Malcolm X and Sherman Alexie

The authors of the selections “learning to read” and “Superman and me.”  Find themselves both gaining literacy, but in very different life situations.  The most obvious difference is when they are learning these skills in the course of their lives.  Sherman begins to gain his literacy as a young child, reading comic books and other writing that his father has around the house.  He is motivated only by his intense curiosity and motivation to learn.  Malcolm X on the other hand speaks of acquiring this literacy much later in his life; well into being an adult.  At the time, he is in prison and utilizes the resources available to him there in order to begin to read and write better.  While he also teaches himself this, his motivation is much more specific at first.  He initially is motivated by his desire to write better letters to Mr. Muhammad.

                The he cases of both writers, it is obvious that their literacy is affected by their race, class or socioeconomic status.  Malcolm X, as an adult has received very little formal education on account of being an orphan and growing up on the streets.  The act of him gaining the literacy described in the story is a way of him to overcome his fairly powerless situation.  As for Sherman, he is a Native American living on as reservation.  He makes it obvious that being Native American automatically makes him less important at school.  He is one of the smartest students. But he is expected to keep quiet and be stupid because of his race.  This clearly shows that race and socioeconomic status has a significant effect on literacy