Danger of a single story Flashcards
(31 cards)
Title:
‘The Danger’
Foreshadows the main argument that a limited view of something can be dangerous.
Sets up a cautionary tone (serious tone of warning) for the speech.
Title: ‘Story’
Story becomes a metaphor for stereotypes. Story is used to represent that stereotypes are fiction, made up, not really true.
She is saying we need to approach stories in the media with caution, scepticism.
Paragraph 1: ‘I’m a storyteller’
Instant engagement- people like stories and we anticipate what she is going to tell us.
Paragraph 1: ‘few personal stories’ and ‘What I like to call “the danger of a single story”
We know the speech is going to be anecdotal(personal about herself) which sets up a LIGHT-HEARTED THEME.
BUT
The title is a reminder of cautionary serious warning about what this speech is about. This JUXTAPOSES the light-hearted tone of telling personal stories which we saw in the phrase’ few personal stories’.
Paragraph 1: ‘I think four is probably close to the truth’
This shows she is being honest and credible(using the technique of ethos).
She is not exaggerating, she is being realistic- it makes the reader more inclined to believe what she is saying.
Paragraph 2: ‘my poor mother was obligated to read’
She uses HUMOUR. The audience can relate to what she is saying(pathos). As children , we have all subjected our mums to this.
Humour makes her relatable and easy to connect with.
Paragraph 2: ‘all my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather, how lovely it was that the sun had come out
She lists the (American/English related) things she used to read about. Listing things creates a monotonous, uninspired tone-like she was bored reading about these relatable things.
Paragraph 3: ‘we didn’t have snow, we ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to’
She uses another list to juxtapose how the things in these books contrasted her real life.
The things in the book are the antithesis of what she had in her life in Nigeria.
Paragraph 4: ‘impressionable and vulnerable’ and ‘children’
This is emotive language- emotive words
This creates a shift in tone-the speech is becoming more serious now.
Paragraph 4: ‘we are in the face of a story’
Collective pronoun ‘we’ creates a shared message.
She is including herself and everyone in this message.
She creates unity with the audience.
Paragraph 5: ‘writer like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye’
She is using ethos again-making herself sound credible and believable.
She is showing she is well read on this topic, like she is authority on this topic and knows what she is talking about.
Paragraph 6:
‘I loved those American and British books I read’
She compliments the audience (which is likely full of English and American Viewers).
She doesn’t want to put off the audience, she makes herself likeable.
Paragraph 6:
‘So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this : ’
Colon-emphasises the next clause( a really important message in the speech is coming up)
‘IT SAVED ME FROM HAVING A SINGLE STORY OF WHAT BOOKS ARE’. - ‘saved’ juxtaposes the idea of ‘danger’ in the title of the speech. She is highlighting that stories can either damage us or they can save us. They are very powerful tools.
Paragraph 7: “Finish your food! Don’t you know? People like Fide’s family have nothing”
Pathos. The impression of her mother is humorous and we relate to it adding to her likeability and relatability.
Here she is setting up the single story she had about Fide’s family (in the next paragraph)
Paragraph 8: ‘Then one Saturday’ and ‘Years Later (paragraph 9)’
Expressions of time. This is a typical storytelling technique and allows her to build up her argument with different examples.
Paragraph 8: ‘Their poverty was my single story of them’
She is talking about her limited view of Fide’s family. She thought they were poor and nothing else (not skilled enough to weave baskets).
Logos-she uses reasoning and logic to critique herself.
She is non-accusatory of the audience; she is saying she is guilty too of a single story.
This acceptance of blame makes her more relatable and likeable.
Paragraph 9: “tribal music” and ‘Mariah Carey’
Juxtaposition of these musical styles emphasises the misunderstanding of her room mate.
It further her point in this speech that we can misunderstand people and other cultures if we buy into one story, one stereotype.
‘Mariah Carey’ is another example of humour- she uses a relatable popular reference so people can get on board with her argument.
Paragraph 10: ‘She assumed I didn’t know how to use a stove’
One sentence paragraph helps to reflect the limited view of her roommate.
The shortness emphasises a shocked tone about home misinformed people can be.
Paragraph 11: ‘well meaning pity’
Another deliberate language choice.
She is creating an empathetic tone again, saying that even though her roommate was wrong, she doesn’t blame her for it.
Her lack of accusation in this space persuades people to take her message on board because they are not offended by it.
Paragraph 11: ‘a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe’
Parallel sentence structure-these parts of the sentence are almost mirrored.
This draws attention to the symmetry between ‘Africa’ and ‘Catastrophe’. Her roommate thought those two things were one and the same.
This shows how limited people’s views are when they believe in stereotypes without exploring the truth.
Paragraph 11: ‘no possibility … no possibility … no possibility’
Anaphora(repetition of the phrase ‘no possibility’) shows how fixed or set her roommates’ impressions of her were.
Paragraph 12: ‘I would see Africans in the same way that I, as a child had seen Fide’s family’
She’s building her argument now
She’s brought together her experiences of stories. She has stereotyped other people, and she has also been stereotyped.
This shows how common stereotyping is.
Paragraph 13: “But I must quickly add that I too am just as guilty’
She critiques herself. She is sharing the responsibility. Makes her argument more relatable: she isn’t accusing anyone, she is sharing the blame. Makes people more likely to listen and take it on board.
Paragraph 14: ‘endless stories of Mexicans …fleecing … sneaking … being arrested’
Deliberate language choices. These verbs all have negative connotations showing another single story, this time of the Mexican people.
