The Danger Of A Single Story Summary

The TEDtalk video of Chimamanda Adichie’s, “The Danger of a single story” deals with how the spread of havoc stories about a culture, or personal experiences that leave only the negative aspects having people believe them. Adichie explains from these single stories we overhear develops stereotypes that give us an idea about a person or heritage we may not even fully comprehend. She tells about her Nigerian childhood when she started reading at the age of four and the books were British and American with only positive stories about white people. Later on as Adichie grew up, she noticed that in the stories told about African cultures, seemed to want people to feel pity about the places they’ve come from. The various misconceptions that people assume about someone or a culture based on what they hear deflects us from actually getting to know that culture or person. Simply because we assume we already know. Adichie influences the audience by the way she says that these single stories are true but insufficient. Making the one tragic story the only story people …show more content…
When she mentions her first time in Guadalajara, Mexico when she saw groups of Mexicans around most of the small shops all she could think of was if they’re selling drugs or planning to cross the border. Adichie than claims she was guilty for believing in that one single story about Mexicans and further assumed that about all Mexicans. She used the other side of believing the single story to show that people are just easily influenced by what they hear about a person or culture. Importantly Adichie’s view from the other side of the single story reveals that these stories are not enough to jump to conclusions about a person or lifestyle that we’ve never completely