“Inside our house, each family member existed as a separate paragraph, but still had genetics and common experiences to link us.”
When Sherman Alexie began to learn reading, he discovered the usage of paragraphs in writing. He understood that it was “a fence that held words…that worked together for a common purpose” (Alexie, 1998). To him, a paragraph was a sophisticated literary device that separated entities and ideas. Therefore, it became a metaphor that defined his perception of life as each person, place, and even the geographical location was divided into paragraphs based on their unique composition of beliefs. That principle applied to members of his family. In Alexie’s perspective, they shared the same genetics, experiences, and culture but each person was an individual paragraph with their own personal purpose. Together they combined to form a cohesive “essay” or family history and the dynamic of their relationships.
“I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life.”
In the essay, Alexie describes the difficulties that kids of the Native American origin had in obtaining and achieving an education. He mentions the societal expectation that Indian kids would fail, which directly reflected upon their behavior. Unfortunately, that is based on a grim reality where Native American children have disproportionate rates of failure to graduate or achieve proficiency. The educational system, in all its aspects, is mostly unsupportive of Indian kids and reservation territories (Brenna, 2014). When Alexie proclaims that his love for books stemmed from the purpose to save his own life, it indicates his realization that there was absolutely no opportunity to achieve something in life had he stayed within the expectations of a broken system. His observations suggest that even at an early age, Alexie understood the social dynamics. Reading presented him with more than just knowledge, it gave him the ability to think logically, evaluate the world around him, and understand differing perspectives. Such depth of comprehension taught Alexie that his only opportunity to break free from a life of poverty and despair forced upon the Indian community is through obtaining as much knowledge and skill as he possibly could from books.
References
Alexie, S. (1998). The joy of reading and writing: Superman and me. Los Angeles Times.
Brenna, S. (2014). Why are Native students being left behind?