"The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar."
--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This quote is a summary of Adichie's talk, that stereotyping, the telling of one story about a people or a place, is incomplete and unfair, because it is unrepresentative of the entire truth. Our dignity comes from our truths of which we are proud. Thus, to stereotype, to deny one of these truths to a person is to rob them of their pride. And, Adichie goes on to say, if we are only telling one theme about a people, it is difficult to focus on the equality between peoples because the single story emphasizes how people differ from each other. If we want to become a truly unified people, where everyone is valued, we must hear the full stories of all people and places. Because everyone should be valued.
This is exactly why single stories are dangerous and pernicious-- they pass on incomplete truths of people that stick, serving to separate people in their supposed difference. The single story makes us separate people into categories, which causes conflict between peoples. The full story moves us towards friendship, unity, and peace.
Rachel, the main character in the Girl Who Fell From the Sky, struggles to fit in the definitive category of white or black. She does not fit into the single stories, the stereotypes, of either of these people. She would benefit from less stereotyping of blacks and whites, and would fit with them all.
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