Analytical essay

29-08-22

Analytical essay on The danger of a single story

Summary:
The speech The danger of a single story was told by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie at TEDglobal in 2009. Adiche is a storyteller, who tells short, different, and personal
stories. Adiche opens her speech by giving a short introduction about herself. Afterwards, she talks
about her experience when moving from Nigeria to the US, and how western strangers acted as if
they knew everything about her culture. She mentions how people assumed she was a stereotypical
girl from Africa. She also admits that she is not entirely innocent, because she also has had
stereotypical beliefs about people, because of how one is referred to. Lastly, she talks about the
things Africa has achieved, and how it is well-developed in many ways.

Essay:
The dangers of stereotypes are that it creates false assumptions and generalized beliefs about people
from a certain group, country, or continent. These false assumptions can lead to prejudice and
people having one perspective. Most often, these generalized perspectives on people are misleading;
that is exactly what Adiche's speech is about.

Adiche uses ethos in her speech to make her a truthful and reliable person. She appeals to credibility
by giving the audience a backstory about herself. “I grew up on a university campus in eastern
Nigeria” (l.3-4). The fact that she grew up in Nigeria and has an African heritage reinforces the
audience's reliance on her because she knows Nigerian culture.
Furthermore, she creates ethos in her storytelling, when she talks about multiple personal
experiences with “single stories”. “My American roommate was shocked by me. She asked where I
had learned to speak English so well (…) she assumed that I didn’t know how to a stove”. When
Adiche talks about her experiences with being a victim of prejudices, she appears as a qualified
person to talk about this topic and issue which makes her trustworthy.

Adiche also appeals to logic and common sense when using logos. The purpose of holding this
speech is to tell what consequences single stories have and prove to people that there is much more
than just a single story. This example is shown in the following quote “She asked if she could listen
to what she calls my “tribal music” and was consequently disappointed when I produced a tape of
Analytical essay
29-08-22

Maria Carey. In the quotation above a situation between her roommate and Adichie is described.
Her roommate asks Adiche if she can listen to Adiche’s music, and she puts on Maria Carey. Logos
is seen in her answer, where she uses facts as her arguments. The effect of using logos is that it
convinces her audience easier because she appears more well-informed, but it also supports her
point.
Other than that, she uses humor in the same example. She jokes around with the fact of how easily
and ridiculously believes everything they see and hear. This is a sore topic for Adiche because it is
hard to be devalued, but by using humor she breaks the ice from the serious and emotional speech.

Adiche uses pathos when she refers to emotions. which is also shown in the following quote: “But
to insist on only these negative stories is to flatten my experience and to overlook the many other
stories that formed me” The quotation above implies how she feels about people using degrading
expressions about her culture and background. She persuades her audience by talking about her
feelings, and the audience then gains sympathy and feels sorry for her.

A further technique used by Adiche is rhetorical questions. This is seen in the following passage:
“What if my roommate knew about the heart procedure that was performed in Lagos hospital last
week? (…) What if my roommate knew about the female lawyer (…)” (l.31-45). The effect of
asking these questions is that she engages her audience. The aim of these questions is not to get an
answer, but rather to try to prove her point. This also illustrates that Adiche wants to prove the
people with prejudices about her country wrong because she highlights the positive things Africa
has succeeded in.

In conclusion, Adiche is frustrated with people with a limited view of cultures and countries.
Therefore, she uses rhetorical devices as the three forms of appeal, humor, personal experiences,
and rhetorical questions. By using these tools, she talks to people with limited views on cultures
and countries and provides a nuanced view. Secondly, she uses the above-mentioned tools to
maintain the audience's focus and entertainment.