Danger of a Single Story - 1661 Words

Reflection on â€Å"The Danger of a Single Story† By Chimamanda Adichie Why this all fuss about a â€Å"single story†? So what is a single story? Does this mean manipulation of ‘a single story’ by countless re-telling and thus creating an ‘entrenched’ view in our minds which we fail to challenge and investigate with a forward-looking vision? No wonder, this leads to a lot of assumptions, half-truths and stereotypes when this story is passed on from one to another. For example a lot of people think that Australia is like the land of the kangaroos and there’s crocodile Dundee catching crocodiles in the Australian outback, but they do not acknowledge the cities, towns, suburbs, and the people who talk good English. These stories told by†¦show more content†¦So this made her write more short stories with African protagonists and she began to discover new depths and new characterization that she was able to come up with while writing. And that’s what defines that single story. The other thing that she points out is that as Americans suffer from a single story of Africa and that single story is pity. A real life situation to this is for example when I turn on the TV, I’d probably see two commercials about poverty in India, or about extreme hunger in Africa, or about civil war in Africa. But the truth is that all that is not happening in Africa, it’s just happening in a very small area, not even half the countries in Africa don’t face this. She also tells us that she grew up from an upper middle class family and that she, her friends and her family was well off and the fact is most of the people in Africa is well off. A really good example in my life how media plays a role in framing single stories is during my cultural exchange program from India to the Netherlands. But I have to tell you, it was a fun trip, even words cannot explain the experience. So one day my Dutch friends wanted to know about India, so they went on Google and typed in India on the search bar. And guess what came on screen? There were pictures of poverty, hunger and cows on the road, donkeys and many pictures of the Bengal tiger and elephants. So this raises a lot of questions like: * Do you go to school on elephants? * DoShow MoreRelatedThe Dangers Of Singles Stories1372 Words   |  6 Pageslifetime 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 s ource 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 NgoziRead MoreThe Danger Of A Single Story1158 Words   |  5 PagesAccording to the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in the article, â€Å"The Danger of a Single Story†, she proclaims that when there is just one single story of someone or something, it can be detrimental to said subject. It can be detrimental to a group of people, because that one single story can make great people seem horrible. Having one single story about a beautiful place can make it sound terrifying. The world is multidimensional and having just one explanation of something, can make somethingRead MoreThe Danger Of A Single Story1489 Words   |  6 Pagesauthor, gave a stunning speech about â€Å"the Danger of a Single Story†. In her speech, she mentioned about negative consequences happening when people tend to form stereotypes bas ed 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 â€Å"these negative stories is to flatten my experience and overlook the many other stories that formed me† (12:56). Listening to allRead MoreThe Danger of a Single Story804 Words   |  4 PagesRanda ElFouly The Danger of a Single Story - A speech that was said by Chimamanda Adichie that inspired me to write this report. Chimamanda Adichie began talking about this thing she liked to call â€Å"a single story.† 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 theseRead MoreThe Danger Of A Single Story1070 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"There s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.† (J.K Rowling). While this may be true for some stories, other stories tend to lead misbeliefs about a time period or place. That is what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains throughout her telling of â€Å"The Danger of a Single Story.† She states how a story can mislead people to generalize how a place is or how the people are. Everyone at some point has heard a story that made them believe a misconception about a place. AdichieRead MoreThe Danger Of A Single Story Analysis827 Words   |  4 PagesIn Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ted talkâ€Å" The Danger of a Single Story†, she gave an address on her accomplished with writing as an African in her life. Through her improvement as a kid, her involvement with her roommate and different Americans, and her revelation and making of African writing Adichie creates logos in her discourse so the group of onlookers can understand the nature of universe which is â€Å"stereotyping†, what she calls, a solitary story. Universe is fill of people with different conceptualizationsRead MoreThe Danger Of A Single Story Summary823 Words   |  4 Pagestalks 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 throughRead MoreLiterary Essay : The Danger Of A Single Story1091 Words   |  5 PagesThroughout a persons life they are bound to do one of the following; be apart of a single story, struggle with their identity or stereotype someone or something. Literature reflects this experience people have with their identity. The single story is something that affects everyone, consistently and can be seen throughout literature; everything and everyone has a single story. In The Danger of a Single Story, Adichie talks about its impact; this is also explored in Supamans lyrics, and HopeRead MoreThe Danger Of A Single Story By Nancy Mairs984 Words   |  4 Pagesof many overlapping stories. A single story confines a corner of the world to a generalized stereotype. Chimamanda Adichie in TED talk, The Danger of a Single Story, addresses that â€Å"if you hear a single story about a person or a country we risk a critica l understanding.† Adichie also states, â€Å"a single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not what they are untrue, but they are incomplete.† Adichie believes everyone is guilty in creating single stories and they are dangerousRead MoreThe Danger Of A Single Story By Chimamanda Ngozi838 Words   |  4 PagesIn her TED Talk â€Å"The Danger of a Single Story†, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shared her personal experiences on how the stereotypes that are presented in the literature towards people from other cultures would actually be misleading to the readers and have negative influence on their cross-cultural communication. The danger of a single story lies not so much in lacking of knowledge or understanding of people from other culture, but rather in people’s leaving no room and possibilities for themselves to