Autobiography of Malcolm X vs. Superman and Me

Both Malcolm X and Sherman Alexie wrote Autobiography of Malcolm X and Superman and Me, respectively, for similar audiences. These stories are both directed at the white people that discriminated and degraded the colored people in the authors’ respective time periods. The white people believed colored people, both Native Americans and blacks, were stupid and could not be educated.  Malcolm X and Alexie directed their stories to similar audiences and likewise, their stories displayed similar purposes. Both Malcolm X and Alexie wrote their stories of how they became literate through self-education to refute and protest against the white people’s claim that colored people couldn’t be educated. While Malcolm X and Alexie’s stories have similar purposes and are directed at similar audiences, they wrote their stories with different voices. Malcolm X describes what he read in more detail than Alexie. For example, Malcolm X recites the events of Nat Turner’s rebellion and how the British white men took control of and colonized India, while Alexie only recites the genres he read. Malcolm X and Alexie also have a different tone behind their voices. Because Malcolm X recites all the diverse history he learned after he self-taught himself, one senses a boastful tone in his voice. In contrast, Alexie doesn’t recite all the interesting facts he learned from reading  in his story, which, compared to Malcolm X, doesn’t seem boastful. Alexie even says that he writes his stories in third person to make him and his personal achievement seem more modest. While Alexie and Malcolm X have similar purposes and audiences for their stories, they possess different voices in their writing.