Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains a single story as the complex stories of a place or people that are broken down and simplified into a single, simpler story. The single story takes away anything else that the people or place is and gives them one story to be addressed by. A single story is more or less grouping every person in a place under one life story. People lose their identity and life stories. She uses the categories of the single story of people shown in literature, the single story of her house boy, the single story of the people of Africa and Nigeria and the single story of the people of Mexico and immigrants. I think her comment about the relationship between power and the single story is true because powerful countries never seem to have a single story. They have so …show more content…
The single story is created because people do not try to go past the single story and find out what truly is happening. The human race can inherently be judgmental and so the single story is created. If people were to put their judgments aside and take the time to learn the stories of the people then the issue would be prevented. People and societies are so complex that it is morally wrong to say that there is a single story because once one says there is a single story then the stories of thousands of people are forgotten. This made me realize how much our society in the US really does create single stories for the smaller and less fortunate countries because that is all we see them as. This will definitely make me think more about if a single story is really true and dive deeper into stories to get the full story because the full story deserves to be told. Another insight gained is that everybody can fall victim to a single story because sometimes we only see one side of the story in the news and it can be hard to find the other
Stories are the way humans share, create, and explore their many experiences and identities with each other. When a story is told, the original content lingers depending upon how the storyteller recalls the content. Once the story is retold, it often takes on different details and meanings, because each storyteller adds their own perspective, experience, and meaning. The story then begins to have its own life. Each storyteller has a connection to the beginning and the end of the story.
The ability to tell one’s own story, to speak one’s mind, is the best antidote to powerlessness. Tan’s writing instills agency and visibility in Chinese American women. The silence is broken, and their new voices are constructed in collective storytelling, a language of community, without denying or erasing the different positions such collaboration encounters. Tan compels each of her characters to tell their own story in their own words, thus (re)creating the meanings of their life. The interrelated narratives make sense only if readers can discern the specificities of each woman’s story as located within the novel.
In 2009 Chimamanda Adichie gave a TED talk about the ‘danger of a single story’. A single story meaning, one thought or one example of a person becoming what we think about all people that fit that description, a stereotype if you will. In today’s America, I believe that we have all felt the wave of stereotypical views at some point or another. Adichie gives many relatable examples throughout her life of how she has been affected by the single story. Her story brings about an issue that all humans, from every inch of the earth, have come to understand on some level. A young child reading only foreign books, a domestic helper that she only perceived as poor. Her college roommates single story about Africans and her own formation of a single
...a. "Danger of a Single Story." TED Talk. TED Talk Global. http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story, Online. 1 July 2009. Speech.
The constant changing of technology and social norms makes difficult for different generations to understand one another and fully relate to each other. Diction and slang change as years pass and what is socially acceptable may have been prohibited in the previous generations.
What is a story? A story to me can be either a combination of characters and actions which can be fake or real. More like an adventure story used more for entertainment. Another example can be historical events a serious of events in the past which can be used for future learning. There are many different interpretations for a story. Many ways of telling a story also, for example the usual way of tell a scary story. Being in total darkness with a group of friends around each other and having one flash light for the story teller. It just makes the story a little spookier. Every story has its own unique way of telling it right.
Storytelling’s impact on people who use it has been life saving in certain cases. By asserting the existence of different perspectives, writers get to suppress their own opinions in order to sympathize with others. (insert thing about meta-fiction) With this idea in mind, author Kate Taylor wrote the novel Serial Monogamy, a meta-fiction of a writer recalling the story of her husband’s affair and her deal with terminal breast cancer, all through her telling of Dickens’ secret life and tales of the Arabian Nights. In Serial Monogamy, storytelling makes people more understanding as they explore new perspectives.
According to the reader the danger of a “single story” is related to how people tend to attribute an image to something regarding to the background information that they have about the thing. In this case having less information or the same information about something is likely to impact on the idea that they will have about something. To support this argument she talked about how during her childhood she used to read book with foreigners characters and about things that she didn’t identify with such as snow and ginger beer. Because of the fact that all her book were similar, she ended up believing that all books have to be same and always include foreign characters with “Blue eyes” and are about things that she couldn’t identify with. Further, she also talks about Fide and how the fact that her mom kept telling her that his family was poor made her think that his family was poor and that it was the only story about them. She couldn’t see them as hard workers or anything else but as poor. Also, she talked about the stereotypes that she had about Mexicans related to immigration in the U.S and how during her trip to Mexico realized that her thoughts were wrong in many ways. Lastly, she talked about her roommate and how she felt pity for her because she was African. Her roommate was surprised to see that she speaks English as well as her and that she knew how to use a stove just because all the information that her roommate has about Africa was a poor conti...
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
The Hero’s Journey is a basic template utilized by writers everywhere. Joseph Campbell, an American scholar, analyzed an abundance of myths and literature and decided that almost all of them followed a template that has around twelve steps. He would call these steps the Hero’s Journey. The steps to the Hero’s Journey are a hero is born into ordinary circumstances, call to adventure/action, refusal of call, a push to go on the journey, aid by mentor, a crossing of the threshold, the hero is tested, defeat of a villain, possible prize, hero goes home. The Hero’s Journey is more or less the same journey every time. It is a circular pattern used in stories or myths.
Stories are a big part of the human race. From conceptualizing the birth of our race to nagging our parents to tell bedtime stories, our life is nothing but a series of stories. It is in human nature to narrate significant incidents of our lives to others. Storytelling as a method has been progressively used by various companies as a tool to connect with their employees and customers. It helps to build a bridge of loyalty, longevity, mutual trust and understanding and connection. Storytelling helps to get that instant personal connect. Stories are significant because they are inherent to human experience. By stories we pass on our accumulated wisdom, beliefs and values to the future generations.
Individualism is an essential part of stories, because individuals tell stories. They also add and take out what they want to in the story, like Luo did when he didn’t say in his story (p149) that the seamstress got bit by a snake while swimming for Lou’s keys that he tossed in the water.
A narrative is specified to amuse, to attract, and grasp a reader’s attention. The types of narratives are fictitious, real or unification or both. However, they may consist of folk tale stories, mysteries, science fiction; romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, and personal experience (“Narrative,” 2008). Therefore, narrative text has five shared elements. These are setting, characters, plot, theme, and vocabulary (“Narrative and Informational Text,” 2008). Narrative literature is originally written to communicate a story. Therefore, narrative literature that is written in an excellent way will have conflicts and can discuss shared aspects of human occurrence.
In “Danger of a Single Story”, Chimamanda Adichie states that people should not judge others just by a single story that they know about them. I think people should also know other stories about other people rather than a single story, before judging people on that one single perspective, as every person has a different story, and have to deal with different situations. And no two persons are completely alike. People need to accept this fact and should stop misinterpreting people without knowing them. The question is: What makes people judge others, and what leaves a definite impression about it?
The story clearly illustrates that when one thinks of their ideal lifestyle they mainly rely on their personal experience which often results in deception. The theme is conveyed by literary devices such as setting, symbolism and iconic foreshadowing. The abolition of slavery was one step forward but there are still several more steps to be made. Steps that protect everyone from human trafficking and exploitation. Most importantly, racism is something that needs to stop, as well as providing equal opportunity to all without discrimination.