Native Americans, or Indians as some people call them, have always been pictured in my head as people from the movie Pocahontas. But that changed after our English class read short stories from an Indian author, Sherman Alexie. His writing is extremely humorous but at the same time showed how he his proud to be Indian and how people aren't very different from the people living in the United States.
In the short story, Indian Education, Alexie details his childhood (Yes he went to an actual school!). Living in a HUD house, and having barely any food to eat Alexie had a rough start but soon found a love in learning. Readers saw this intelligence when in second grade, he scored a perfect score on his spelling test designed for junior high students. Even though his teacher set him up to fail Alexie proved that he was not stupid even if he was a Native American. He writes, "Indians, indians, indians." She said it without capitalization. She called me "indian, indian, indian. And i said , Yes. I am Indian. Indian, I am. The reader can see how Alexie is proud to be and Indian and that in a way he exceeded her expectations of what he can do by getting a 100% on the spelling test. Sherman Alexie shows that Indians have the capability of being intelligent also. Also by being a star basketball player, getting his own drivers license, and graduating high school, he removes the stereotype of the Native American that people think today and shows that he is no different. But at the same time Alexie wants to show off his heritage. His stoic look captures his pride in being Native American and shows to many people around the world what he could do what many other people cannot.
In recent times the movie Peter Pan shows a scene with a Native American tribe. After reading Alexie's short stories people will be shocked at how even a popular Disney movie can make these normal everyday people seem like savages.
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