Rhetorical Analysis on “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie In the TED Talk, "The danger of a single story", Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explains her views on why a single story of a culture or place could be misleading. Adichie is a skilled speaker who was able to convey her message to the audience through rhetorical devices such as pathos, ethos and various elements of figurative language, such as metaphors and anecdotes from her childhood to now. To add on to that, Adichie’s overall tone was informal, which helped the audience easily connect with her stories. Throughout her speech, Adichie mentions the metaphor “single story”, but each time, it had varied meanings connecting to her primary objective of convincing the audience of the negative effects of cultural ignorance and stereotyping. For instance, she mentions being influenced by British books as a kid, as she made all her story characters “white and blue-eyed” (Adichie 85) and …show more content…
Another usage of this metaphor would be when her college roommate automatically predicted Adichie to be an unknowledgeable person due to her ethnic background and felt pity towards her even before meeting her (86). Both uses of this metaphor have a different context but link back to how there no such thing a “single story”. The repetition of this metaphor emphasized and reinforced the main point, helping Adichie touch upon several aspects of stereotyping. Elaborating on this metaphor was also more engaging to the audience rather than a dry definition or description. In the quote, “So, the year I turned eight, we got a new house boy. His name was Fide” (86), Adichie brings up an anecdote from her childhood which was also used as a metaphorical reference to the “single story”. She reveals how she was personally affected by single stories told
In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer wrote about Christopher McCandless, a nature lover in search for independence, in a mysterious and hopeful experience. Even though Krakauer tells us McCandless was going to die from the beginning, he still gave him a chance for survival. As a reader I wanted McCandless to survive. In Into the Wild, Krakauer gave McCandless a unique perspective. He was a smart and unique person that wanted to be completely free from society. Krakauer included comments from people that said McCandless was crazy, and his death was his own mistake. However, Krakauer is able to make him seem like a brave person. The connections between other hikers and himself helped in the explanation of McCandless’s rational actions. Krakauer is able to make McCandless look like a normal person, but unique from this generation. In order for Krakauer to make Christopher McCandless not look like a crazy person, but a special person, I will analyze the persuading style that Krakauer used in Into the Wild that made us believe McCandless was a regular young adult.
Although there are many rhetorical strategies incorporated throughout Freakonomics, the most prominently used devices include alliteration, rhetorical questions, and counter arguments. Ethos, pathos, and logos are also used, but to a lesser degree. The authors, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, use alliteration to keep the attention of the reader. Occasionally, Freakonomics can read more like an encyclopedia than a narrative. In using alliterations, Levitt and Dubner foster a greater interest in the book by making it more comprehensible and enjoyable. For example, the authors use alliteration in a particularly slow section about parenting experts, saying that many experts’ arguments “reek with restraint” (234).
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.”
In December 2009, the world was shocked by Tiger Woods. News was released to the public of a scandal regarding Woods cheating on his wife with numerous women. As a well-known and respectful individual in the golfing world, it was important for him to take responsibility for his actions. More importantly, in order for Woods to keep his sponsors and save his reputation, he needed to apologize to his sponsors and family. His apologetic speech exemplifies his remorseful attitude through diction, or word choice, and the use of ethos, or credibility, and pathos, an emotional appeal, to the audience.
“The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it's to create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they're valued” (Ken Robinson). From the vast and varying array of “TED Talks,” situated on multiple topics, Kenneth Robinson’s speech explores and questions an argument understandable to students in an everyday educational environment. More in depth, English author, speaker, and advisor on education, Sir Kenneth Robinson confronts and challenges the modern day academic school system killing creativity. Robinson argues that; hence, “We are educating people out of their creativity” (Ken Robinson). Kenneth questions whether students, or in other words, future leaders and world changers are being subject to guidelines and rules put in
Today there are many defects acquiring as well as up rising in the academic field as teachers and parents alike teach a student and aid the needs these students need. The entire Ted talk is presented by RSA animation an interesting format not at all the usual Ted presentation. As well as not the only Ted presentation, Sir Ken Robinson has presented. As Sir Robinson conveys his thoughts and studies his words guide the animation in a very impressive visual. Sir Robinson will be conversing about three troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools' dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. RSA animation successfully presented a visual presentation simple and complicated at the same time that vividly guides the viewer on a journey with Sir Ken Robinson as the tour guide.
