Danger of a single story Flashcards
Title:
‘The Danger’
Foreshadows the main argument that a limited view of something can be dangerous.
Sets up a cautionary tone (serious tone of warning) for the speech.
Title: ‘Story’
Story becomes a metaphor for stereotypes. Story is used to represent that stereotypes are fiction, made up, not really true.
She is saying we need to approach stories in the media with caution, scepticism.
Paragraph 1: ‘I’m a storyteller’
Instant engagement- people like stories and we anticipate what she is going to tell us.
Paragraph 1: ‘few personal stories’ and ‘What I like to call “the danger of a single story”
We know the speech is going to be anecdotal(personal about herself) which sets up a LIGHT-HEARTED THEME.
BUT
The title is a reminder of cautionary serious warning about what this speech is about. This JUXTAPOSES the light-hearted tone of telling personal stories which we saw in the phrase’ few personal stories’.
Paragraph 1: ‘I think four is probably close to the truth’
This shows she is being honest and credible(using the technique of ethos).
She is not exaggerating, she is being realistic- it makes the reader more inclined to believe what she is saying.
Paragraph 2: ‘my poor mother was obligated to read’
She uses HUMOUR. The audience can relate to what she is saying(pathos). As children , we have all subjected our mums to this.
Humour makes her relatable and easy to connect with.
Paragraph 2: ‘all my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather, how lovely it was that the sun had come out
She lists the (American/English related) things she used to read about. Listing things creates a monotonous, uninspired tone-like she was bored reading about these relatable things.
Paragraph 3: ‘we didn’t have snow, we ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to’
She uses another list to juxtapose how the things in these books contrasted her real life.
The things in the book are the antithesis of what she had in her life in Nigeria.
Paragraph 4: ‘impressionable and vulnerable’ and ‘children’
This is emotive language- emotive words
This creates a shift in tone-the speech is becoming more serious now.
Paragraph 4: ‘we are in the face of a story’
Collective pronoun ‘we’ creates a shared message.
She is including herself and everyone in this message.
She creates unity with the audience.
Paragraph 5: ‘writer like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye’
She is using ethos again-making herself sound credible and believable.
She is showing she is well read on this topic, like she is authority on this topic and knows what she is talking about.
Paragraph 6:
‘I loved those American and British books I read’
She compliments the audience (which is likely full of English and American Viewers).
She doesn’t want to put off the audience, she makes herself likeable.
Paragraph 6:
‘So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this : ’
Colon-emphasises the next clause( a really important message in the speech is coming up)
‘IT SAVED ME FROM HAVING A SINGLE STORY OF WHAT BOOKS ARE’. - ‘saved’ juxtaposes the idea of ‘danger’ in the title of the speech. She is highlighting that stories can either damage us or they can save us. They are very powerful tools.
Paragraph 7: “Finish your food! Don’t you know? People like Fide’s family have nothing”
Pathos. The impression of her mother is humorous and we relate to it adding to her likeability and relatability.
Here she is setting up the single story she had about Fide’s family (in the next paragraph)
Paragraph 8: ‘Then one Saturday’ and ‘Years Later (paragraph 9)’
Expressions of time. This is a typical storytelling technique and allows her to build up her argument with different examples.
