"I'm a storyteller"

1st person declarative short sentence for impact, stark, uses ethos to capture attention and establish
trust

"what I like to call "the danger of the single story.""

enticing, change of tone to something less light-hearted and serious, contrary to her initial friendly
comfortable tone

"My mother says I started reading at the age of two, although I think four is probably close to the truth"

humorous and relatable with her mother proudly boasting her daughter's intelligence, this continues in
next paragraph and so is in that sense relatable but simultaneously makes her case already of the
concept of a single story

"all my characters were white and blue eyed" in contrast to "we never talked about the weather,
become there was no need to..."

anecdote, long sentence for effect, could not relate, stories told from Eurocentric perspective, also
stereotypes whites, parallelism with her life, mangoes v apples, only ever heard a story about white
people but also talks of weather, she had stereotyped the whites on how they talk about weather but
does not denigrate, had never been outside of Nigeria so only exposed to one story, very different
lives/realities

Listing when describing white people

accumulative effect made and displays scale of disparity between her and the characters she read about,
how removed and separate western stories were in comparison to her life

"I went through a mental shift...I realized"

highlights her epiphany and enlightenment that people like her could "exist" strong emotive verb, to
even exist was such a blessing and shock to her

"how impressionable and vulnerable" "weren't quiet as easy to find"

her naivety as a child affected her perception, also highlights how stories can have large impact, she
assumed books were to be written about what is foreign to her, she was a minority, "Now" indicates
tonal shift, very reflective and serious, peripheral cultures excluded from books

"girls with skin the colour of chocolate, whose kinky hair could not form ponytails"

alliteration and metaphor to emphasise and appreciate/celebrate people of her kind, contrast to line 8
white blue eyed, found identity and confidence, views changed because her kind existed in literature
"So what the discovery of African writers did for me was this: it saved me from having a single story of
what books are"

generic white people books restricted her imagination, her horizons now broadened as she has access to
new stories and cultures, it wasn't a competition she appreciated both but it allowed her to discover and
find herself in lit., delineates her point that more than one story brings balance, "saved" alludes to
danger, emotive, two clauses reflected of two stories

Fide's story "It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something."
anecdote

taken aback, had blithe pity, dehumanising and derogative but understandable, only ever exposed to
one narrative, made assumptions of him and his family as though poverty is crippling, almost ignorance
how she was unable to look over their poverty

"Years later...My American roommate was shocked by me"

Nigeria third world country so assumed Adichie was underdeveloped due to media single story, the
separation in location and barrier created by media caused stereotypes, all she had ever heard, isolates
stove sentence for humour/impact, almost stupid, stigma around third world, Mariah Carey anecdote
again highlights ridiculous nature of stereotypes almost dehumanising

"SHe assumed that I did not know how to use a stove."

Again ridiculous, stand alone paragraph to highlight shock factor and ignorance, very blunt tone

"My roommate had a single story of Africa; a single story of catastrophe. In this single story.." and "no
possibility" climactic tricolon

repetitive triplet of single story, her sympathy was good intentioned but misplaced, in RM's mind all
ideas of africa had been drilled into her, default feeling of nothing but pity, blinded by one biased
narrow minded narrative, believed they were so different and could not associate/relate, no is a
determiner

"I began to understand...Africa was a place of beautiful landscapes...and incomprehensible...waiting to

be saved by a kind, white foreigner"

can almost sympathize with RM, understandable granted her being fed by popular images and media,
the and is used to separate and juxtapose the two stories also speaks on voluntourism, not too critical,
contrasts beautiful (her view) to senseless (first world view), mentions her view of how she saw Fide to
humanise her and to not appear holier than thou

"Btu I must quickly add that I too am just as guilty..."

hasty to include herself, integrity and humanizes her through anecdote, admits out of humility

"synonymous with Mexicans. There were endless stories...that sort of thing"

people associated and attached negative notions to mexicans, endless stories surrounding one story,
bombarded with repeated narrative, presumptions stemmed from debates, emphasises how easily false
narratives unravel, "that sort of thing" dismissive, doesn't believe anymore

"I remember first feeling slight surprise, And then, I was overwhelmed with shame."

shock factor like roommate, "and then" non standard english, realisation led to embarrassment,
separation of sentences mirrors process of epiphany

"I had been so immersed in the media...become one thing...the abject immigrant"

Had dehumanised and reduced them to a story, the media had projected it onto her, does not blame
media but herself, surrounded by one opinion and "bought into" sterotyoes and prejudice

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

moves away from anecdote, tonal shift, morphing of general publics view by only exposing self to one
story, perception changes, "over and over" repetition for the extensive broadcast of a single story

"Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign"

climactic tricolon of anaphora for effect, emotive contrasting verbs emphasise stories and her need for
variety, stories can break and fix, important and power in it, encourages to listen to all, brings awareness
to evil within certain stories to, danger of creating stigma and taint an idea/people

"we reject the single story, when we realize there is never a single story about any place, we regain a
kind of paradise"

idea of heavenly bliss when you simply listen, something within stirs and is awakened, two or more sides
to every story concept, many perspectives to be considered, validation from others does not verify a
story, do not be impressionable, "we" inclusive because everyone is guilty, also suggests that single
stories have led to a fall from former grace

Usage of 2nd person

creates a sense of dialogue and conversation with reader, more personal