What Is The Danger Of A Single Story

“Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous.” Rainsford is an experienced hunter who fell off a yacht, and swam to a nearby Ship Trap Island. Once he got on the island, he found shelter with a deadly General Zaroff. Great fear was then sparked in Rainsford when Zaroff forced him to be hunted in a three-day long game. Thus, Rainsford will most likely never hunt again after suffering through the damaging trauma of the game.

As human beings, we tend to not understand that what we see or hear about social media, television, books, etc. can guide us towards this one piece of the puzzle. Not knowing the rest of the puzzle creates the assumption of a single story. In her TED talk, Chimamanda Adichie has spoken about the dangers of only knowing a story which leads to stereotyping. By this being said, to what extent do we as a society form a single story about others? To answer this question, there is a great extent when people create their single stories about others because we make these single stories without even realizing it. Chimamanda is a mere example, a representative of how our society thinks and is treated  when making a single

Lacking a wider variety of stories on any given topic can lead to dangerous misconceptions and casual racism. In her TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story, Ms. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award winning Nigerian novelist and public speaker, uses personal encounters with the effects of a single story to normalize her experiences with her audiences so that they may internalize them and act upon them easier. Ms. Adichie's use of pathos, as well as her comedic tone and understanding of who her audience is makes it significantly easier for her to accomplish the aforementioned goal.

In July 2009, at a TED conference, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian author, gave a stunning speech about “the Danger of a Single Story”. In her speech, she mentioned about negative consequences happening when people tend to form stereotypes based on a single story, the one-sided argument. The single story blindfolds our eyes and prevents us from seeing the complexity, diversity, and similarities that construct our world, just as Adichie says “these negative stories is to flatten my experience and overlook the many other stories that formed me” (12:56). Listening to all her own personal experience and argument, I have become fully convinced and also see myself reflected in her stories. The single story can cause underlying and harmful impacts not only on personal issues but also on the global scale.

The Danger of a Single Story is about having a one sided perspective on different cultures and countries. She explains that she originally had a single story of writing because as a kid, all she had read were children’s books from America or England and all the characters in these books were stereotypical white children. Adichie said that this one and only perspective she had of books reflected on her personal writing as a kid because all of the characters in her stories were stereotypical white children. She goes on to

A story may depend on the structure of the book and how well it flows from page to page, but yet it strictly depends on the word choice and how effective the author is able to apply rhetorical devices. Stories such as A Separate Piece, A&P, and The Man I Killed, is able to effectively portray the character’s emotion, thoughts, and the intent of their actions. The authors use heroic, rhetorical strategies to reveal Tim, Gene and Sammy’s struggle to overcome their own selfless desires and ignorance toward the consequences, resulting with each protagonist’s life lesson.

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,

My ideas and thoughts about Africa had been changed after I listened to Adichie’s speech. The way she described the danger of a single story was very inspiring to me, and I could relate many of the experiences I had to her story. I was born in Pakistan and moved to the U.S. in 2007. When I came to the U.S. I lived in Virginia and went to Freedom Hill Elementary School. On the first day of school I sat next to an Indian kid named Sai and he didn’t want to sit next to me he told the teacher that are countries didn’t like each other so he wanted to sit somewhere else, but are teacher said she didn’t want to hear any of it. So during the year we had to work on many things as partners, and we got along great we had many things in common and at the end of the year we became pretty good friends. At the beginning he probably heard some things about my country and he just assumed that I was the person he heard from those stories, and after meeting me he had a different understanding of it. Soon after the year ended my dad found a better job in California so we moved here. I lived in Alameda and went to wood middle. The school I went to was very diverse and this time I wasn’t the only Muslim

Watching the TED talk that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave on “The Danger of a Single Story” was powerful. A single story has insufficient primary sources to have the full comprehension of the real story. Seeing Adichie verbalize issues that I have discovered in myself allowed me to reflect deeply regarding my perception of others. Adichie spoke on how her childhood was filled with English stories and how she gained a perspective on their culture through books. Books are truly powerful storytellers and is often forgotten about in a society where books are taken for granite. A book in another one of my classes was based on Adichie’s idea of how English stories only told one side of the story; this book explored the lives an Igbo society and how English stories portrayed them differently than who they actually were. This proved that I am not alone in making a single story, furthermore

The book's main message is that the storytelling is a necessary art that brings joy and imagination to those who experience it. One of the best things about the books message is that it is put into a protagonist/antagonist story. The stories antagonists (Khattam-Shud and Mr.Sengupta) are against stories and believe that there are more important things than imagination. While some would say these are your standard "villains" I see them as a representation of those questioning why storytelling is a thing. Rushdie suggests that these people are all the same (as in share the same views) when Haroun mistakes the cult master for his neighbor only on the basis that both hate stories. Salmon Rushdie also suggests that storytelling can be experienced

Others may disagree with the facts and discussion Adichie stated about a single story; however, her lecture represented exactly how people nowadays base their decision about others on a story other than providing distinct evidence. She explains how there is never a single story to a certain subject. For example, she had a new house boy named Fide who she had only seen as “poor,” but after the visit to Fide’s village she realized that they were indeed poor but very hardworking people. If she had not seen Fide’s lifestyle with her own eyes, then she would have continued seeing them as people who were unable to make ends meet. I personally experienced an event when I was young where I too only listened to the single story that was presented to me. When my parents divorced, I blamed my mother for allowing my dad to leave. Years later, I found out the real reason they divorced was because she was unhappy with a man who continuously lets her down and emotionally abused

How does the writer use language and structure to convey her opinions about The Danger of a Single Story?

Stories are told through various forms of literature, and the overall point of telling a story is to convey a message, a meaning that the author wants the reader to interpret and understand. The author does

Storytelling helps other people to emotionally connect themselves to the author so that they know they are not the only ones who are experiencing a painful or exciting experience, and are able to share the same emotions. It often helps other people to know what they should do in order to get over it when it comes to a painful experience. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings explores the life of Maya Angelou and the struggles she has been throughout her childhood to her adulthood. Richard Wagemese’s Indian Horse explores the life of Saul Indian Horse and the struggles he has been through after departing from his family. The power of storytelling can unfold questions which ask the audience of how and why are the events are unfold the

Many people tell stories to inform others about themselves. Throughout my life people in my family have told me many stories, and behind each story there is a purpose. The stories I was told growing up were about experiences that people in my family have had or things that I have done. These stories mean a lot to me because through these stories different family members reveal many things about themselves. They want me to understand their ideas, beliefs, or feelings about a certain subject. They want people to praise or admire what they have done or accomplished. Funny stories are told to humor or embarrass someone, usually me. Other stories express that we are not alone in the world, and there are other people,