The Danger of a single story

IGCSE English lang paper 1

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The Danger of a single story by Mind Map: The Danger of a single story

1. summary;

1.1. The speech takes us chronologically through key times in the writer's life.

1.1.1. It starts with Adichies recollection of her early reading of Western stories and how they influenced her own youthful writing.

1.1.2. She then recalls her introduction to African literature and how she realised there was 'no single story of what books are'

1.1.3. There is a narrative and relective approah as we are taken through Adichie's experieces in Nigeria, when she went to America as a student and on a trip to Mexico.

2. Text type, audience and purpose

2.1. Genre: speech (TED talk)

2.2. Audience: adults/young adults

2.3. Purepose: to inform and educate people abut the 'dangers of a single story' and to raise awareness about how easy it is to stereotype gorups of people

3. Tone

3.1. Emotive language

3.1.1. "what this demonstrates, I thimk, is how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story, particularly as children

3.1.2. Adichie uses emotive language to create a more serious ton. This encourages the audince/ reader to reflect on how harmful stories can potentially be when read in isolation. Adichie is encouraging her audience to question what they read and to not fall into the common pitfall of stereotyping

4. Language

4.1. Metaphors

4.1.1. "They stirred up my imagination. They opened new worlds for me"

4.1.1.1. Highlights the influence that American and English literature had on her

4.1.1.2. Pronouns- people of other cultures (she doesnt align herself with them

4.2. Short sentences

4.2.1. "She assumed I did not know how to use a stove"

4.2.1.1. Made and ssumption with no evidence

4.2.1.2. Stand alone paragraph- to make the reader evaluate how this is an everyday ativity

4.3. Repetition

4.3.1. "Stories matter. Many stories matter"

4.3.1.1. Many meanings behind both sides of a story- not just the single story

4.3.1.2. Breaks down the narrative- puts emphasise on this plosive statement

5. Structure

5.1. Short paragraphs

5.1.1. This one line paragraph has been used to shock the audience and to highlight how powerful stories can be on influencing people's understanding.

5.1.2. It also emphasises that we are all susceptible t being ignorant depedning on the stories we are exposed to or choose to engage with

6. Young and Dyslexic

6.1. Summary

6.1.1. Zephaniah addresses this piece of writing to those who have dyslexia. He tries to get fellow dyslexics to understand that they see the world in different, more creative ways

6.1.2. However, he does not hide the fcat that it can be hard to be different. He illustartes this throughout the extract by telling a number of stories about his own childhood.

6.1.3. Zephaniah was dismissed at school, both for his dyslexia, and becuase he was a young black man. He was sent to borstal, where he decided to confront the future that had been mapped out got him, and take control of his life

6.1.4. Zephaniah starts to write poertry, and he goes to adult education classes to learn to read and write. Zephaniah finally becomes a professor of poetry and creatibe writing . He finishes the extract by reminding readers that dyslexics should celebrate and be proud of their difference, which requires them to be more creatuve than most people

7. Language

7.1. "you've got it going on"

7.1.1. American colloquialism

7.1.1.1. The use of American slang immediately makes the article seem colloquial, friendly and accessible. The phrase means if you are young and dyslexic then you hvae extraordinary talents

7.2. "We are the architects, we are the designers"

7.2.1. first person plural narrative voice

7.2.1.1. By moving to the first person plural, "We", the writer embraces the readers who are also dyslexic, making the passage friendly and inclusive.

7.2.2. Sentence structure of repetition

7.2.2.1. The repetitive sentence structure creates a list of things dyslexics are good at underlines the talents of dyslexics

8. Text type, audience and purpose

8.1. Purpose

8.1.1. to entertain/inform, to share his experiences

8.2. Genre

8.2.1. Newspaper articles

8.3. Audience

8.3.1. Adults/educators/dyslexics

9. Structure

9.1. Zephaniah starts with a negative statement but then turns it round into a positive, which sums uo the piece as a whole

9.2. He then describes his struggles at school and how his Dyslexia, a condition not recognies at the time, caused problems and there is use of direct speech to convey this forcibly

9.3. He moves on chronologically to take his time at borstal and then learining to read and write at 21, when he discovered the nature of his difficulties

9.4. In relating his own experiences of living with Dyslexia, he then talks of the upside and addresses dyslexic people directly, stressing how their issues with reading nad writing can lead to enhanced creativity

9.5. The piece ends with a rhetorical question that leaves the non-dyslexic reader thinking

10. A passage to Africa

10.1. Summary

10.1.1. Between 1991 and 1992 Alagiah visited Somalia, which was terribly affected by famine and war. This extract talks about the incidents of a single day, and a memorable but brief encounter with a local man.

10.1.2. Alagiah is driven to a very remote village, and comes across a number of very sick and dying people. Alagiah explains throughout this extract that journalists become hardened by the scenes of suffering they come across; they are almost callous in their search for more and more shcoking images. Alagiah describes people suffering from awful wounds, and dwells upon a number of upsetting details

10.1.3. He emphasised that the people are trying to always preserve their dignity. He finally makes eye contact briefly with a man who smiles at him; the translator explains that the man has smiles because he is embarrassed to be seen in such a poor condition. This upsets Alagiah, and he can no longer be so composed or passive in his attitude to suffering. This one look has stayed with him throughout the intervening years, although he never found out the man's name; it humanises the suffering he reports upon, and reminds Alagiah not to become too callous in search of a story

10.2. Structure

10.2.1. One sentence introductory paragraph before zooming in on the tales of individuals

10.2.2. Several paragraphs begin with "There was..." and then there is a one-sentence fragment paragraph " And then there was the face I will never forget

10.2.3. The focus of the tect is the people suffering and the writers personal feelings about the horrors he witnesses while in Somalia

10.3. background

10.3.1. Genre

10.3.1.1. Journalistic memoir/autobiography

10.3.2. Audience

10.3.2.1. Adults/ Young adults in the western world

10.3.3. Purpose

10.3.3.1. Retell his experience and provoke thought about the idustry he worked n and how it can affect our attitudes to suffering

10.4. Language

10.4.1. "there is one I will never forget"

10.4.1.1. refrain- the phrase is repeated throughout the passage

10.4.1.1.1. Creates suspense for the reader. We want to know what happened, and by repeating the phrase, the writer keeps us waiting to hear the answer

10.4.2. " ghoulish" "tramped" "hunt" and "callous"

10.4.2.1. Negatives

10.4.2.1.1. Used to describe how cruel and heartless journalists are in the pursiut of a sotry. It tells the reader how Alagiah behaves before he saw the face which changed him

10.4.3. "Like the craving for a drug"

10.4.3.1. Simile

10.4.3.1.1. This communiactes that the journalists are driven, out of control, and ruthless about getting what they want, just like an addict

10.4.4. "so my nameless friend, if you are still alive, I owe you one"

10.4.4.1. Colloquial expression

10.4.4.1.1. "So" is a colloqial expression suggesting a summary. This shows the riter has come to a conlcusion and is expressing it is an informal way to engage the reader

10.4.4.2. Oxymoron

10.4.4.2.1. "Nameless friend" is an oxymoron or two contradictory terms lashed together. This hsows the conflcitual relationship the writer is in with the man who influences him as he does not really know him

10.4.4.3. Idiomatic phrase

10.4.4.3.1. "I owe you one =" is an idiomatic phrase usually used to exprss that a person will buy a drink for a friend as repayment for a favour. This image shows that the writer has become undebted to his subject. This is a different relationship from the one he began the extract with. Alagiah has had an epiphany, realising that the people he reports on are more important than he is