A Danger of a Single Story Flashcards
What does the title tell us?
Danger —> There is a cautionary tone which foreshadows the main argument
Single story —> Exposes stereotypes
Im a storyteller, a few personal stories
Personal pronouns —> Engages the audience
I think four is probably close to the truth
Ethos —> which establishes credibility
My poor mother was obligated to read
Pathos —> which connotes humour
blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples…
Listing —> connotes the monotony and shows how uninspired she actually was
impressionable and vulnerable, we
Emotive language used followed by collective pronouns —> Emphasises how inclusive she is as a person
I loved those American and British books I read
Complimentary tone —> Engages the audience
unintended consequence
Language choice —> evokes the empathetic tone
for me it was this: it saved me from…
Colon —> Draws importance to the following clause
I come from a conventional…so i felt enormous pity for Fide’s family
Logos —> This highlights the shared experience
Their poverty was my single story of them
Logos —> Establishes credibility once again as she critiques herself
she assumed that I did not know how to use a stove.
One sentence paragraph —> Evokes the limited view of Africans
I would see Africans in the same way that I, as a child, had seen Fide’s family.
Empathetic Tone —> She draws a parallel between herself and her roommate
In Guadalajara, watching the people going to work, rolling up tortillas
Lack of conjunction —> Emphasise the endless list
What type of story is this?
Speech —> The author aims to inform the audience of her story
What is the central argument based on
We shouldn’t stereotype instead, aim to understand people
Themes?
Equality and the loss of dignity
Structure?
- 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”.