The Danger Of A Single Story Analysis

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.

“The single story creates stereotypes and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” said Chimamanda Adichie in her TED talk speech seven years ago. She is spreading awareness about the value of working against spreading a single story in a culture and community. She is correct because people should not be influencing a single story to represent a whole community of many different stories.

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 - A speech that was said by Chimamanda Adichie that inspired me to write this report.

There is more to know about a person besides the single story that most people believe is true. A single story is something we hear about another person, culture, or where they are from. This can lead to critical misunderstanding of how their lives actually are. In the book, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. His writing makes sure that most of his characters don't fit into the group of having one single story this is how.

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,

Response To “The Danger of A Single Story” My perception of the video “The Danger of a Single Story” varies from two points of views. Those views are: What we perceive by what we have been taught and What the actual reality of a situation is. The part that I identify with most was when she stated that she wrote about things that was unseen and the imagination from those one-sided views. In a since we are only taught one specific way of doing things because we have not had enough exposure to different cultures, races, and religions.

According to Chimamanda N. Adichie, a single story is a stereotype. Therefore, only having a single perspective creates a danger, since it does not discuss what is going on in

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

Most memoirs consist of many short stories about the author's life in order to teach the reader a particular lesson. Typically, memoirs are autobiographical and only tell a story through a singular, biased lens. When the writing and craft is strong, not only can the reader get into the head of the author, but the author can tell a story in an unbiased perspective. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez and On Writing by Stephen King, are two memoirs that create a telepathic connection between the narrator and the reader. Alvarez tells the story of the Mirabal sisters living in the Dominican Republic in the mid-1900’s under the Trujillo regime. Her writing style is unique because each chapter is written in the perspective of the different sisters. In contrast, King solely narrates On Writing and accounts specific events that led up to his success as a writer. As touched upon in the TED Talk “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, King creates a “single story” for the reader while Alvarez creates a broader perspective. In In the Time of the Butterflies, On Writing, and the TED Talk “The Danger of a Single Story”, the authors teach American readers about success and the value of life by writing from different points of view and a larger perspective.

The real world doesn't care and only goes by hard factual evidence. In both stories you see that the victims of the crimes never ended up doing them. The whole story is to teach you a lesson about life and even tho things may be unfair you have to prevail and push forward. Most of the time the law can and will be wrong.

Connected stories that all have the same theme often get boring if all presented in the same project. Same goes for truth. Stories grounded 100% in truth and fact can be dull and monotonous. That is why these stories may not be completely connected or truthful. Also point of view is relative and may be subject to change throughout these stories. Just to warn you.

Short stories can share themes, motifs, symbols, consequences, and plot lines, even if there is never any intention to share a common element between the stories. The stories can be written close together or in different decades and still be linked to the one another. They can also be worlds apart with different meanings in the end, but that does not stop them from having similar ideas expressed within them. The following three stories, “Lagoon” by Joseph Conrad, “The Rocking Horse Winner” by DH Lawrence, and “The Lady in the Looking Glass” by Virginia Woolf, are three totally different stories that share common threads that make them the stories that they are.

“The Danger of a Single Story” is a wonderful, enlightening and eye-opening speech with exemplary details: It gives example of how different the human race is throughout the world as well as how connected human beings are, maybe without even realizing it. Chimimanda Adiche’s lecture lays out stereotypical assumptions made by all ethnicities, all the while connecting the reader with colorful examples that can describe any persons encounters with someone or something different. This speech shows that it is not only unfair to assume something based off one story or example, but it is also quite naïve to assume there is only one side to every story. It is a story that is relatable, has an enjoyable tone and sets a mood of understanding and equality.