The Danger Of A Single Story Summary

Writer, Chimamanda Adichie, in her speech, The Danger Of a Single Story, discusses why having a single story can be dangerous because of the vulnerability they produce and the likeness of one falling for them. She adopts a candid tone to demonstrate to her audience that having a single story is no joking matter and it should be taken seriously because she had experienced herself . Adichie, in particular, uses her personal story of when she was a child to establishing that as a child she felt susceptible to these single stories totally unaware of what she was truly doing. Due to her audience being well-educated, sophisticated and, white. She then appeals to the audience’s rational thinking as she states, “...this demonstrates...how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story, particularly children.”(1:43) because it emphasizes that as children, many know that they are very gullible, therefore, it's easy for these single stories to shape little children’s viewpoints. Adichie does this in order to establish her credibility by claiming, “Because all I had read were books in which characters were …show more content…
By using a vociferous tone she now capitalizes that as she read books by Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye Adichie realized that people like her "could also exist in literature."(2:14) As it changed her perception she is quick to say, "I loved those American and British books...they opened up new worlds for me."(2:35) to express that she still appreciated what the foreign books provided for her as a child. She soon starts to appeal to Pathos as Adichie emphasizes "the discovery of African writers...saved me from having a single story..."(2:50) Though, this is only towards characters from a book, not actual people. Adichie manages to get her purpose across, that as a child, we are more susceptible to believing a single