"Superman and Me," by Sherman Alexie
Warm Up
Anaphora
- Definition: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
- Example: "I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky."
- Explanation: In this qoute the author tal
How has reading impacted your life?
(5 mins.)
Speaker
Analogy
Sherman J. Alexie, Jr.:
- Native American
- Belonged to Spokane and Coeur d'Alene tribes
- Washington State alumn
- Wrote several books and short stories
- Definition: An extended comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things.
- Example: "I didn't have the vocabulary to say 'paragraph,' but I realized that a paragraph was a fence that held words."
- Explanation: Alexie compares a paragraph to a fence, saying that each set of words in a paragraph is tied up into its own little category. He uses examples of the people on the reservation, as well as his family.
Point of View
Throughout the text author Sherman Alexie changes his point of view various times.
- In paragraph 5 author alexie changes his point of view from first person to third person.
- Then in paragraph 7, author alexie changes his point of view back to first person.
Objective
Occasion
Tone
- Students Will : identify and analyze SOAPSTONE/Rhetorical Devices in Superman and Me.
- Students Will : read the text and answer a series of questions.
Audience
Subject
- Native Americans
- Alexi gives background on himself to let the reader know where he is coming from.
- He says how he saved his own life with books and that his other companions did not have that.
Purpose
- Sherman wrote this text as a way to explain to readers that reading can be life changing.
- Reading had a major impact on the way Sherman grew up to live his life. It was more than just a hobby in the end.