Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lauren Duncan
English 1510
8 February 2018
Race is a hot topic in the United States. It is only natural for there to be an abundance of
literature discussing racism and oppression. Two texts that highlight education in America, and
the importance of education for literacy, are ‘Superman and Me’ by Sherman Alexie and
‘Learning to Read’ by Malcolm X. Although these two pieces are not exactly the same, they
convey similar messages to their audiences. Both writers were minorities in a time when
inadequate education was prevalent. Therefore, they tell a firsthand account of how it had
affected them.
These specific works are considered literacy narratives because they describe the process
of learning to read, along with the struggles that came with it. Both writers more or less taught
themselves how to read; both think the education system had failed in one way or another.
Alexie taught himself to read at an early age while Malcom X learned while in prison.
how to read at an early age, due to his father’s love of books. According to the text, he taught
himself to read using comic books, not entirely understanding each individual word, but grasping
the general concepts. As a result, he was far more advanced in school than his peers and was
able to learn and become literate more quickly than anyone. He writes about his white teachers
on the reservation and the disconnect between them and their American Indian students. When
describing his classmates Alexie writes, “they were monosyllabic in front of their non-Indian
[sic] teachers but could tell complicated stories and jokes at the dinner table” (Alexie, 3).
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Alexie became a writer and returned to the reservation schools to encourage the children
to read and write creatively, though some continue to be disconnected. He writes, “[m]any are
writing their own poems, short stories and novels… Then there are the sullen and already
defeated Indian [sic] kids who sit in the back rows and ignore me with theatrical precision”
(Alexie, 4). In this statement, he implies that these students are so convinced of the stereotypes
held against them (i.e. that American Indians are “stupid”) that they have lost all motivation to
learn from Alexie of the non-American Indian teachers. Alexie concludes his narrative by
announcing that he would continue to encourage the children to read and write.
Malcom X, an African American Muslim, writes about teaching himself to read while
imprisoned. Because he completed little school, he did not know complex words. As a result,
could not understand the books that he was reading. To fix this problem he began to read the
dictionary. Once he enlarged his vocabulary, he describes not only being able to read the
material, but to understand it as well. From then on, he continuously read and learned new
Through his endeavors, he remarked that he was shocked to discover that little had been
documented of African-American history. He writes, “when white men had written the history
books, black men had been left out” (Malcolm, 169). Then, Malcolm X began his search for
Folk and Carter G. Woodson’s Negro History which taught him about African culture before the
Malcolm X was not only interested in the history of Africa, but other non-white countries
as well. Egypt and China were among those that he took interest in. Through his exploration of
non-white history, Malcolm X discovered Mendel’s scientific theories. The fact that dark skin
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tone was dominant to light stood out to him. He writes, “start[ing] with a black man, a white
man could be produced; but starting with a white man, you could never produce a black man”
(Malcolm, 170). This fact, he implies, demonstrates that the white man is not superior to the
black man.
Both texts reveal the major difference between white education and minority education
literacy. Alexie is obvious in pointing out these differences. He directly describes his Native
American childhood education and recalls the quality of that education. He points out that the
teachers were not very concerned with whether or not the students were retaining and
Malcom X is less direct. He repeatedly mentions not having a refined education and that
people often think he has an education “far beyond the eighth grade” (Malcolm, 167). Another
way he highlights the importance of literacy in education is mentioning that there is hardly any
history for black people because most of history was written by white men. He implies that this
is because most African Americans are illiterate due to poor education. He describes learning,
once he was proficient in literacy, that history taught in American schools is mostly white
history.
Though both writers indicate a desire to improve education in America, they also point
out that one does not need school to be literate. With practice and enough repetition, Alexie and
Malcolm X both taught themselves literacy. When the education system failed them, they both
took it into their own hands to learn to be literate. Alexie and Malcolm X both read book
nonstop, improving their literacy each time. With this power of literacy, they then focused on
teaching other minorities from the same background while continuing to learn themselves.
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The central idea that both texts surround is this: Literacy is needed for education, but
education is not necessarily needed for literacy. Both Sherman Alexie and Malcolm X taught
themselves to read, and both had minimal education. Both claim that literacy put them ahead of
others from the same background, and both believe that they have the same intellect as those
who had far superior education. Both Alexie and Malcolm X stress the importance literacy and
Malcolm X writes, “[i]f the American black man will start thinking about his human
rights, and then start thinking of himself as part of one of the world’s great peoples, he will see a
case for the United Nations” (Malcom, 174). In other words, so long as African-Americans are
illiterate, they will never know their great history before American slavery, therefore, will never
(Alexie, 4). When he describes himself with these words, he means that he is smart because he
taught himself to be literate, and he is arrogant because he is proud of that fact. He is lucky
because of his father’s love of books, and the resulting motivation Alexie had to teach himself.
His last words, “I am trying to save our lives,” is along the same lines as Malcolm X’s position
on literacy. Alexie believe that the only way to improve the lives of his fellow American Indians
is to teach them to be literate so that they can discover new things and contribute to the
advancement of society.
Despite their different backgrounds and different methods of learning to read, Malcolm X
and Sherman Alexie display the same attitude towards the need of education for literacy, or lack
thereof. Teaching themselves to read, they defied the common perception of needing a quality
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.” The Most Wonderful
Malcolm X. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Alex Haley and Betty Shabazz, 1965. Web PDF.
Instructor Haak,
details from each text. I made sure that everything I included from each text supported my main
idea. I believe that important parts of my comparative analysis are the summaries of the two
texts. Since my intended audiences are people who have never read either literacy narrative, my
analyses would be useless if they did not know what I was talking about. Therefore, I was sure
As I wrote the paper, I remembered our class discussions about the two texts. I learned
I found this assignment pretty difficult. I was not expecting it to be so difficult; I thought
it would be easy to just compare two texts and highlight similarities. That part was easy, but I
found that expanding on those similarities, and even coming up with a thesis and argument, was
hard. I think in the future I will need to utilize the University’s writing center as well as your
I am not one to ask for help, but, on upcoming major assignments, I will try to start and
understand the assignment earlier in order to receive the proper help that I need. Specifics that I
could have asked for help for include: expanding my thoughts and not writing so concisely,
knowing specifically where I can include details and quotes from the texts, and learning the
correct way to write a works cited page, despite the help from the MLA Handbook and Purdue
OWL.
Sincerely,
Lauren Duncan