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Understanding Chimamanda Adichie's "Single Story"

The document discusses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's experiences with being exposed to only certain narratives and perspectives as a child, and how that shaped her early assumptions. It describes how as a young writer in Nigeria, she wrote stories based on British and American literature she had read, about subjects like snow and apples that were unfamiliar to her context. Later experiences, such as meeting the skilled basket weaver Fide and having a roommate confused by her identity, led her to understand the limitations of single stories and seek out diverse perspectives. The document also recounts the author's own childhood experience incorrectly thinking all black women were like Oprah Winfrey, and their mother explaining the problem with making assumptions based on a

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105 views3 pages

Understanding Chimamanda Adichie's "Single Story"

The document discusses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's experiences with being exposed to only certain narratives and perspectives as a child, and how that shaped her early assumptions. It describes how as a young writer in Nigeria, she wrote stories based on British and American literature she had read, about subjects like snow and apples that were unfamiliar to her context. Later experiences, such as meeting the skilled basket weaver Fide and having a roommate confused by her identity, led her to understand the limitations of single stories and seek out diverse perspectives. The document also recounts the author's own childhood experience incorrectly thinking all black women were like Oprah Winfrey, and their mother explaining the problem with making assumptions based on a

Uploaded by

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Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Henry Gusick

Professor Anyango

Seminar Composition in Diversity

February 2, 2023

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was a novelist who picked up reading at the early age of

four. Chimamanda would read British and American literature that she later noticed influenced

her own storytelling. When she began writing in her earliest years, age seven, she wrote of white

children with blue eyes, who would play in the snow and eat apples. This of course was strange

because Chimamanda Adichie had never once left where she had lived which was Nigeria. There

was no snow in Nigeria and there were no apples. What Chimamanda is demonstrating is that at

a very young age, people can be extremely impressionable and vulnerable to ideas that may not

align with their own identities. It was until Chimamanda discovered African writers that she

discovered people like herself could exist in literature. This realization saved her perspective of

thinking writing could only be one kind of story. This situation repeats itself throughout

Chimamanda’s life. A young boy named Fide would help Chimamanda’s family around the

house and her mother would always tell Chimamanda to respect the boy because he comes from

a poor family. Chimamanda had taken this into consideration and felt pity on Fide. One day she

entered Fide’s village and observed a beautifully colored basket Fide’s mother had handcrafted.

She was shocked. Chimamanda did not understand that poor people could be capable of artistic

skills. Her impression was wrong. She assumed incorrectly. Years later, Chimamanda came to

America to study at a university. Chimamanda had an American roommate and her roommate

was confused by Chimamanda. She was confused about her ability to speak such good English,

her music taste, and her capability of using simple cookware like a stove. Chimamanda’s
roommate had been told only one story of Africa and it wasn’t a good one either. Chimamanda

did not take offense to the misunderstandings because she would come to understand the skew in

media and the false narratives presented to the American people. Not only this but Chimamanda

came to the realization that nothing ever has a single story. There are no definitive stories. If the

same story is told over and over again to the people that story becomes the truth. This happened

with Chimamanda’s perspective on Mexicans. Where there are negatives there are also positives.

This is true because stories can be created to malign or empower specific groups or issues. There

are always multiple perspectives depending on what information you decide to look at.

When I was younger, maybe three or four, I was with my mother and we were on our

way to our local library. While walking through the parking lot a black woman got out of her car

and I said, “Mom, it's Oprah, look that’s Oprah”. My mom hastily apologized to the woman. The

woman thought it was hilarious, my mom, not so much. She had to explain to me why that was

not ok to say and that not all black women were, multimillionaires, entrepreneurs, Oprah

Winfrey. This perspective was cast on me because my mother would often watch the Opera

Whimphrey show and since I was young and lived in a predominantly white area I had no other

exposure to black women. I was under the wrong impression and was fed only one story. Luckily

this was a strong lesson to learn at such a young age as I decided to think twice and take into

account multiple perspectives. Some interesting points from this Ted Talk I agreed with were the

idea of power, the idea of one story shaping stereotypes and impressions, and the fact that

opening your mind to multiple stories can allow everybody to regain a sense of paradise.

Power is manipulation and advertising and controlling the flow of one idea can be a seed

that blossoms into hate and fear. This tactic is used by countries that may want political power or

greater “nationality” or that's what they say it is at least. These stereotypes divide people and
damage communities. This damages the lives of residents of communities as well as new

members or immigrants entering such communities. A solution to all of our problems would be

to never trust your first thought. To look deeply for other perspectives and to believe that nothing

is all bad or all good. If this is attained we can trust and love everyone.

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