Chimamanda Adichie's The Danger Of A Single Story

“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” (5). Our present world has saturated itself with single stories causing people to become shocked when they meet anything other than their single story. This issue has developed into a danger in society. A danger that has “robbed people of dignity” (4), obscured society’s vision of equality, and emboldened differences in culture rather than similarities. Chimamanda Adichie demonstrates this through her own personal experience in her speech “The Danger of a Single Story.” Adichie’s speech addresses how an isolated point of view creates stereotypes, and therefore, is a harm to our society. In response, I agree

In light of the current societal problem, Adichie provides eight personal accounts to support her claims. She starts with a description of herself as a child, in which she only read and wrote books based on American and British literature. It was not until later that Adichie realized there were other stories that involved her own culture. In addition to this, Adichie spoke of her encounter with the houseboy, Fide, in which she assumed that he could not do anything creative because he was poor. As Adichie arrived in America at 19 for college, her roommate was astonished that she spoke English, listened to American music and could work a stove. Also during this time, her college professor revealed his views to her about what is a genuine African. Not only did she verbalize stories where

After recounting her fifth story, Adichie begins to explain how every story radiates a sense of power. She defines power as "the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person" (3). This is where the danger begins. Where dignity ends. Where equality becomes non-existent. Moreover, Adichie elaborates on the meaning of stereotypes. Before describing their outcome, she states that "the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete" (4). This is evident when Africa is perceived as a catastrophic country, yet the good in Africa is overlooked. As Adichie reaches the end of her speech, she expounds on the results of stories, be it one or many. That books can be used for good or evil. She claims, "Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity" (5). For this reason, any narration, biography, or fable needs to be carefully crafted so as not to dispossess, defame, or destroy the dignity of a group of people. Overall, Adichie's three main statements create a strong argument that a single story is dangerous to the