Chimanada Ngozi Adichie's The Arrangers Of Marriage

How Does Adichie Use the Setting to Display the Danger of a Single Story?

Have you ever been effected by a setting or an group of people within that setting, these stories both use setting to portray how the characters feel .In both “The american embassy” and “The Arrangers of Marriage” written by Chimanada Ngozi Adichie apply setting to show the danger of a single story could influence people and families living in both Nigeria and America. In the story “the american embassy” the importance of the title displays where the story is set which is the american embassy in Nigeria Lagos, this title also shows what the protagonist is trying to receive from the american embassy which is a visa. In the story “the arrangers of marriage” the title refers

“This is not nigeria where you shout out to the conductor he said sneering as though he was the who made the superior american system”(Adichie 173). In this quote Adichie shows how there can be different perspectives coming from different locations for example Dave believed that people in Nigeria were loud and poor and Chinzan believed people in america believed that they were superior. Adichie uses the setting of america to show how different single story could be exercised in different countries also shows that where you came from and could affect how you develop single storys. In this story Dave and Chinazan both come from nigeria, Chinazan lived in NIgeria longer than Dave this affects the development of a single story, since Chinazan lived in nigeria for a longer time she is less open to the fact of conforming to American society, whereas Dave is used to living and conforming to america this created different single storys used in the story .The single story is show when Dave believes that everyone in america celebrates american traditions and speaks english, Although in New York there are multiple different cultures and languages Although Dave tries to conform to american traditions. This shows danger within this single story because it could potentially change Chinazan views on her culture and future coming to american.

In the story “arrangers of marriage” the setting shows how the cultural change that chinaza has to go through with Dave and how she had to change herself so that she doesn't stand out and is easier to deal with the american culture. In the story “the american embassy” Adichie shows how the setting could also mean the people living around them for example how the men that killed the ugonna the protagonist son. Similarly the setting around the american embassy represents the single story with the beggars and newspaper stands trying to get money from the people in the american embassy line. The setting in the story the “arrangers of marriage” the setting mostly took place in chinaza and dave's apartment in brooklyn the setting. In the story “the american embassy” half of the story takes place waiting in line for the american embassy in Lagos Nigeria and the other half takes place in her and her sons house in Nigeria. In both of these stories Adichie shows the protagonist was trying to adapt to their settings and and the people within their settings affect the way they perceive them self and the way others perceive them. For example when Chinaza from the story was in her friend's Nia’s apartment “Oh I said and shook my head;she,a black American, had a chosen an african name, while my husband made