Traces of similarities between different worldsBobbie Ann Mason and Sherman Alexie are two modern authors who write about their different childhood experiences and their hopes and desires for a future outside the customs of they were used to. In her 1999 excerpt "Being Country" from her book Clear Springs: A Memoir, author and essayist Mason describes her childhood on a farm in rural Kentucky. Although his childhood was pleasant, he rebelled against the simplistic confines that that kind of lifestyle imposed (106). Alexie writes in his 1997 essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” about life on the Spokane Indian Reservation where he was born. He tells us how he used his love of reading as a way to escape the Indian world and found success off the reservation. Even though they came from different cultures, Alexie and Mason were exposed at a young age to similar outside influences that helped shape their identities. As a result, they both imagined a future that was not only ambitious but different from the life they were born into. Analyzing the contrasts and similarities of these two authors, the biggest differences between them are their economic and cultural backgrounds which would later become reality. play a role in their future hopes and aspirations. Alexie describes his childhood in Washington State, where poverty was the norm on the reservation where he grew up. He says: “We were poor by most standards, but one of my parents usually managed to find a minimum wage job or another, which made us middle class by reservation standards… We lived on a combination of irregular wages, hope, fear, and government food surpluses” (45). On the other hand, Mason tells herself how she grew up in Kentucky in her first paper story. Furthermore, these strong influences on childhood socialization they would convey to both Alexie and Mason the desire and determination to make something of themselves. Together they shared the same determination to achieve a level of success that was not possible in the societies they lived in and dreamed of lives far from Works Cited Alexie , Sherman. "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and I." The Arlington Reader: Context and Connections. 45- 47. Print.Mason, Bobbie Ann. “Being a Country”. The Arlington Reader: Context and Connections. 3rd edition. Eds. Lynn Z Bloom and Louise Z Smith. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 105-107. Print.Mason, Bobbie Ann. Clear Springs: A Memoir. New York: Random House, 1999. Print