EN 121 Essay 1 - Grade: A PDF

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essay on the danger of a single story...

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The Danger of a Single Story and Speaking in Tongues As a child grows up, they learn how to adapt and mature through experiences. In “Speaking in Tongues” b y Zadie Smith, the author writes about how people have different voices based on their audience, and their voices adapt as they grow. However, children also can be hidden from the truth or reality by single stories told by their parents or someone they trust at a young age. In “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Adichie, the author writes about single stories she was told, people she had met that heard single stories, and how single stories can change how you see something. A single story could affect how someone views a certain group or place, and it could be difficult to change that view without an experience that proves that single story to be false. When children first learn to speak, they typically speak in the same way their parents do, since they are constantly around them. But once children go off to school, meet new people, and experience more, they pick up on different ways to speak to different people. Smith begins her article with explaining how her voice has changed from her childhood, and again when she went to college. “This voice I speak with these days, this English voice with its rounded vowels and consonants in more or less the right place—this is not the voice of my childhood” (Smith 1). Smith explains that her experiences throughout her life caused her voice to develop from the voice of her childhood. Personally,  I believe where you are from and how your parents speak are the biggest influencers to how you speak once you are older. I am from Long Island, so I have a thick New York accent, like my parents. However, there are plenty of people on Long Island that barely have an accent, mainly because their parents did not grow up on Long Island. I feel the

way I speak got stronger as I got older because of where I worked, and who I saw everyday besides my parents. In a way, this directly relates to a single story. As a child, I never realized I spoke differently because of where I lived. I only noticed it once I left Long Island, specifically when I went to school. Speaking to people from around the world daily made it more obvious to me that I spoke differently than others. Although voices change as you experience new things, they also change depending on who you are around. There is nothing wrong with having multiple voices. Socially, it would be wrong to speak to your boss they same way you speak to your friends. In that case, it is, in a way, forced upon people to speak in tongues. “You have no choice but to cross borders and speak in tongues. That’s how you get from your mother to your father, from talking to one set of folks who think you’re not black enough to another who figure you insufficiently white” (Smith 4). Aside from being socially acceptable when speaking to superiors, like your boss, you also have to read people. When meeting someone new, you initially want to speak more proper and sound more intelligent. However, some people would rather you be comfortable than speak differently than your normal voice. Personally, this became more evident to me in college. Being at a globally-diverse school, a lot of students speak many different languages, come from many different cultures, and have many different accents. Professors here seem to adapt to that, and do not penalize students because their english is not perfect or they may be harder to understand. Speaking in tongues comes from experiences throughout your life, but on the other hand, hearing a single story can limit your knowledge. If you never leave your hometown or country and never experience how people from around the world speak differently, you may not realize that you sound different than other people. Rather than teaching children about the world when

they are susceptible, most of the time they are only told a single story. Only hearing one story about a specific thing does not allow for interpretation. When someone, specifically a child, hears a single story multiple times, it becomes the truth to them. “What this demonstrates, I think, is how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story, particularly as children” (Adichie 1). Sometimes, single stories get proven wrong once children get older and hear the truth, but in some cases, they can believe a false single story for a long time. Adichie talks about her experience with her first college roommate when she came to America. “My roommate had a single story of Africa. A single story of catastrophe. In this single story there was no possibility of Africans being similar to her, in any way” (Adichie 2). Personally, I know I am a victim to single stories, and when they are proved wrong, I feel confused. Whether it was told to me by my parents, or taught at school, I did not know it was false until I was told the truth. In conclusion, the vulnerability of children is taken advantage of by single stories, but also allows them to use their experiences to grow and become the person they are. I believe that these stories, as well as the different way we speak, make people who they are....