Once Upon a Time... 

     I watched a TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie called, "The Danger of a Single Story." 

     In her story, Chimamanda explains how we live in a world of single stories (which is where stereotypes come from) and we often miss much of the truth because we become so stuck in that one story and do not hear any others, hence, the "danger" of a single story. 

     She begins by explaining how she grew up in Nigeria and read British and American children's books. She also loved writing, but her stories were always about foreigners, never her own life until she discover African literature, which "saved her from a single story of books."

      After describing her background in a middle class family, she goes on to tell a few of her personal experiences. The first was of a house boy, Fide, whose family was poor. When she visited his house, she was shocked that his brother was very talented; she had bought into the single story of his family as poor. Chimamanda had a similar experience when she came to America for school, her room-mate wanted to listen to her "tribal music" and was shocked that Chimamanda listened to Mariah Carey. This came from the single story of Africa that many people have- a poor country fighting wars and dying of AIDS. She goes on with many more examples of people she encountered who had images of something constructed from a single story but her main example was of her own guilt. When she visited Mexico, she had the story of illegal immigrants from the media, and was ashamed at herself for buying into the idea. 

     She continues her talk by exploring the concept of power. Stories are defined by who tells them, when they are told, and why they are told. She says, "Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person."      Chimamanda explains the different stories of her life and how single stories emphasize our differences rather than similarities. She then goes on to ask how each of her examples would be different if the person had a balance of stories rather than a single story. In order to fight against the dangers of single stories, she has started a non-profit organization with libraries in order for people to gain a balance and reject the single story. 

     Chimamanda explains her argument that single stories are dangerous by using ethos, logos, and pathos. In regards to ethos, she has credibility with single stories because of her experience as a writer. Also, she has personal examples which give her a personal insight to the topic. Her use of personal examples is also connected to her use of logos to make her argument. Since her personal connection to the subject, being stereotyped by single stories and doing the same to others, increases her bias towards the subject, she uses a range of examples that her audience can connect to, such as the stories of Africa, Mexico, and American Psycho. The quantity of her evidence strengthens her argument. This is also done through her structure, in which she presents an example of a single story then explains how a balance of stories would affect the example. Also, to gain credibility and support for her argument, she quotes well know authors, such as John Locke, Mourid Barghouti, Chinua Achebe, and Alice Walker. 

     The main technique used in her argument was pathos. Since Chimamanda wanted to convince her audience that the use of single stories was dangerous and we should focus on a balance of stories, she used negative emotions when referring to single stories and positive emotions when talking about having a balance. She did this through the connotations of the words in which she described them with. She describes her own encounters with single stories by saying, "I could not have been more ashamed of myself," and her responses to them as, "a mild fit of irritation." The words ashamed and irritated have a negative connotation and therefore invoke a negative emotional response in the reader.  However, in a very sharp contrast, she describes having a balance of stories as obtaining, "a kind of paradise." The use of the word paradise invokes a positive emotion of happiness or calmness. This contrast in her use of pathos strengthens her argument by forming a deeper connection with her audience.
     I decided to pick this TED talk because of the title, "The Danger of a Single Story." The word danger is what caught my interest; it is not a word that I would usually associate with stories so I wanted to hear her argument. I considered what might cause a story to be dangerous, and my first thought was lies. This reminded me of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where Jekyll is living a lie through his double life and it becomes dangerous as he loses control of his transformations because the real story could get him in trouble (which is where the danger comes from). However, this TED talk was very different that what I was expecting. The danger of a single story was not from a lie but from a single truth that form stereotypes; the danger is ignorance that results from not having a well rounded collection of stories.