Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue"

I agree with some of Amy Tan's points throughout the narrative and some I disagree with. I agree with her decision to become a writer although her teachers and professors seemed to push her to fields in mathematics and sciences. "And perhaps they also have teachers who are steering them away from writing." She is a very strong-willed person to be so gifted in other subjects but deciding she would rather achieve her goals and she makes a great statement to all Chinese writers or minorities in any fields that it takes work to succeed and overcome. Obviously I disagree with her shame for her mother's accent or English language skills. "I was ashamed of her English." Its unfair for me or anyone that isn't or hasn't been in similar position to judge this though i believe. "I have described it to people as "broken" or "fractured" English." I disagree with her fear of the term "broken English" I believe the term is not "broken" meaning it must be fixed, I believe it just means she speaks in not completely connected sentences missing some English words that are used to flow a sentence. Overall this narrative gives some comedic situations Amy was put in with her mother because of her English and it gives a more positive look at her mother's struggle to express herself. Another aspect that gives a positive light to this story is her obvious leadership role which gives people the ability to look up to her.

The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me (Thoughts)

I really liked this passage by Sherman Alexie because I believe it gives a positive message overall. "I was certainly never taught that Indians wrote poetry. Writing was beyond Indians." This quote clearly shows Alexie's perseverance through adversity. Alexie and all Indians for that matter were not expected to do what he had done and also Alexie's family was "poor by most standards." It is heartwarming in the respect that Alexie's father loved books and Alexie became in love with these books because of his "aching devotion" to his father. A father and son's bond is very strong and Alexie admits he could not even read but he would still look at the books and pretend like he was or at least try. "I can remember picking up my father's books before i could read." I believe that Alexie's father must be very proud that is son became a writer while he had such a desire for novels. His idea about everything being its own paragraph than goes deeper and deeper but also with some connection to each other. Another example of Alexie's ability to overcome is when Alexie's classmates try to stop him from showing his intelligence in class. "A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike." My favorite part of the text though is his love for books, I wish that I could have shared this desire instead of my love for television. I also strongly agree with is decision to show off his knowledge in school and this reminds me of something in current life where people call someone a try-hard for doing well even thought that is the right thing to do. Also it is nice to hear that the Indian kids in the reservation he visits read his books and work and aspire to be like him.