Creative Writing: Stereotypes

The danger of a single story is that they let the powerful downgrade the weaker because they create stereotypes, they can hurt the people, and no one gets represented from the culture.

The next article I examined was from NBC News, this article toyed with pathos right from the get go. The headline is “Trump Critics Dismiss New Immigration Order as Repackaged ‘Muslim Ban’” (Arkin). That plays with emotion by adding the idea of “Muslim Ban” because everybody has his or her own feelings and ideas within the connotation of that word. It also becomes a factor, because that is what the first immigration ban was dubbed before it was repealed, which shows an immediate sign of a more democratic bias. The article will go onto to convey ideas that makes the idea that this ban is a bad thing, and has religious prejudice within the order. The logos of the article is true, but gives a left-wing approach to the situation, which could affect

A large portion of the world’s older generation possesses the mindset that smartphones are decreasing our intelligence. This view has been held for years and is understandable, but Daniel T. Willingham presents a different idea in his article “Smartphones Don’t Make Us Dump”. Daniel T. Willingham is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and is the author of Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do. He gears his article towards the parents of the future generations; correcting their misconceptions and inserting a proper one using logos.

Stereotypes run rampant in the literary world today. It is much easier to write a stereotypical character because of the reader expects them to act or respond a certain way and does not require an explanation of their motivation. But much like Chimamanda Adichie warns, “Show a people as only one thing over and over again, and that is what they become” (Adichie 00:09:25-00:09:37). But this issue is often addressed in reference to the protagonist. The hero is always white; the hero is always attractive. The hero never disserves to suffer. Single stories do not just refer to the physical characteristics of the character, though in can and often does. The heroes all tend to look the same so we associate goodness with that specific physical description, but motivations can be just as misleading. All the heroes do good things because they lived the same experiences, so these experiences make someone good. Also society remains so focused on the single story surrounding the protagonist, it often forgets the other main component of a story, the antagonist. But by dissecting the possible motivations for the villains, as my adaption does, I hope to explore the different avenues to villainy and in turn disrupt their single story.

The single story is about how a people stereotypes one another based on what they learned through books, media, people, and other sources. For example, Chimamnda announced how she viewed Mexicans as immigrants and them trying to get through the borders, but the moment she stepped foot into Mexico the perspective she got from other sources changed everything. She was ashamed of herself because when she visit the view was completely different because what she saw was happiness, love, and fun. The single story is an image that is created based upon information that was given, but not on your own perspective. In other words, it is the truth to the reality. For example, when people hear of Niagara everyone think of land, poor, Africa, homeless,

With the roadblocks in Callie's adoption it's been a long couple of months, but she was finally getting adopted tomorrow. The whole family couldn't wait for her to officially be a Adams-Foster.

Lux stands there motionless. Mallory and Anastasia run over embracing her. Walking her over to the couch to sit down.

A young girl walks through the halls of her high school, clutching a book to her stomach as if it were a shield, her hair falling in her face blocking most of her vision except what was in front of her. She kept her head down. She climbs the stairs one by one, the world turns into a blur as she sees her tormentor standing at the top of the staircase. It’s already too late to turn around and go back, they’ve already seen her. Hands grab at her book, and she is pulled away from the swarm of students. Without warning she is shoved, tumbling backwards. Her head meets a metal bar, her wrist gets caught in the railing, the weight of her body tugging on it until it snaps out of place. She slides down the rest of the steps, pain erupting her. Something skids

“Elders, this is a scan of Katherine Ayla Regan’s brain when she arrived here yesterday. I’d like you to note the unusual activity in the parietal lobe. She tapped the screen, and the parietal lobe became greater. Kat looked at the screen confused. A weird pink light was pulsing across the lobe.

2006: A group of smiling faces greeted back at me, like the pretty, welcoming American Girls at New York I dragged my mom to see with me. “Yes!, did you see that? I got sweet, one point for me!” I exclaimed with my tiny fist pumping up and down and my butt wiggling from the excitement I could not contain inside of me. As the condensation from the fresh rain beaded up on the surface of my water, forming lopsided smiles droopy eyes, I blew hard and long; I consumed the biggest puff I could huff and puff, enough to blow down the three little pigs’ brick house. I slashed one tick mark and smiled proudly when there were no tick marks on the other side. The seven-year old me cackled softly as I sneakily slashed one more tick mark. A single sweet

A tsunami of emotions bashes into me. Anger, betrayal, panic, twisting tighter and tighter, knotting in my chest. I hear voices. I they’re asking me questions, but I can’t understand the words. I am

IMMORTALITY [...] " when adonis first spots her lounging against the love seat hair the color of spilt wine tossed against white leather limbs stretched out like it's her home he knows she isn't human. not simply because her catlike eyes shift around the room with a century's worth of precision. but because as soon as his eyes touch her he feels his heart begin to hyperventilate like she's there ready to asphyxiate him. there isn't a lowly human in the world who could evoke such a reaction from a GOD like he.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says that a single story, “Show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” With the view that a single story is a representation of a culture, it is important to realize that a single story has been applied to all cultures.

All blondes are be dumb, all Muslims are terrorists, and all French people are romantic. Everyone has heard these phrases or similar ones at some point or another, phrases that stereotype a group of people and restrict the perspective others have of them. These stereotypes stem from one common story that is widespread into the general public, they represent only one side of the many that exist within a culture, lifestyle, or society. Often these stories focus only on the negative aspects that exist and make it seem like everyone who belongs to that group of people shares those same characteristics. This is dangerous because it creates ignorance in people that could potentially cause discrimination and violence, a good example of this is the

The silence lies on my body like poison, telling me that I am never going to run away