Sherman Alexie wanted to break the intelligence barrier between the Native American-Indians and the majority of Americans, which he explains in “Superman and Me.” He says “I refuse to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky.” These four simple sentences apply an exceedingly amount of understanding and misconception of the Native American-Indians. We see this as him saying that he just wants to learn, but it has so much more meaning to it then that. Alexie says the words “ I read” empathetically after saying that he refused to fail and was smart, arrogant, and lucky. He says “ I read books late into the night, until i could bearly keep my eyes open…. I read anything that had words and paragraphs.” Through this paragraph he says the words “I read” thirteen times to express that, even though he was a Native American-Indian and was expected to fail, he was not going to fail and push…show more content… He says “I am lucky.” By this he means that he is lucky to be able to read and not be afraid to show that he was smart, unlike the other kids. “A smart Indian is a dangerous person widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike… We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid. Many lived up to those expectations inside the classroom but subverted them on the outside…. As Indian children, we were expected to fail in the non-Indian world. Those who failed were ceremonially accepted by other Indians and appropriately pitied by non-Indians.” Many did not want the Indians to be smart because the were different and if they were they would stand up for their rights and rebel against what the non-Indians told them. Most of them didn’t care and just acted stupid around the non-Indian kids, but Sherman was different. He wanted to be more. He was more, and he knew he was and nothing was going to hold him back from showing
