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Teia Haws

Mrs. Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 1010, Section 2

15 October 2020

Single Stories Rhetorical Analysis

When you imagine a country you have never been to, what do you think of? What does it

look like? What do the people look like? If we really take the time to look for it, stereotypes

influence how we see and react to people and places every day, even for someone who tries to

look past stereotypes. The idea of a “single story” develops when only one story is told about a

person or place, over and over again, the same every time. This single story becomes the false

identity, or stereotype of said person or place. In her TEDtalk, “The Danger of a Single Story”,

given at TEDglobal in 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a nigerian novelist, successfully

explains to her audience of global TEDtalk readers and listeners, the danger that a single story

can have when it is all you are given to learn about a place or people.

To describe this, Adichie uses her countless experiences, both being stereotyped and

stereotyping others, as well as many examples of stories and authors who have influenced

modern literature, and rhetorical “what-if” questions, to persuade the audience to change their

mind set, appeal to their logos, and help them be more aware of the stereotypes and assumptions

people make. Through these, she teaches how these single stories influence the entire world, and

how people are treated because of it, along with the eye-opening awareness that comes with

realizing the impact of single stories.

Adichie begins by describing her childhood, and her experience reading and writing. She

delivers it from her own first-person point of view, in a speech format. Her experience is the first
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introduction to the effect of a single story. She explains, “Because all I had read were books in

which characters were foreign, I had become convinced that books by their very nature had to

have foreigners in them and had to be about things with which I could not personally identify”

(1:35). Even at such a young age, the British and American books she was reading as a nigerian

child, affected her view on herself, and overall literature. She made these assumptions, because

she did not know any better. Those were the only stories she had to go off of, causing her to

believe that she could not personally identify with stories. She had not yet been exposed to

African literature. The American and British stories were a single story in her life. She

emphasizes this point when she describes her early writing saying, “I wrote exactly the kinds of

stories I was reading” (0:31). She states that her characters were British and American, based on

the types of stories she was familiar with. This stereotype about what literature was supposed to

be took away Adichie’s creativity and freedom of how she could have written as a child, if

exposed to the literature of her own and other cultures. She finalizes this point about literature in

her childhood when she says, “the unintended consequence was that I did not know that people

like me could exist in literature” (2:28). The words “unintended consequence” tell us how it is

not a purposeful idea to create single stories of different things, rather than something that just

happens while we are unaware.

She continues with an experience from when she moved to America to go to college. She

discusses how she was viewed by both her American roommate and professor. Her experiences

compare her own view to the American views of “African Authenticity”. She says, “In fact, I did

not know what African authenticity was... [my characters] were not starving. Therefore, they

were not authentically African” (7:23). Her professor thought her characters were not authentic

due to them not being what he perceived as authentic.This is one example of how Adichie was
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stereotyped as an African in American, along with her roommate assuming she did not know

how to use a stove, and being surprised when Adichie listened to Mariah Carey. Due to only

having the knowledge of poverty and despair, the Americans she encountered did not have the

knowledge of what Africa is really like, or what to expect from her, even though they thought

they did. This automatic assumption is made by everybody as a natural reaction, which is why

stereotypes exist at all. But they create false ideas and can ultimately lead to offensive

interpretations.

Adichie explains an example of how this stereotype of African Authenticity might have

come to be, specifically through western literature. She speaks about the London merchant, John

Lok, who wrote about “the black Africans as "beasts who have no houses," and saying, "They

are also people without heads, having their mouth and eyes in their breasts.” (6:26)”. This

writing was given to all the white people for them to “learn” about the African people. And with

that being all they are given and could possibly know about the African people, they most likely

assumed the worst. Because as we have seen time and time again, that is human nature. John

Lok’s story started the tradition of writing about Africa as “a place of negatives, of difference, of

darkness, of people who, in the words of the wonderful poet Rudyard Kipling, are "half devil,

half child." (6:56).” As we now know, of course these things are not true. But, it also begs the

question about the untrue stereotypes told in modern day. People all over the world are fed the

story of a poverty stricken, AIDs-ridden country full of wars and poverty, that should be pitied.

Adichie continues speaking about how although some of that may be true, there is so much more

love and culture in Africa not spoken of. Her own story takes place in a middle-class household,

with a kind family. Yet, she still was stereotyped when she came to America, just for the color of

her skin and place of origin.

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Adichie finishes by asking rhetorical questions that lead the audience to continue

thinking, even beyond her speech. She explained how she viewed the country of Mexico from

the single story she was given, before she traveled there later in her life. She continues and asks,

“what if before my Mexican trip, I had followed the immigration debate from both sides, the

U.S. and the Mexican?” (14:00). In this example, the sides switch from her being stereotyped in

her own culture, to stereotyping another. She tells how she was ashamed of herself for basing her

views on this single story, but millions of Americans still see through the view of this single

story without blinking an eye. Adichie tries to bring awareness, and offer these eye-opening

experiences to more people. She asks the question, “what if we had an African television

network that broadcast diverse African stories all over the world?” (14:00). And what if we did?

If more stories were available to the world, it would have more to go off of. This larger

awareness would destroy the “African authenticity” stereotype, and the world would more

accurately understand the true African culture. This is what “the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe

calls "a balance of stories." (14:00). This balance is an equal amount of stories told to represent

everyone around the world. The more stories that are told, the greater the knowledge and

understanding of them. With this equal balance, everyone would be understood.

Adichie’s point behind this speech can be applied in more ways than just the idea of the

continent and people of Africa. This newfound awareness can be taken down to a personal,

day-to-day level. For example, the first impression you might receive from your new roommate,

just as Adicie faced when she first came to American. When we open our minds to a new

perspective, it is so much easier to be kind and understand other people. The danger of a single

story can be spotted every day. Politicians use it constantly to persuade people to believe the

same as them. People use it when they are trying to understand a classmate or peer based on their
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limited experience and information. Having a more open understanding and wider knowledge is

possible by just educating ourselves beyond the single story.

Adichie’s story encourages audiences to look further beyond the single story. Her use of

personal examples, stories of western literature, and use of “what-if” questions, lead people to

open their eyes to a new way of thinking and viewing the world around them. Using these

principles appeals to people’s logos and convinces them of a way to better understand and care

about others. She encourages her audience to expand their knowledge and educate themselves. A

worldwide greater knowledge would help people understand others and be more compassionate,

overall making the world a better place.

Works Cited:

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story” TEDGlobal. TED conference,

Oxford, UK. July 2009.

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?la

nguage=en