Reading and Interpreting: Author Spotlight on Sherman Alexie

This assignment builds on your reading of Ch 1 in Approaching Literature, and specifically focuses on the piece “Superman and Me” in that chapter by writer Sherman Alexie.

Write a full 1-page (250 word minimum organized into a minimum of three paragraphs) literary response to your reading of Alexie’s personal essay “Superman and Me.” In your response, focus on how Alexie reaches out to the audience using logos, pathos, and ethos (your Wk 1 Online Presentation on “Building a Successful Essay” will help you here). Also, consider the importance of your role as a reader for Alexie’s piece to be successful. Think about what is involved in the process of reading a piece of literature. How do ideas, feelings, and descriptions get from Alexie’s heart and mind to your heart and mind? How are you, as the reader, essential for the communication process of writing to be complete?

Use specific examples, words, and phrases from Alexie’s piece to back up your argument with textual evidence. Remember to use a signal phrase and to put quotation marks around borrowed words and phrases. You should not use outside resources to complete this assignment, but rather only textual evidence from the course textbook and your own ideas. You will need to include a parenthetical annotation with page number to round out the in-text citation in APA style for all quotations used from the textbook. (If you are unfamiliar with APA style, please see the APA Resource Center listed in the “Classroom” link on our course menu for helpful documents and links on in-text citation, as well as the Supplemental Links to the Web and Other Media in the Wk 1 Classroom. You may also click on the “Library” tab in Blackboard).