By retorting with, “I had just read a novel called American Psycho … such a shame that young Americans were serial murderers.” Adichie appealed to Americans’ knowledge of themselves, showing the audience how absurd this claim was. Her sarcasm not only serves to make an absurd idea amusing, but also reverses the single story on the audience. She proves to the listener that it is through accurate knowledge and multiple stories that our opinions should be formed. In the same way, Adichie uses levity yet again when she says, “I learned, some years ago, that writers were expected to have had really unhappy childhoods to be successful, I began to think about how I could invent horrible things my parents had done to me. But the truth is that I had a very happy childhood, full of laughter and love, in a very close-knit family.” Her humor again draws attention to the danger of just one story. For instance, Adichie says, “writers were expected to have had really unhappy childhoods to be successful.”
In the story “Two Kinds”, the author, Amy Tan, intends to make reader think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out as an analyzer to illustrate what is the real problem between her and her mother. Instead, she uses her own point of view as a narrator to state what she has experienced and what she feels in her mind all along the story. She has not judged what is right or wrong based on her opinion. Instead of giving instruction of how to solve a family issue, the author chooses to write a narrative diary containing her true feeling toward events during her childhood, which offers reader not only a clear account, but insight on how the narrator feels frustrated due to failing her mother’s expectations which leads to a large conflict between the narrator and her mother.
Meaghan Ramsey believes in business growth that stems from real social change. She has origins in nutritional science and has worked across FMCG and multiple organizations dealing with media, charities, and pharmaceuticals. Ramsey was also the Global Director of the Dove Self-Esteem Project at Unilever in London. Her TED Talk, “Why Thinking You’re Ugly Is Bad For You” occurred in September of 2014 at TED@Unilever in London. The audience that Ramsey is trying to target is the parents of young men and women who are struggling or may begin to struggle with body image/low self-esteem. She speaks to the parents directly about what can be done to minimize the use of the internet and social media at such a young age. Ramsey’s talk is affected by the audience in the sense that she uses
Adichie begins by confessing that she is a storyteller, and through this confession she reels in the audience and prepares them for her “few personal stories” regarding the concept she christened ‘the danger of a single story’ (1). Even in the beginning of her speech, she is able to immediately connect with the audience by shedding light on how her mother says that she “started
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
For instance, the aspect of a ‘single story’ is a metaphor by itself, and it is present throughout the entirety of the speech. It convinced the audience of the negative effects of cultural ignorance and stereotyping. A single story is a metaphor for the dangers of stereotyping, the negative impacts it has on individuals and the common misconception given by the media. There is also the use of Historical Allusion. Adichie refers to John Locke when he referred to African Americans as “beasts who have no houses” and “people who have no heads”. This allows the audience to realize the power of stereotypes and misconceptions, how they were present back then and how they are present now. Adichie also successfully employs the use of repetition throughout her speech. Throughout her speech she repeatedly talks about the various ways African’s are mistreated throughout society. At minute 4:50 she talks about her roommates misconception towards africans “ Her default position… was kind of patronizing, mell-meaning pity”. On minute 12:16 she talks about her cousin and how “he died because he could not get adequate healthcare” and on minute 13:26 she talks about the “5000 people [that] apply for one job vacancy in
The word danger probably makes you want to turn away and stop doing whatever it is that you are doing. Well, what do you do when you see the words, “The Danger of a Single Story?” These words had me nervous about what I was going to be watching. However, there was a lot of information that was explained throughout this 20-minute TED talk from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This paper will explore compelling ideas she mentioned that relate to things I have experienced when I went to another culture, the risks of telling a single story narrative in intercultural interactions, ways to protect myself from single story misconceptions, and how I was able to see how a single story might affect the way I communicate with others in different cultures.
Throughout the world, people have always and will always judge each other based on their skin tone, their accent, their home country or other obvious features that we immediately see or hear about them. We often formulate our opinions of these people based on our first impressions of them. In 2009, Civil rights activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie uses her time on her Ted-Talk to deliver her resonating speech “The Danger of a Single Story.” During her world-renowned speech, Adichie discusses human relationships, how we, as humans, interact with one another and treat each other. Adichie establishes her argument with one powerful metaphor describing common stereotypes as ‘single stories’ to demonstrate how people are affected by being judged based
The Danger of a Single-Story is a phenomenal speech given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. She explains what happens when complex individuals and situations are reduced to a single narrative. Chimamanda Adiche explains the dangers of only being exposed to one aspect of a culture. For example, the way most Americans view Africa. Most Americans and several other countries depicts Africa as being an extremely poor continent with their residents starving, running around with flies on their faces and struggling to survive.