Single Stories Research Paper

“[A single story] emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.” -Chimamanda Adichie This is the danger of the single story. It causes us to think very stereotypically about others, which makes you think very poorly about other people. In America there are many stereotypes about all kinds of people, black, white, asian, hispanic, the list goes on and on. These single stories can actually cause people to not receive jobs and get people into trouble. The biggest problem with single stories is how they affect our views on equality towards one another. They cause some people who are closed-minded to believe that they are better than others through the single stories they were brought up to believe. A good example of this is on the news, you always tend to hear about black people getting arrested for raping, murdering, or mugging a victim. It makes certain people believe that they are dangerous people. A great, yet sad example of this was shown in an article called “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples. During the opening paragraphs he states how when he was younger in his teen years, he was just walking home during a late evening, and there was a …show more content…
To be a child and to continuously and repetitively hear all of these single stories causes you to actually believe them, no matter how terrible they are. They make you have very strong opinions about people, and you’ll be reluctant to change them from all of the stories you heard growing up. A single story I had when I was young was that drug addicts are always crazy and unpleasant. I mean, being a drug addict isn’t good, but I had an aunt named Bell and she was always sweet to be around, and I never would have guessed that she was a drug addict. Maybe it was because I was young and ignorant, and didn’t see signs, but she always seemed happy and a joy to be around. This proves that not all single stories you hear are