A Danger of a Single Story

Question 1

What does the title tell us?

Answer 1

Danger —> There is a cautionary tone which foreshadows the main argument
Single story —> Exposes stereotypes

Question 2

Im a storyteller, a few personal stories

Answer 2

Personal pronouns —> Engages the audience

Question 3

I think four is probably close to the truth

Answer 3

Ethos —> which establishes credibility

Question 4

My poor mother was obligated to read

Answer 4

Pathos —> which connotes humour

Question 5

blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples…

Answer 5

Listing —> connotes the monotony and shows how uninspired she actually was

Question 6

impressionable and vulnerable, we

Answer 6

Emotive language used followed by collective pronouns —> Emphasises how inclusive she is as a person

Question 7

I loved those American and British books I read

Answer 7

Complimentary tone —> Engages the audience

Question 8

unintended consequence

Answer 8

Language choice —> evokes the empathetic tone

Question 9

for me it was this: it saved me from…

Answer 9

Colon —> Draws importance to the following clause

Question 10

I come from a conventional…so i felt enormous pity for Fide’s family

Answer 10

Logos —> This highlights the shared experience

Question 11

Their poverty was my single story of them

Answer 11

Logos —> Establishes credibility once again as she critiques herself

Question 12

she assumed that I did not know how to use a stove.

Answer 12

One sentence paragraph —> Evokes the limited view of Africans

Question 13

I would see Africans in the same way that I, as a child, had seen Fide’s family.

Answer 13

Empathetic Tone —> She draws a parallel between herself and her roommate

Question 14

In Guadalajara, watching the people going to work, rolling up tortillas

Answer 14

Lack of conjunction —> Emphasise the endless list

Question 15

What type of story is this?

Answer 15

Speech —> The author aims to inform the audience of her story

Question 16

What is the central argument based on

Answer 16

We shouldn’t stereotype instead, aim to understand people

Question 17

Themes?

Answer 17

Equality and the loss of dignity

Question 18

Structure?

Answer 18

• The speech takes us chronologically through key times in the writer’s life. It starts with Adichie’s recollections of her early reading of Western stories and how they influenced her own youthful writing.
• She then recalls her introduction to African literature and how she realised there was no “single story of what books are”.