspire those who want to experience a world beyond what they are born. Also we must insure that those who are resistant and chained to misguided beliefs of a better life are given every opportunity to succeed in life.
