Danger of a single story - ignorance and prejudice

Question 1

‘What this demonstrates, I think, is how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story’ (14-15)

Answer 1

Adichie’s precise use of diction (e.g. ‘impressionable’ and ‘vulnerable’) underscores her argument that everyone is susceptible to being ignorant and prejudiced.

Question 2

‘She asked if she could listen to what she called my “tribal music”, and was consequently very disappointed when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey.’ (45-47)

Answer 2

Adichie’s repetition of ‘single story’ underlines its importance to the prejudice displayed by Adichie’s roommate. Similarly, the anaphora of ‘no possibility’, reiterates the narrow-mindedness of people’s perceptions of Africa. Furthermore, the diction of ‘tribal’ captures how reductive others’ views of Africa are.

Question 3

‘There were endless stories of Mexicans as people who were fleecing the healthcare system, sneaking across the border, being arrested at the border, that sort of thing.’ (65-66)

Answer 3

Adichie uses emotive language (e.g. ‘fleecing’, ‘sneaking’) to illustrate how stereotypes are often popularised using hyperbolic language and how simplistic her own views used to be.

Question 4

‘Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.’ (76-77)

Answer 4

Here, the antonyms ‘break’ and ‘repair’ draw attention to the destructive and creative potential of narratives.

Question 5

‘when we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.’ (82-83)

Answer 5

Here, Adichie’s use of metaphor (‘paradise’) reiterates the central message of her speech about rejecting simplistic narratives about people. Indeed, the diction of ‘paradise’ underscores the blissful parity that Adichie feels we can achieve if we refuse to reduce the complexity of life to simplistic narratives. Her allusion to Alice Walker reminds us again of the power of stories.