An Excerpt From 'Malia': A Narrative Fiction

“I never felt like that before. Maybe it could be depression, like you get. I can understand how you suffer now when you're depressed; I always thought you liked it and I thought you could have snapped yourself out any time, if not alone then by means of the mood organ. But when you get that depressed you don't care. Apathy, because you've lost a sense of worth. It doesn't matter whether you feel better because you have no

In the world we live in now it has become easy to stereotype and create a single story about certain people and situations, whether it’s intentional or not. In 2009, a Nigerian novelist named Chimamanda Adichie gave an amazing TED talk called “The Danger of the Single Story”. A single story more or less means an incomplete or inaccurate viewpoint of a person or culture based on a story created from a single experience. When one hears the same story over and over again, we start believing only that story. Adichie claims that creating single stories is problematic and rely on power, a single story I decided to present is how people believe police officers are abusing their power, and I believe the media is at fault. For one to truly understand a story we must listen to the root of the story. Her speech made me realize and view things differently.

“I don’t know if I was happy that day – those tense and edgy feelings were getting stronger and stronger – but I do know I’ve never been happy since.”

I peered around through the rain, desperately searching for some shelter, I was drowning out here. The trouble was, I wasn’t in the best part of town, and in fact it was more than a little dodgy. I know this is my home turf but even I had to be careful. At least I seemed to be the only one out here on such an awful night. The rain was so powerfully loud I couldn’t hear should anyone try and creep up on me. I also couldn’t see very far with the rain so heavy and of course there were no street lights, they’d been broken long ago. The one place I knew I could safely enter was the church, so I dashed.

“Fine, but I still don’t understand how this game is going to make me feel better.” I grudgingly sighed.

“You’re going to have so much fun!” He looked ecstatic, “Look on the bright side, you’ll make more friends now!”

After many long weeks it seem to Rhoda, she finally going to Minnesota and learn so many new things. “Rhoda time to say goodbye to everyone,” Rhoda mother Pippi Mississippi yelled from downstairs. Rhoda closed her suitcase and ran downstairs with it. She smiled at her parents and all her friends, she hugged her friends Olivia, Amelia, and Ezra. “We will miss,” Amelia said. “Yeah, just because you are going to be gone for month does not me you cannot call us,” Ezra stated. Rhoda just stared at all three of her friends, Ezra was the tallest of the bunch and sometimes they called him big foot, Olivia is very athletic and loves to have a good time, and Amelia was the most emotional person of the bunch and sometimes very hard to be around. But, as she looked at her friends she knew she would miss them very much. “Group hug,” Olivia yelled as she made that motion to hug. “Guys I will be gone for one month nothing that big,” Rhoda said after their hug. They all smiled at each other as Rhoda dad begun to speak, “I think it time for you hoodrats to leave.” “I agree with him,” Rhoda mom Pippi said. “Well goodbye Rhoda Minnesota,” Olivia said as they walked out of Rhoda’s house. “Well do you have everything?” Murray asked Rhoda. That was a good question, Rhoda thought to herself; a question like that is hard to answer because a you never know what you need or what you have to have. Rhoda looked at her suitcase and

“Oh, please! I’m expected to believe that an idiot like you would’ve been able to pass yourself off as a priest?” it said.

“Quit talking about that it is making me sick” I felt joy as I said.

Kiersten Miles became the babysitter for 16-month-old Talia Rosko, not knowing that both of their lives would be changed forever. The 22-year-old college student stepped in to save the toddler's life after meeting the family 3 weeks earlier.

“It’s a shame they’ll never meet.” Some of the kids laughed. I chuckled awkwardly. It wasn’t about me at all, I realized. I laughed harder, breaking out in a hilarious fit.

I can barely make out two people coming here, looks like a girl and a guy. I overhear them talking about the dance, so that has told me I have been here for over 30 minutes, Laura is probably really worried. Maybe I can get them to notice me I’ll use all my strength that I have left to make a noise. Dang all of that and I could only make a slight grunt. No way, he’s looking this way I have to make another noise. No! I can’t even make another noise, this is pathetic. Even though I only made this small sound he’s walking over here, yes! This might be my big break. The girl is saying something about Royals, and Guardians. I think she is scared that they will come for them because they saved me. Damn those Guardians! No, He’s walking away now he said sorry but that can’t save me, they are both gone

"Well that's a relief, other wise, I would've hated to have my first shift in that Cellar" I say, chuckling a bit.

In her 2009 TED talks presentation,” The Danger of a Single Story,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains how a single story presented by the media and books can affect the way a person may perceive others, places, and cultures (Adichie). She goes into details explaining her point through personal experiences where she falsely misunderstood someone based on a single word she heard numerously, and how she was a victim of a common stereotype. According to Adichie, there is never a single story and that people can go through a mental shift of their perspective if they considered various alternatives that differ from the same story that is commonly told.

Zelalem biratu Kelly Hulander EN 1712, Sec. 91 Spring, 2017 Literary Analysis Paper 3/3/2017 “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara “The Lesson” was first published in 1972 in the book “Gorilla, My Love” by Toni Cade Bambara. The story is told in first person point of view by the narrator who is a girl named Silvia. This school aged girl that lives Harlem, New York during the time that is assumed to be around early 1960’s to late 1970’s based on the price of some of the toys.