The Dangers Of A Single Story

Question 1

Title

Answer 1

The use of the word “danger” in the title implies that single stories can be harmful

This foreshadows the main argument in the speech

Question 2

Childlike language

Answer 2

“Whose kinky hair could not form ponytails” and “crayon illustrations”
This demonstrates that we are fed these single stories from a young age

Question 3

Anecdote

Answer 3

Personal anecdotes are used to illustrate how these examples affected the way Adichie thought

This is a persuasive technique used to add reliability to her arguments

Question 4

First Person Narrative

Answer 4

The first person narrative establishes a personal, confidential tone

Question 5

Syntactic Parallelism

Answer 5

“We never talked about the weather” parallels with “they talked a lot about the weather”, indicating the difference between a story and reality

Question 6

Juxtaposition

Answer 6

Adichie juxtaposes the “single” story with “a few personal stories” that she wants to tell us

This highlights that there is always more than one narrative

Question 7

Emotive language

Answer 7

Adichie uses “impressionable and vulnerable” to reflect on the harmfulness of these stories

She uses words with negative connotations, such as “fleecing” and “sneaking” to highlight how negatively the media can present certain cultures

Question 8

Repetition

Answer 8

The repetition of “stories” and “stories matter” emphasise their huge importance in how the world is shaped