The Danger Of A Single Story By Chimamanda Adichie

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

“Unless you know who you are, you will always be vulnerable to what people say.” In this quote, American television personality, author, psychologist, and the host of the television show “Dr. Phil”, Dr. Phil McGraw explains, that if you are not true to yourself or if you are not aware of your own beliefs, you will always be susceptible to what people say of you and what people want you to think or believe. A similar theme is communicated through the novel “monster.” In the Novel “Monster”, what Walter Dean Myers suggests about the nature of stereotypes is that one must ignore the negative views of others and stay true to their own beliefs.

Although Racial Stereotype is something we experience daily, people should not be quick to judge or make conclusions based solely on skin color. Not every stereotype is true. Staples introduces himself by using the words “first Victim” by doing so he sets a picture in the mind of the reader that when he came up behind the lady on the street, something was going to do happen to her. He is faced with different stereotypes that he experiences daily from different races. Throughout the essay Staples makes the argument that racial stereotype is wrong .Staples explains his thesis through narratives of incidents in his life. He gives details of numerous accounts of people mistaking him for a thief or mugger.

The speech “The Danger of a Single Story” narrated and written by Chimamanda Adichie is a series of overlapping stories and thoughts predominately discussing prejudice around the world. Though it is not our fault that we are only shown a single side of a topic, what we are exposed to is usually biased or lacking in full detail. Many people use what media may say or what they hear around them about a subject to make up their resolved opinion on the matter. Adichie's argument is effective because she overturns all that established knowledge and presents unique views on old ones to create an open minded take on the issue; moreover, Adichie uses humor, significant life experiences, and typical day-to-day discrimination to support her argument.

Chimamanda Adichie is a novelist and a narrator who delivered a persuasive speech on what she calls; "The Danger of a Single Story" but in reality what it means is the danger of stereotyping. Dictionary.com defines Stereotype as “A generalization usually exaggerated or oversimplified and often offensive, that is used to describe or distinguish a group.” Adichie delivered her presentation on a very well-known website called Ted.com, with one objective in mind, to prevail upon everyone to share their personal stories with the world so that there no longer is a “single story” defining any one person or group. Although, Adichie is aware that the damage that has been already created may take some time to undo, she felt that

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.

Staples illustrates how the nature of stereotypes can affect how we perceive others around us in either an excessively admirable light or, in his and many other cases, as barbaric or antagonistic. In his introductory

In Adichie’s remarks, she explains the effects of single stories through forms of racism. While racism is a huge issue, I wanted to bring in a different example of when single stories were used in my life. These were connected with my religion and the religion of others.

In Adichie’s TED talk, she tells how the “single story” is very dangerous thing. Adichie gets this across by telling her experiences receiving a “single story” by her mother. Adichie’s Mother had told her over many years that there was this boy that was coming to live with them. This little boy was part of a very poor family, Adichie’s mother had said to her, “ Eat the rest of your food, you know there are some people in this world just like the little boy that don’t have this food and are starving.” Now Adichie had always looked at this little boy being poor, when she had met this little boy he was able to make many things and seemed very happy and content with where he was in life. Now if this little boy looked at his own life the way that

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.

Also, by being open-minded and knowing that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise. There is a strong division between fiction and realty. The danger of a single story can be used to make negative stereotypical judgments about people or place that are repeatedly read and heard over and over causing one to view them as one identical unit representing that story. Adichie mentions several personal stories from her life in which she pays attention to stereotypes. She talks about how her roommate in the USA was surprised that she had learned English very well.

Three days passed before Jingyan took a trip to Su Zhe's residence, following a familiar path to a destination with a wholly different sort of anticipation. He made his visit at night, when there were less watchful eyes and more shadows to hide his trail. When he finally stepped into the courtyard of plum blossoms, he detoured to the pond before entering the still-lit room of the house.

Chimamanda Ngoz Adichie would consider the book the commissioner planned to write as dangerous because she believes that there is never one side to a story and this certain book would not portray both sides of what imperialism actually looked like at the time. For example, Adichie explains in one of her Ted Talks, Danger of a Single Story, how “stories can break the dignity of people, but stories can also repair the broken dignity” (Adiche Ted Talks). There are two sides of a story that can show two different perspectives and opinions on the same event. With this belief, Adichie would consider the book that the commissioner planned to write dangerous it would be contrary to the story of the Igbo people and prevent readers from learning the

“I heard a rumor,” She continued in a slow, almost monotone voice, “Pinkie, if you are using those zebra chems, you need to stop.”

From the TED Talk video “The Danger of a Single Story,” I think that the speaker Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wanted to tell us that we need to read more and know different stories about one place because there are more than one story exist. We should not judge other without knowing themselves. Furthermore, she said that we should not easily believe everything we heard from media because they only give us one impression. I especially felt close to her when she described how she felt after she realized her American roommate teetered her as African not Nigerian. (4:13) Moreover, she had only a single story about Africa. (4:49) Those paragraph remind me when I was in college in New York, my American classmates did not know the differences between Japanese and Chinese or