"Superman & Me"

          In the story "Superman and Me" it talks about how a "smart indian" can be dangerous. Indians are often stereotyped as the people who don't know anything and can't become anything strictly because they are Indian. As the story goes on to say, a "smart indian" can be dangerous for a couple of reasons. They are ridiculed and feared by others or non-indians. Some may think that they won't amount to anything in life because of the stereotypes of the indian culture, which is why Alexie says that he saved his own life and wants to save the lives of other Indians, talking about reading and writing specifically in this story.
          Indians are expected to do very little because of the background and knowledge we assume to have towards them. Indian children in schools were expeced to fail outside of the "Indian world." They would stay quiet and sit in the back of the classroom. They grew up with the tradition of not learning to read or write which I could see how it would effect them in a lot of ways during their education. Unlike Alexie who taught himself to read and write because of his fathers interest in books and reading and things like that. I think what he means by smart indians being dangerous maybe to their peers and society as well, is the fact if Indians ignored the stereotype of their culture and applied themselves to do what they believe they can do, then it would be sort of like a "threat" to the non indians, proving that they can amount to what they set themselves up for. Anyone can do anything they really put forth the effort into, it's just a matter of how bad you want what your aiming for. In the story, Alexie is obviously the perfect example of someone who didn't give up and didn't give in to the negative aspects of the indian background and culture. He refused to fail. He was arrogant, and lucky and smart. And he did everything he could to acheive what he has today. He put forth the effort and did what he had to do for himself. He saved his life by not being affected by the "non-indians" and the things they had to say and portray for so many years. And the same goes for those he inteds to help with their lives as well. An indian who had experience with a negative atmosphere but still managed to "save his own life" growing up and knowing that reading and writing is the overall foundation from a decent to a very well education.