Danger of a single story

type of extract

speech - refer to audience

‘My mother said I started reading at the age of two, although I think four is probably closer to the truth‘

ethos, establishes credibility, connecting with the audience by making a good first impression

I wrote exactly the kind of stories I was reading and all my character were white and blue eyed, the played in the snow, they ate apples….

listing, creating a sense of monotony and emphasizing the lack of variety in the stories. It highlights the uninspiring and limiting nature of a single narrative."

about her own stories being affected by the single stories she was reading that werent similar to her culture - ‘What this demonstrates,I think, is how immpressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a stroy, especially as children‘

collective prounoun ‘we‘, pathos ‘children‘

now, i loved those american and british book i read

complimentary - engages audience and creates a balance to make sure the speech its too one sided

so what the discovery of african writers did for me was this - it saved me from having a single story of what books were

‘save‘ - opposite of danger in ‘danger of single story‘ - diversity of storiesand not listening to just one is what can ‘save you‘

fides - who she didn’t view as anything but poor before she met their family becasue of the signle story from her mother - ‘their poverty was my single story of them‘

logos - critiques herself, highlights how everyone can stereotype, but including herself in the matter make audience engage and reflect

‘she asked if she could listen to what she called my ‘tribal music’ and was very dissappointed when I produced my tape of mariah carey

contrast to reference to popular culture,emphasises how misinformed her roomate was, use of humour to emphasise that there were no hard feelings and to not get under the impression of a ‘dig‘

‘my roommate had a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe‘

parallel structure - brings attention to the word catastrophe - and highlight what message was relayed to her roommate, catastrphe having very negatvie connotations hgihlihgts the damage on perception of cultures single sotrys can do

‘she assumed that I did not know how to use a stove‘

short simple sentence in a stand alone paragraph- refelcts her limited view of Africa and Africans

in this single story, there was no possiblity of africans being similar to her in any way, no possibility of feelings more complex than pity, no possibilty of a connection as human equals

repetition of negatives and asyndeton highlights the damage of single storys

but i must quickly add that I too am just a guilty

logos, critques herself, suggests shared reponsibility gains audiences trust and makes them reflect

from lines 67-70, she described her perceived views of mexicans with words like ‘fleecing‘ ‘sneaking‘ and ‘being arrested‘ however after travelling there she saw the mexicances were ‘going to work, rolling up tortillas in the marketplace, smoking, laughing.

The first descritions have very negative connotations and these are juxtaposed by the reality of Mexicans, using listing in a positive way to represent how they aren’t how they are reported in the news and the single stories highlihgting their misleading and negatvie impact

I had bought into the single story of Mexicans

phrasal verb - implies we have a choice in whether ‘to buy into‘ the single story and gives the audience a sense of responsibility

so that is how to create a story, show people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again and that is what they become

repetition and asyndeton to mirror the possessive effect of single stories

stories have been used to dispossess and malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize

juxtaposition & antithetis - emphasise the great potential of stories if they are told correcty - hope

The presentation of people, culture and societies through the media and books

‘when we reject the single story, when we realise that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.‘

repetition of when we - the collective pronoun - highlhigting how rejecting single stories is everyones reponsibility.

paradise creates a contrast to ‘danger‘ (of a single story) - shows the postitive outcome of being more open - minded. This word is repeted i the previous paragraph as well