The Danger of a Single Story Summary

“The Danger of a Single Story” by the novelist Adichie is a narrative on how she developed her literary voice, and she warns people about the dangers of relying on single-sided stories to make conclusions. Adichie hints at how a single story can rob other people's dignity. The narrator explains how different single-sided narratives made her develop a biased judgment of Africa.

“The Danger of a Single Story” opens with Adichie explaining her childhood experiences. As a young girl living in Nigeria with her middle-class family, Adichie only read European and American children's literature books, which gave her a completely different perspective on Africans. In Western literature, Adichie only interacted with white characters whose capabilities could not match Africans. In addition, the books focused on European and American culture, food, and weather, which Adichie believed were superior to Africa. Like other African children, Adichie believed everything the Western literature presented about the superiority of Caucasians, making her think that Africans are inferior. After growing up, Adichie started coming across rare African literature, and one of her favorite authors was Chinua Achebe. Chinua Achebe's literature changed Adichie's perception of Africans. After reading Chinua Achebe's books, she realized she could excel in authorship regardless of skin color.

The second single-sided story Adichie interacted with while growing up is about Fide, their houseboy, who came from a low-income family. Adichie's mother reminded her that she was lucky because she did not come from an underprivileged family like Fade. Whenever Adichie looked at Fade, she sympathized with him because she believed he was incapable of doing anything to change his status. However, when Adichie's family visited Fade's home in the village, the trip changed her perception. For instance, Adichie noted that Fade's brother is talented in making marvelous baskets that could attract high prices in the market. Consequently, Adichie noticed that her perception of Fade's poverty is misguided because it is based on a single-sided story she had heard from her mother.

Several years later, Adichie relocated to the United States of America to pursue her studies. Adichie's roommate only knew negative things about Africa and did not believe in the ability of Adichie to speak fluent English. Adichie's roommate had read and heard negative stories about Africa, and she believed they were true. For instance, Adichie's roommate knew that Africa was poor, full of diseases, and inhabited by illiterate people. Adichie says her roommate sympathized with her because she looked vulnerable and unlucky. After all, Adichie was African. However, the roommate's assumptions about Africa were flawed because she did not know Africa had many positive things. For instance, countries like Nigeria had successful authors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs. Adichie noted that her roommate only based her arguments on the single-sided stories that portray Africa as a backward continent.

Adichie concludes by explaining how single-sided stories have changed her perception of others. Adichie advices her audience not to judge people based on what they hear. Instead, Adichie asks her audience to listen to both sides of the story and discover the positive or negative attributes of others. Making judgments based on a single-sided story is dangerous because it develops wrong stereotyping and creates a false narrative about certain groups of people.