The Dangers of a Single Story is a powerful written piece on how single stories can warp and twist our perceptions of things around us. Delivered in a very lively and easy to digest tone, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie recounts her own personal anecdotes to show examples of how our perceptions can warp based off what we hear. The central idea of this piece is to bring attention to how single stories and stereotypes can narrow and close off our thoughts and experiences. Adichie starts off with talking about the books she read as a child, how they were about white children from a completely different setting who spoke about things like the weather, etc. Those stories weren’t a reality for her, nor for thousands of other children around the world, they were the only books she had access to. This cemented her curiosity and wonder for how literature is different for people, it’s all subjective. From then on, she taps into stories that followed how single stories or narratives of people can alter the way they think about others. Stereotypes and single stories differ from each other, stereotypes arise from single stories. They have a cause-and-effect relationship, which is brought to life within this piece.
The information given throughout the piece really informs and shifts the gears of how Assistive Technology is viewed. There is a skewed view of how this technology really impacts people. So many single stories of how this technology works and its purpose are often misunderstood by the public. It makes me really look intently and have well developed research to make my project as effective as it could be.
Peer Discussion Response – “Hello Lorraine, I really enjoyed the way you went into depth on how Ms. Ngozi approach her talk on this topic. I never really thought to consider how she spoke to her listeners and how she presented her information. I realized that it was impactful in the way she used her experiences and how she learned from them while understanding that this idea of a “single story” impacts every person.”
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