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Summary Of The Danger Of A Single Story By Adichie

1080 Words5 Pages

Yash Patel
Course: Summer ELA
Due Date: 9/8/2017

Ted Talk Video - The Danger Of A Single Story By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Summary Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talked about the danger of a single story. The danger of a single story is that it can be a stereotype, which is contrived from news and other people. And, the stereotype gets larger and larger until people believe that it is an actual proven fact. Adichie’s main point is that people should never have a single conjecture of a place, event, or people. For example, Adichie’s roommate was startled to hear Adichie speak English so well, because her roommate has been in the dark for so long and didn’t know that Nigeria’s official language is indeed English. Adichie wishes people to not think …show more content…

She declared that she isn’t a scholar in English or literature, since she mostly succeeds in Mathematics and Sciences. Tan’s mother is Chinese who struggles speaking perfect English. So, her mother speaks what Tan calls “Broken English” which is grammatically incorrect English made of all kinds of small phrases and words that don’t quite fit together. Amy Tan says that her family language is an important element which played a role in shaping her identity. Language and identity are both linked in Tan’s life because since childhood, Amy Tan has been exposed to different kinds of Englishes from her mother, herself, and later her husband. “Broken English” has been a part of everyday life for Tan and her family. Amy discerns everything that her mother says perfectly and vividly, while others only understand half of it or none of it. For example, Tan’s mother requisitioned Amy to call people and act like she was her mother, Mrs. Tan, and speak in “Perfect English” for her. So, Tan’s mother would attempt to whisper behind the phone, but would vociferate anyways, and Amy would translate her mother’s “Broken English” to “Perfect English.” These different Englishes made Amy Tan who she is in present day. Finally, Tan viewed herself as an intelligent daughter of a Chinese mother and a good wife of her spouse, who spoke many different kinds of Englishes with her family. In conclusion, Amy Tan …show more content…

The dangers of a single story relates to Cultural Identity in this novel. Things Fall Apart shows the vulnerabilities of a single story in multifarious divergent points in the novel. One paradigm is when most of the villagers have a single story of the European missionaries of how they are harmless fools. This single story is very jeopardous because the missionaries are genuinely very perspicacious and advanced than the villagers, and they have come to help the small villages grow economies and to spread Christianity. But, most of the villagers only have one indivisible story of the foolish white missionaries. Another exemplar is when Okonkwo has a single story of the puissant Umuofia clan, in which he thinks that the people of Umuofia are immoderately doughty, vigorous, intrepid, and would protect the clan at all costs. The reader knows what really happens later in the story, the people of Umuofia don’t safeguard their home against the missionaries. Instead, they convert to Christianity and let the clan suffer and crumble. One can infer that having a single tale is indeed perilous after

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