In the story Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie describes how growing up with books allowed him to positively impact the younger generation of Indians on the Reservation. Because of this he was allowed to see the bigger picture,” I loved those books, but i also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life”. Alexie grew up having access to books due to his father who constantly brought them home  for his own collection. By reading his books Alexie was able to find his freedom from the harsh state of the world he lived in. When he grew up, he transferred the positive power of literature to the children of the Reservation through visiting the schools and teaching creative writing. Alexie selflessly fought against the social conformity of the culture to bring the kids the freedom they deserved. In order to free the children he had to release them from chains that held them down, ” They carry neither pencil nor pen. They stare out the window. They refuse and resist. “Books,” i say to them. “Books”…….I am trying to save our lives.” Alexie is giving the kids a better life by granting them the knowledge to do so. He is passing down his own quest for liberation that he had while growing up, as his father once did to him. He is giving the children a better life, one that they would not normally have access to.

These two pieces of writing give insight on some positive influences that writing can have on a student. In the story On Writing, Stephen King tells a story of how the right person can change a whole view on literature. King describes his experience granted to him by his guidance counselor John Gould. Starting out writing for his school newspaper King honed his skill of writing not through sitting through class listening to lectures, but through one 10 minute discussion with a devote teacher. This gave him a whole different view on world of writing, ” Once you know what the story is and get it right-as right as you can, anyway- it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it”. This transforms the way a writer thinks about their work, writing it with the notion that many people will be reading it. This teaches the writer to include different types of information in their writing. Once King started as Gould’s disciple he learned the steps to become a better story writer, ” When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story…When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story”. By giving King a different way to learn and to write, he changed his whole understanding of what literature is.

Literature is power, granting the writer or reader wisdom and knowledge. These stories were connected due to their immense impact that literature had on their lives. It gives the idea how a student can learn more through hard work and help from others.