The Danger of a Single Story!
Adichie believes that stories are important, but that we often live our lives based on hearing and knowing only one tale — about a person, an event, or possibly a fight. And that we unknowingly work from the perspective of a single story. The danger of a single story, a single point of view, is that it can lead to incorrect default assumptions, conclusions, and judgments, as well as misinterpretation. Operating in the confines of a single tale can prevent us from seeing a situation in a more complicated, complex light.
Adichie also draws a link between individual tales and the influence of power in our lives. In any situation, who tells the tale, how, and when has a significant impact on the outcome. If we don’t analyse how we make sense of things, we can end up with narratives that are potentially damaging. Some people have the power to characterise people and situations via a specific prism.
I strongly agree with Adichie’s narrative since we are truly living in a false sense of the world with a one-sided storey. This world is built along the lines of a single-sided narrative. And we know this, but we just keep going and acting as if we care, and we live in this false sense of reality. Humans aren’t wired this way; we choose this life; we still have to upgrade ourselves. Humans are constantly reminded that we have come a long way; we are not the people we were 2000 years ago. But we are still the people who will go into a Temple, Church, or Masjid and believe everything that the so-called guardians will tell you about how you should fear God. We are just ordinary humans who should fear God, and this will continue for generations. We will teach our children, and they will teach their children and we will be stuck in this a bogus representation of a one-sided reality. Do we ever question these guardians? No, we can’t because it’s a sin, and who wants to be a sinner, right? According to this universe, you cannot question a religion; whatever is written in sacred books by spiritual leaders is correct, and you must believe it without a doubt. Let us now discuss about my mother. She is a religious, holy woman who believes in God. I’ve always question my mother why we have to climb 16 kilometres to the top of Kedarnath to worship Lord Shiva. We have a temple in our house; what’s the difference between praying in our house and climbing all the way to the top? My mother couldn’t answer that question; believe ne she’s a well-educated woman who couldn’t answer a simple question because as a child, she never questioned it and followed this one-sided narrative, and here we are, the vast majority of the world’s population has yet to be answered because we’re told to be afraid by someone we don’t even know, and since then, we’ve believed it.
Single stories, as Adichie points out, can have a big detrimental impact. They have the potential to degrade people by emphasising our differences rather than our similarities. This discourse, at its core, pushes us to appreciate the importance of story — telling. And that by providing people the opportunity to hear a diverse range of stories, we may help to empower and humanise them.
