A Reflection: The Danger of a Single Story
As most people, my story consists of an abundance of struggle, trial and error, and also lessons. These challenges, in addition to the lessons, have brought upon stress, anxiety, and even depression into my life. They have made me question myself to the point of insanity, avoid meeting and accepting new people into my life, and even fail to uphold the bonds I had previously made with both relatives and peers. However, I cannot be defined and bound to the “single story” of my anxiety. There are many more complex stories that represent me even more adequately than the ones that correspond to the struggles I’ve faced; as there are many more stories significant to other various people, places and things …show more content…
For example, she conveys that it is dangerous because it promotes stereotypes and deprives people of the knowledge of other cultures outside of their own. Consequently, she thoroughly described her own experience with her American roommate at University and stereotypes by referring to what her roommate was taught about Nigerian people: that they were sheltered and unintelligent especially when it came to technology. She also flawlessly pointed out that she was even guilty of believing the single story she knew about the boy who worked for her family and his home life. She knew they were poor, so she assumed that they were also inadequate and untalented in all aspects of their lives. Thus, she was unable to be angry with her American roommate: Adichie realized herself that single story stereotypes was an issue that is wide-spread, not just in certain areas of the …show more content…
The human brain is not built solely to retain logical information for lengthened periods of time. Furthermore, the brain prefers retaining stories containing vivid language and essentially feeds off of it. Overall, it is less taxing to believe a single story than it is to accept that there are other important facts and opinions separate from the ones that they are aware of that make up a person, place, or idea. For instance, if a Caucasian child’s parents taught him or her to be racist against African Americans, the child would then become unaware of some of the most influential in the world since he or she was brought up thinking that all African Americans were incompetent compared to the Caucasian race. In addition, stereotyping threatens individuality which is an important value to the United States and is also becoming an increasingly widespread value as well. Certain general stereotypes such as “all women are bad at math” can prevent women who excel in math to pursue a career in it and can directly correlate to the statistic that men are more likely to join a mathematic field. Women, or anyone for that matter, can become afraid of expressing their talents due to stereotyping. Finally, stereotypes are dangerous because the youth are more prone to abiding by general stereotypes and hindering their own personal growth just to blend in with their peers.
As most people, my story consists of an abundance of struggle, trial and error, and also lessons. These challenges, in addition to the lessons, have brought upon stress, anxiety, and even depression into my life. They have made me question myself to the point of insanity, avoid meeting and accepting new people into my life, and even fail to uphold the bonds I had previously made with both relatives and peers. However, I cannot be defined and bound to the “single story” of my anxiety. There are many more complex stories that represent me even more adequately than the ones that correspond to the struggles I’ve faced; as there are many more stories significant to other various people, places and things …show more content…
For example, she conveys that it is dangerous because it promotes stereotypes and deprives people of the knowledge of other cultures outside of their own. Consequently, she thoroughly described her own experience with her American roommate at University and stereotypes by referring to what her roommate was taught about Nigerian people: that they were sheltered and unintelligent especially when it came to technology. She also flawlessly pointed out that she was even guilty of believing the single story she knew about the boy who worked for her family and his home life. She knew they were poor, so she assumed that they were also inadequate and untalented in all aspects of their lives. Thus, she was unable to be angry with her American roommate: Adichie realized herself that single story stereotypes was an issue that is wide-spread, not just in certain areas of the …show more content…
The human brain is not built solely to retain logical information for lengthened periods of time. Furthermore, the brain prefers retaining stories containing vivid language and essentially feeds off of it. Overall, it is less taxing to believe a single story than it is to accept that there are other important facts and opinions separate from the ones that they are aware of that make up a person, place, or idea. For instance, if a Caucasian child’s parents taught him or her to be racist against African Americans, the child would then become unaware of some of the most influential in the world since he or she was brought up thinking that all African Americans were incompetent compared to the Caucasian race. In addition, stereotyping threatens individuality which is an important value to the United States and is also becoming an increasingly widespread value as well. Certain general stereotypes such as “all women are bad at math” can prevent women who excel in math to pursue a career in it and can directly correlate to the statistic that men are more likely to join a mathematic field. Women, or anyone for that matter, can become afraid of expressing their talents due to stereotyping. Finally, stereotypes are dangerous because the youth are more prone to abiding by general stereotypes and hindering their own personal growth just to blend in with their peers.