The Danger Of A Single Story

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

Adichie is able to use her own life experiences, her personal knowledge, and her undeniable farcical character to create another side to the single story. Adichie’s inspirational words are nothing short of being honest, palpable, and sufficient enough to cause all people to reconsider their views. The end to Adichie’s speech is inspired by a thought, “That when we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise” (Adichie). Concluding with the thought that we ourselves achieve a serenity whilst remaining open minded to the goodness of the people around

Novelist Chimamanda Adichie brings into consideration to Keim discussion, by emphasizing the connection between a “single story” and “stereotypes” regarding the subject of Africa. One of the dangers Adichie includes in her discussion are individuals being denied the opportunity to tell their story. Adichie draws similarities to Keim when discussing her own personal journey to find her authentic cultural voice, and she emphasizes the many misunderstanding that society, including herself, have made. Adichie admits to not only facing stereotypes, but addresses her own opinion regarding the topic. Adichie admits that as a child, she had initial biases regarding a servant that was employed by her family. According her explanation, she believed that the capability of someone “the servants family” coming from a certain background, made them incapable of such artistry. The same misconceptions can be seen in present day society, we often are prejudiced on who or what can be cultured.

Adichie’s characters are subject to cultural suppression in several of the short stories. This is most pronounced in ‘The Arrangers of Marriage’ where Chinaza is forced by her husband to assimilate to her new surroundings by ridding herself of all signs of being Nigerian,

Stereotypes of people, places, or things leave a large gap between the truth and what is known as the truth. In the speech "The Danger of a Single Story" by Chimamanda Adichie, Adichie explains the dangers and importance of single stories. The use of her past experiences as evidence to explain the damage these stories can cause, both to the listener and the person, place, and/or topic of the stories gives power to her speech. The author’s

My room-mate had a single story of Africa; a single story of catastrophe”. Adichie also tells how growing up in Nigeria reading only American and English children’s books made her deaf to her authentic voice. As a child, she wrote about such things as blue-eyed white children easting apples, thinking brown skin and mangos had no place in Literature. That changed as she discovered African writers.

Tim O'Brien was right when he said “Stories can save us”. They saved him. Writing stories helped Tim turn into Timmy and also into a solider when he was retired and forty three years old. When O'Brien says “Stories can save us”: he lets us know that his stories helped him through the war, they also helped him stay psychologically relaxed after the war, and helped him create better versions of his memories as Timmy and Tim the soldier.

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.

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.

This quote does help me understand Adichie’s story I understand where she was coming from. You can’t judge anything by its color or where it comes from without experiencing it at first. I do understand the effect of this story on me and my other members of my group. Another thing she said was “They make one story become the only story.(13:23)” People only heard one thing about the Middle East and never looked at it from the other side, and many people continue to believe that single story till

Throughout a lifetime people hear thousands of single stories from people, places, and things. This makes the passing of information very dangerous. A single story means, a limited viewpoint, or only seeing something from one angle. As proved in many cases, this is very dangerous in knowing the whole story from every perspective. In many cases the source you are hearing this from may have opinions or facts beyond the point adjusting your way of thinking. The dangers of singles stories was noted by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She had a first hand experience with this situation. As a child in Nigeria she was always reading english books. Appropriately, the national language of Nigeria is english, so it is likely that those were the books available. Later Chimamanda got ahold of African books and this completely changed her mindset, and realized she was only receiving stories from english perspective. This was one of her first encounters with single story. Later when she moved to America for school her she encountered a similar situation but rather someone else experiencing a single story. In her university Chimamanda had a roommate, this roommate was not from Nigeria. When Chimamanda was living with her the roommate was very surprised but her ability to speak perfect english, that she didn’t listen to “tribal” music, and that she could use a stove. Chimamanda believed this to be very odd that someone thought of her like that, but then she realized it was something similar to

Using the colorful character of Aunty Uju, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie finds fault in the American guarantee of opportunity, and shows how Uju’s hard work simply isn’t enough in American society to overcome racism and disrespect. The author of the novel Americanah initially depicts Aunty Uju as a vibrant and hopeful woman that sees America as a land of opportunity for her and her son, but once she arrives in the United States, she is dulled and subdued by the amount of racism obstructing her goals when she is studying for her medical recertification. Her color lacks its luster, her spirit is dimmed, and she loses touch with herself in an effort to thrive in America. Adichie is critiquing American society by showing the reader how working hard is not the only element required for success in America, yet she also illuminates how Aunty Uju reclaims her color when she moves to Willow. settles in, and learns to live in America without completely losing herself, thus showing a redeeming side to American society as a whole.

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.

The media and the public only ever see and talk about one story they've been exposed to them. Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of her encounter with individuals and herself just knowing one story in her TED talk Dangers of a Single story. She spoke of her childhood when she read British and American books and wrote stories on what based on the readings. Adichie also describes how her roommate in college was never aware of how people in Nigeria lived or that they speak English for that matter. Her roommate thought of people in Nigeria as poor and not as working people, she thought of them as uneducated and not as intelligent. Adichie reveals that if we do not know an all stories from a country or a person we are at fault for critical misunderstanding and being judgmental. She has taught me the danger of only knowing one perspective and making an ineffectual statement towards someone. We shouldn’t make judgments toward people without knowing them it is demoralizing and stereotypical; we should educate ourselves on learning stories, not just a single story but all.

Confronting bias is also another theme that comes into play in the process of digital storytelling. Whether that bias is towards peoples of other faiths, colors, orientations, or other qualities, it is important to remember that the connection that was previously mentioned applies to everybody. The connection between all humans should more readily accepted. This can be done by creating conversation to create understanding between peoples. Kwame Appiah (2007) agrees that bias can be solved with conversation saying: “It begins with the simple idea that in the human community, as in national communities, we need to develop habits of coexistence: conversation in its older meaning, of living together, association” (Appiah, XIX). Development of better relations between humans with conversation and understanding is pivotal in starting to eliminate some of the bias we have. Digital storytelling brings this along in some stories with the authors using their voice to try to create social change and start conversations within our communities.