The Danger Of A Single Story
These are 3 powerful quotes from The Danger of a Single Story that made me rethink how I will consider a story in the future:
- “So that is how to create a single story, show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become. “
- “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.”
- “The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.”
1. The danger of a single story is that our perception of what is real can be impacted when we only get one side of a story. There are at least 2 sides to every story, often 3, 4, 5 or more. Consider politics today with the upcoming elections and how each candidate that is running usually only wants to present the story that supports their position. Stories can overcome this by presenting different perspectives from various viewpoints to try and get the whole picture and not just what the writer believes. …show more content…
What was powerful to me was that Adichie gave us believable examples of how the single story can skew your thinking. She grew up reading American and British children’s books and when she started to write, she emulated the characters in those books because that’s all she knew. It was until she obtained African books that she realized there could be people just like herself written about in books. She talked about her preconceived perceptions of the “poor” boy who worked for her family and how after she visited his village realized you could be poor and hard working. Another example was how her college roommate in the US was surprised that Adichie spoke English, could use a stove and that her favorite music was Mariah Carey. I found Adichie to be
- “So that is how to create a single story, show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become. “
- “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.”
- “The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.”
1. The danger of a single story is that our perception of what is real can be impacted when we only get one side of a story. There are at least 2 sides to every story, often 3, 4, 5 or more. Consider politics today with the upcoming elections and how each candidate that is running usually only wants to present the story that supports their position. Stories can overcome this by presenting different perspectives from various viewpoints to try and get the whole picture and not just what the writer believes. …show more content…
What was powerful to me was that Adichie gave us believable examples of how the single story can skew your thinking. She grew up reading American and British children’s books and when she started to write, she emulated the characters in those books because that’s all she knew. It was until she obtained African books that she realized there could be people just like herself written about in books. She talked about her preconceived perceptions of the “poor” boy who worked for her family and how after she visited his village realized you could be poor and hard working. Another example was how her college roommate in the US was surprised that Adichie spoke English, could use a stove and that her favorite music was Mariah Carey. I found Adichie to be