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A Single Story

814 Words4 Pages

Every story has at least two sides, but what happens if you are only told one? How does this affect your perspective? According to Chimamanda Adiche, “…show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” Her quote is one of many examples of why a single story is dangerous. There are many other dangers of a single story as shown in the essay Disability by Nancy Mairs and by my own personal experiences. The essay Disability shows the consequences of a single story towards disability, disabled people, and able-bodied people, and my own experiences show how a single story affects the number of women in the field of science, technology, engineering, and math. Firstly, the dangers of a single story …show more content…

I am a female in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and when I started high school, I was shocked by the low number of women in STEM compared to the number of men. In my opinion, this is due to the misrepresentation of traditional STEM fields. Men are predominately featured in the media as having STEM based careers, which can be extremely discouraging to women who wish to pursue a career in STEM. The traditional single story depicted here is that STEM is a field for men and that it is not a place for women. This can be very intimidating as a woman who wishes to pursue a career in engineering. In my computer science class last semester, I was one of two women in a group of upwards of 20 students. It was discouraging to look around and only see one other woman in that class. The consequences of this single story are clear, if women are not encouraged to pursue careers in the field of STEM, then the overall field of STEM will not reach its full potential. Women bring a new perspective to the table, that the field of STEM is lacking, and it is crucial that they are involved in the field of STEM. This is how the single story of men in STEM careers affects STEM as a whole along with the consequences it has on our society. In conclusion, a single story is dangerous because it can subconsciously and potentially negatively affect a person’s view on a topic. This has been shown by the essay Disability about how a single story affects how we view disability, along with my own experiences, and how a single story regarding STEM affects the number of women in that field. I encourage you now to delve deeper into issues and expose yourself to the many stories of a topic. Do not limit yourself to just one story, as only one story limits

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Melissa Shang decided to attempt to publish a book of a young girl who uses a wheelchair, and she recalled her publishers to give her responses such as “for a girl who was in a wheelchair with a degenerative nerve disease, Mia Lee was just too happy” or how they thought that “Mia Lee’s character didn’t seem suited for a lighthearted story” (Shang). These publishers all had their own views on what disabilities were suppose to look like, they didn’t particularly enjoy Shang’s book as it challenged their perception. Like so, Shang drew the same conclusion, “what she meant is that Mia Lee, my sassy, You-Tube-loving heroine, differed too much from the conversation of what a disabled kid is supposed to be like. There are very few stories about kids in wheelchairs, and there are even fewer with a disabled person who is cheerful and happy. Disability is always seen as a misfortune” (Shang).

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Darroch Koel English102 Dave Rick 3 February 2017 Chimamanda Adichie’s: Danger of a Single Story “The Danger of a Single Story,” by Chimamanda Adichie is a very powerful and moving story. Chimamanda uses some very specific rhetorical techniques to try and shed light on a problem that she sees that needs to be fixed. Her Audience is the everyone of all ages, but more specifically to white Americans.

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In the essay, “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs uses humorous diction and a positive tone to educate people about life as a cripple and struggles of people with disabilities. She does this to show how hard it is to be disabled and how it differs from the life of someone without a disability. She talks about the struggles and the fears that disabled people must deal with on a daily basis. Mairs use of rhetoric creates a strong sense of connection and understanding for the reader. Nancy Mairs is successful in using detailed imagery, diction, and tone to educate her readers about the difficulties of living with a disability.

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This brings domestic females in STEM fields extra stress and negative academic performance in the United States. In the article, Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science? (Written by Eileen Pollack, published at New York Times Magazine October 3, 2013), the writer illustrates the sex bias in the science field by providing the examples of female scientists in STEM fields. Meg Urry is a professor of Physics and astronomy at Yale University.

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How powerful is a single story? At Ted Global 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian novelist, expresses her view of single stories and the ways in which they are used to create stereotypes and divides us as a people. Adichie’s talk, “The Danger of a Single Story”, stimulates careful consideration to what happens when people and situations are reduced to a single narrative. She believes single stories are highly correlated with the power structures of the world and have the ability to strip people of their humanity.

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