The Danger of a Single Story Flashcards
TAP
T: speech
A: western, educated, interested
P: to inform & persuade to challenge prejudice
‘all my characters were white and blue-eyes, they played in the snow, they ate apples and they talked a lot about the weather…’ vs ‘we didn’t have snow, we ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather…’
stereotypes are dangerous
juxtaposition/antithesis - difference between stereotype/generalisation & reality
‘all’ - no exceptions
list - monotonous, uninspiring
tricolon - persuasive
personal pronouns ‘they’ vs ‘we’ - separation & otherness
‘mental shift’…‘people like me, girls with skin the colour of chocolate…could also exist in literature.’
stories are empowering
optimistic tone
‘shift’ - difference
‘chocolate’ - positive metaphor, sweet & delicious, universal positive association & author sees herself as equal to or better than whites
‘it saved me from having a single story of what books are.’
stereotypes are dangerous
‘saved’ - rescue, help, otherwise dangerous, negative, harmful
cautionary, warning
anaphora of ‘single story’ - emphasise title & purpose
‘people like Fide’s family have nothing’
everyone stereotypes
anecdote - persuasive bc personal & tangible to audience
‘people like’ - general stereotype, distance
‘nothing’ - hyperbole & absolute - closed-minded
‘she assumed I did not know how to use a stove.’
single line paragraph - limited view & lack of understanding
‘assumed’ - stereotype, prejudge
‘know’ - question intelligence, derogatory
‘no possibility of Africans being similar to her…no possibility of feelings…no possibility of a connection…’
anaphora of ‘no possibility’ - narrow-minded, impossible, unachievable, extremity of racism
asyndeton - stereotyping has many consequences
tricolon crescendo with ‘connection’ being ultimate bond & positivity - optimism contrasted by negativity
‘I too am just as guilty in the question of the single story’
personal pronoun ‘I’ - close connection with audience
‘too’ - relatable
‘guilty’ - stereotyping is a crime, self-critique
shows her expectations & lesson is reasonable & non-hypocritical
‘show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again’
anaphora - entrapment, dehumanising
relentlessness of minimisation
short paragraph - emphasis, direct address
‘stories matter. many stories matter.’
plural ‘stories’ - multiple perspectives
repetition & short sentences - memorable & persuasive
‘stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.’
polyptoton ‘break’ & ‘broken’ - extreme power of story - wide-ranging
‘when we reject the single story, when we realise…we regain a sense of paradise.’
pronoun ‘we’ - collective, universally important
‘paradise’ - connotes heaven, purity, joy
structure
anaphora of ‘single story’ - emphasise purpose & message
personal anecdotes to relate to audience & more persuasive
repetition of pronoun ‘we’ - includes herself, everyone stereotypes
comparative points
persuasive style, educational tone
personal experience
optimistic conclusions
culture
oppression
