Superman and Me
Summary: Sherman Alexie was a Spokane Indian boy living with his family on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington state. His father loved books and spurred a love of books in him, however, this love wasn’t shared by others he encountered in his youth. From reading Alexie learned to view everything around him as a paragraph belonging to something greater. There were many factors working against him such as stereotypes. Reservation children were expected to be stupid and to fail in the non-Indian world. Alexie was determined to break this expectation so he kept reading through the hurdles set in front of him. Alexie found that his love for books came out of necessity because he was assuring his survival in the non-Indian world.
Response: For many people, this is the reality of learning a language. It boils down to a matter of life and death because language is a powerful tool. It allows us to communicate our ideas with others and without this ability, we lose out on many opportunities.
Mother Tongue
Summary: Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer who comes to the realization of the many Englishes she uses in her day to day life. She uses vocabulary and sentence structures that are commonly used by someone in her field of work whereas at home she uses a toned down English with her mother and husband which she describes as her language of intimacy. However, when her mother speaks she uses a broken or limited English which to some might be hard to understand at all but to Tan it’s more than enough for her to understand. Tan and her mother have realized how this has affected their lives for the worse since many people often do not respect someone who cannot communicate their thoughts clearly.
Response: I think most of us can relate to this because depending on the circumstances we’re in will determine how we talk. However, this by no means takes away from what we’re trying to say because there are so many ways to say the same thing. As long as others understand what you’re trying to say then the language has done it’s job.