the danger of a single story Flashcards
(26 cards)
im a storyteller
She opens with the personal pronoun which engages the audience and evokes empathy towards her issue.
It is a short an emphatic sentence which creates an anecdotal tone which is lighthearted and contrasts the cautionary tone of the title
my mother says that i started reading at the age of two although i think four is probably close to the truth
ethos- CONVINCE THE AUNDINCE OF HER CREDIBILITY
shes making herself sound fair and relatable
the danger of a single stoy
danger- forshadows main argument- shows how bad it is to base everything off a single story
story- metaphor for the steryotypes- she thinks theyre fiction and encourages us to approach stories in media with scepticism
Single Story- sibilance which has connotations of evil, this highlights the detrimental effect that the single story can have on people
that my poor mother was obligated to read
relatable and humorous
white, blue eyed, played in snow. ate apples
- listing= monotonal and uninspiring
juxtaposes conditioons she describes in nigeria
her life was antithesis
how impressionable and vunerable we are
polysyllabic emphasises change in tone to serious.
we- creates a sense of unity - shes also been under the impression of falling for media
because of writers like chinua achebe and camara laye
ethos- credibility- shows shes well read and experienced in literature
i loved those american and british books is read
engages and compliements audience as there will likely be multi cultural people
but the unintended consequence was that i did not know that people like me could exist in literature. so what the discovery of african writers did for me was this: it saved me from having a single story of what books are
sad and evokes emphathy - pathos appealing to the audiences emotions
:- draws attention and importance to the following clause
highlights the possibilities stories have: the power to save or put in danger
She says that the African stories saved her, this is an emotive phrase that contrasts the danger of the single story.
i come from a conventional middle-class nigerian family….
shared experioence evokes pathos
‘finish your food!’
‘ dont you know? people like fides family haave nothing’
dialog - pathos - humour as most likely other people have been told this before when they didn’t finish their food.
all i had heard about them was how poor they were, so it became difficult for me to see them as anything else but poor. their poverty was my single story of them
logos- critises herself for stereotyping. makes people like her as shes criticizing herself and not blaming others who have likely done something like her
‘people like me with skin like chocolate’
Simile is used to highlight her obligation to compare herself to western ideas to fit the narrative.
It is beautiful imagery to highlight natural beauty and that it should be celebrated individually rather than grouping people together as one idea.
‘tribal music..very dissapointed… mariah carey
The use of the word tribal is and the punctuation is emphatic of stereotypes associated with Africa and its perceived differences to western societies.
Mariah Carey is contrasting to the expected music and much better fits the western narrative, this highlights a misinformed judgement.
The dissapointment is emotive and highlights that the American woman wanted her to fit the narrative as it offered her more security and comfort.
‘She assumed that I did not know how to use a stove’
This is a short emphatic paragraph which is identical to the nature of the woman’s thought, that it was a hasty conclusion with a narrow view of the world.
The idea that Adichi would not have been able to operate the appliance is indicative of the primitive and undeveloped perception of African cultures, this is wrong.
her default position towards me
language choice of default is an emphathetic choice as she knows her roomate dosent mean to sound like that
had a single story of africa: a single story of catastrophe
parallel structure
africa changes to catastrophe suggesting the roommate saw africa as a catastrophe
The use of the word catastrophe evokes the image of chaos and unordered civilisation which is a negative and harmful portrayal.
i would see africans in the same way that i, as a child, had seen fides family
draws parallels between herself and roomate - empathetic tone
its no ones fault = makes people like her
but i must quickly add i too am guilty in the question of the single story
critiques herself
‘fleecing,..sneaking,…being arrested… that sort of thing’
negative connotations
- that sort of thing has a dismissive tone dosent believe those thing
When listing the negative qualities associated with the mexican people she takes on a dismissive tone which is a double entendre.
It reflects the lack of care that people have for others when they take on a single story and is indicative of a narrow mindset.
It also shows that she is past taking on the single story and that she makes a real effort to eliminate this stereotyping.
‘all my characters were white..’
This listing of the typical ‘white’ characteristics of the characters in her books reflects the monotony and lack of diversity in the literature that she was exposed to.
This shows that the characters fit the stereotypes of a British Child and that this was not right, it shows literature that was only relatable for a select audience.
‘I bought into the single story’
This is an emotive and deliberately active verb to show the responsibility that we have to combat the issue.
It suggest that the single story issue is based on moral choice and that our choices can often have a great effect on others.
‘stories matter.Many stories matter’
The use of repetition of story is used to highlight the power that a story can have for better or for worse.
The Short and emphatic sentence shows the importance of taking on multiple narratives to make an informed decision.
‘Stories can break the dignity’ and ‘repair the broken dignity’
disspossess and malign
empower and humazise
Stories are personified in both clauses to show the power that they have over people but more so the detrimental effect that they can have is they are not used appropriately.
The second clause is the antithesis of the first and it highlights the importance of how stories are used to create perceptions of the world.
parallel structure
