1) The significance of the title, "The Danger of a Single Story", is that it foreshadows and

summarizes the main idea of the lecture. In her lecture, she explains why a single story of a
particular place, or culture could be misleading. She has summarized this whole idea in her title by
using the word 'danger'. It shows that a single story can be misleading, or in other words,
dangerous, and later in her essay she mentions that it could cause irritation and anger among
people who are being affected by the story.
2) The target audience for this lecture are adults who have false image of the world around them.
She uses academic vocabulary, such as vulnerable and incompressible, suggesting older group of
people. Her use of American Psycho as an example suggest that she is relating to older group of
adults as the book was published in 1991, and it was probably very popular during their teenage
time. Also, she refers to Jay-Z, suggesting she might be trying to get to the younger adult group.
Also, she states that children are vulnerable in face of stories. As children look up to an adult in
their life, adults should be the one understanding this issue so children do not grow up with false
images. This lecture was a form of narration, serving the purpose of persuading the listeners that
they shouldn't believe only one story, as it cannot tell the full truth. This can be seen near the end,
where she says, "Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to
malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize."
3) Adichie started her lecture with reference to her childhood readings to show how she was
affected by reading similar stories and foreshadow the topic of the lecture. She states that she
thought all the characters in literature are white because all the stories she read had white
characters. This is an effective introductory strategy because it is humorous and gets readers ready
for her serious experiences, such as university. Also, by telling her own experience, she helps the
readers connect to her on personal level from the start.
4) The significance of the stories of visiting Fide's village and Guadalajara is to tell the audience the
difference between seeing something through your own eyes, and hearing single sided stories from
other people. Adichie's mother had fixed an image inside her head, of Fide and his family being very
poor. When she actually went there, she was shocked to see Fide's mother show her a beautifully
patterned basket made of dyed raffia that his brother had made. She also had false image of
Mexicans because of the stories of them sneaking across the border and being arrested. However,
when she visited Guadalajara, she saw people going to work, eating, smoking and laughing. The
similarity between both of these stories is that Adichie had wrong image of Fide and Mexican
people because of similar, one sided stories from others. But, this resulted in her being shocked or
ashamed when she found out the truth through her own eyes. These stories help prove her point of
why single sided stories shouldn't be trusted. Also, these stories help audience realize that she was
also a victim of single stories, which helps them relate to her better as they feel like they are getting
information from an experienced person.
5) She alluded to American Psycho to prove her point that power instructs how stories are told,
who tells them, when they're told, and how many are told. She talks about how a student at an
university once told her after reading her novel that it was a shame that Nigerian men were
physical abusers. The student had this thought from just that one book. She replies to her by
alluding to American Psycho and stating that it was such a shame that Americans were murderers.
She then states that she never thought that of Americans because of the other stories which are told
about America because it is a powerful country. On the other hand, Nigeria is not such a powerful
country, and anyone will easily make a general false statement such as that by a small novel. By
stating this fact, she proved her point that power instructs story telling.
6) I can connect this to my life and how others interpreted my skin colour. I am from India, but
most people tend to think I am from Sri Lanka because of a darker skin tone. Almost, everyone in
school thought I was from Sri Lanka when they first saw me. It has been four years since I came
from India, and last year a person , who I knew for past three years, was shocked by knowing that I
am not Sri Lankan, but an Indian. Indians are thought of being light skin colour, and if you are
darker, you are automatically considered a Sri Lankan. They are all affected by Indian faces they see
on televisions of either Indian actors, actresses, or politicians. The truth is that Indian people are of
varied skin tone. This use to anger me at first just like Adichie said that generalizations and single
sided stories can irritate and anger people; however, after I got use to it. Now, whenever someone
wonders that, I give them the truth with a smile.
The message that Adichie stated was that power instructs what stories are told and that single
stories should not be used to reach to a conclusion. This message can be used in English class as lots
of stories are read in this class, but only one or two of a particular genre or topic. We shouldn't
make any assumptions in real life because of those stories. For example, recently in our English
class, we read an essay on Jack Layton by a person working with him. We know that Jack Layton
was a n outstanding leader; however, if we weren't aware of that fact, than that essay should not be
used as a basis to make that assumption as it might be biased. Further research should be done to
reach to any conclusions. Also, everything we learn in school about certain events is not entirely
true. For example, we have learned in schools that residential schools are bad. However, there
might be teachers at some of those schools who aren't bad and care about that students. Just like
before, further research will be needed to get to any conclusion.