Synthesizing Essay Question 1: The importance of listening to multiple stories is simple, without hearing more than on side, one can never be sure if the story is accurate. There are also various other ways that only hearing one story can be harmful. In Adichie’s talk, she stated many examples of how single stories can be harmful. The first being that it can create stereotypes. The definition of a stereotype is “A simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.” With this, one can relate this to a single story by forming a “conception” and then form their belief on the topic of the story with that one point of view. The next being a result of creating a stereotype of the single story, this being the creation of the idea that that single story is the only story. Lastly, my favorite quote from the talk, “It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.” I really connected with this quote and I think it brings the idea of the importance of hearing more than one story together perfectly. I interpret Adichie’s quote in this way, if we don’t let everyone have an equal chance of sharing their point of view, we are ignoring the fact that everyone sees a situation in a different way. Although, the last sentence of her quote connects on the idea of having different views and sharing them with each other makes
They are matters which have literally torn our country apart and utterly divided the American people. Adichie urgently seeks an equal yet peaceful world, powerfully declaring, “The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar” (Adichie). This is imperative in regards to creating a new standard; furthermore, to persuade others to look at the world with an open mind. Adichie further urges, “Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a person, but stories can also repair that broken dignity” (Adichie). The significance of Adichie’s speech thus reaches a pivotal peak. Adichie is referring to the sources in which we receive our one sided story. Sources such as television, radio stations, newspapers, social media, all of which are considered normal entertainment, but are in fact broadcasting stories that are not told from all involved participants thus leaving a fixated conviction. Therefore, it is difficult to disregard the single story when it is constantly in our presence. Through words, Adichie hopes to alter the strong influence of said
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 Danger of a Single Story” perfectly captures the idea behind the “two sides to every story” cliché. The title itself advises us that based on her experiences, Adichie used storytelling, multiple stories of a person or place, it confuses an understanding of a context/situation. The danger of reducing other people and cultures to stereotypes deprives them from seeking diverse perspectives, which can help stop the stereotypes and clichés that aren’t true and incomplete. The crux that Adichie wanted to appoint was that until you are enlightened on two viewpoints or perspectives to a situation, you will not understand how to end misunderstood interpretation.
Stereotypes are used to compartmentalize the vast human race. They allow us to, in the blink of an eye, know about a person without knowing a person, to create the whole narrative of a person from one glance. Though they are often inaccurate, stereotypes are a large aspect of our day to day social interactions, and are commonly used in ways that are offensive or oppressive. In “The Ways We Lie’ by Stephanie Ericsson, she references why and how they are used, and the harmful effects of stereotypes. For those who find themselves a victim of stereotyping, daily life can be significantly affected. These people are treated based on the category that they belong to, rather than based upon their individual qualities and experiences. Judith Ortiz Cofer, writer of “The Myth of The Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” and Brent Staples, author of “Just Walk on By: Black Men In Public Space” both chronicle their routine experiences of stereotyping and the consequences of such experiences. Though every individual can be stereotyped based upon the category to which they seem to belong, people of minority races or ethnicities face more stereotyping and are adversely affected on a regular basis, as
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,
On a daily bases people make excuses for everything. Everything meaning our actions and the things that we say. Common things that we make excuse for deal with sexist, racist, and heterosexist comments. Sexist is classified as saying that one sex is better than the other. An example of this is someone calling a male or female something that they are not. I do not like this because we are all humans and deserve to be respected and not called something that is degrading. We all know that racist is downgrading one race compared to another. An example of this is, saying that all black people are loud and ghetto. We all act the same but some people do certain things different from others. That’s just there way of living. I do not think that just because one person acts one way the whole race does also. Heterosexist is defined as heterosexuality is better than all other expressions. An example of this would be talking about how a guy dresses and calling him gay. I do not agree with this as well because it is good to stand out and be your own person not matter how others see you.
Everyone tries to define someone with the label, and this happens in both individual levels and societal levels forming master narrative that explains who they are. However, this master narrative becomes blindfold in explaining others, and can either positively or negatively affect individuals depending on what the master narrative is.
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.
Anyway, going back to when we were kids, sometimes Ken would babysit me and Maddie. He was 14 at the time and no one knew then how unstable he was, my parents thought that they could trust him. The first time that he crossed the line we were outside playing. It was a cold day in December, I'll always remember that because I was nervous about the upcoming Christmas pageant at school.
Lux stands there motionless. Mallory and Anastasia run over embracing her. Walking her over to the couch to sit down.
There was an old “CRT” TV, like the type that had littered the shelves of my brother’s pawn shop, hitched up against the corner of the convenience store I had just walked into. Although the image was blurry, I recognized immediately what was showing. I placed the hood of my sweatshirt over my head and walked in, my hands stuffed in the two pockets on either side of the sweatshirt. I cursed the fact that the sweatshirt had the words “Donovan’s Fight Club” in big, decorative cursive letters on the back, embroidered by the lady down the street from the club. I grabbed the milk I had come in for and scooped up a bag of Skittles for Margie. Then I walked up to the counter, pulling out a wad of bills from my back pocket. The attendant, much to my
“You shouldn’t cross the street until the green light is settled” a brawny man with a huge physique addressed a group of kids on a rainy day. The man is talking on the public phone seeming to explain something vital. While him heading outside, a man with a shade of grey coat and an umbrella shot him with a 9mm gun. The kids noticed that the man shot – a police officer and a chief assistant- was holding his left pocket where the memo pad was. Furthermore, another police officer got shot trying to reach his memo pad. It’s a confound bearing to the society of detectives. In conclusion, a copious of stereotypes started to introduce the story to the citizens. Was it the opposition of radicals? Or a warning of the society? The mystery
I personally don’t feel that I’m prejudice towards a certain race. However, there are some opinions that I hold towards certain ethnic groups and things that I dislike about them. I couldn’t think of one specific ethnic group so I thought of three.
There are numerous assumptions and stereotypes people fabricate about WIC participants. Some of these assumptions and stereotypes are that people on the WIC program abuse the system by being dependent on the system and not using government assistance programs as they were originally intended when it was created in 1972. Additionally, other assumptions are that the majority of minorities or people of color are using these government agencies. I believe the writer of this case study used this assumption when writing it because she made a point to give the readers the illusion that Mrs. Ortiz is of Hispanic origin. Another assumption that I perceived from this case study is the use of the name Rebecca obviously the author is trying to refer
She ends the presentation saying that a single story can turn into a stereotype and cause problems with the way a person views others. If people are not open-minded to the fact that there is more than one story, then they will live a life of uncertainty. Single stories mostly provide negative views, but the positives and true aspect is never stated. People must seek and question different perspectives other than the single story in order to feel a sense of paradise.