Read the essay Mother Tongue then watch the TedTalk "The Danger of a Single Story"
Examine how the construction of Adichie's argument mimics Tan's. Also, talk about the stories of these women. What strikes you as interesting? What do you think about what they have to say. You must blog anywhere from 300-500 words. You should have a lot to say. They are very interesting stories.
The essay presented by Amy Tan called Mother Tongue can relate well to a powerful speech from novelist and storyteller Chimamanda Adichie. Both of these interested me, as they gave me a lot to reflect on in my own life. Before I get to that, I would like to mention how these two works can go hand in hand. Both Tan and Adichie challenge us to stop judging others, and get a sense of what is the truth. In Tan’s situation, her mother had a difficult time speaking fluent English, IN OUR EYES. To Tan, her mother’s way of talking was as fluent and natural as any other English speaking person. This all of course because it is her mother’s tongue, and “that was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world.” Tan talked about how her mother was sometimes rejected when they went out to restaurants, department stores, and banks as they would treat her poorly just because she spoke slightly different. Those people that judged her only saw Tan’s mother as an old lady that cannot speak fluent English through their single story, but to Amy it was not the case because she saw her mother completely different, just as Chimamanda’s talk discussed. Chimamanda first brings up the same idea as Amy Tan when she talks about Fide, and the time when she saw the patterned basket made of dyed raffia that his brother had made. She talked about how she never expected this because all she ever heard about the family was that they were dirt poor which yielded her to have a sterotype of his family because she only heard one side to the story, just like the people who were rude to Tan’s mother. Others examples that Adichie uses to strengthen her argument is the stories about her roommate and all the stereotypes she had about Chimamanda and “her single story of Africa”. Her roommate only had a single story, so how could she know better? This is a lesson that all of us can learn from and remember the next time we want to judge someone for something we only saw once, our single story. When I read “Mother Tongue” the first thing that popped into my head was my first encounter with my cousin, and our classmate, Valentyn. When he first came to America, his English was “broken”, if you will, and hard to understand, just like Tan’s motherVal was hard to understand during his first months here in America, but like Amy Tan, through his many interactions with English speaking people, Val is speaking incredibly well for only being here in America for roughly 3 years. This was tough for his family having to constantly repeat things just like it was a burden for Amy with her mother’s situation. Both stories were fascinating, and I was interested how Amy’s mother made Amy act like it was her on the phone as she complained to the stockbroker, but then a week later she went in person to argue with him. I was astonished that despite her challenges pronunciating the English language, Amy’s mother was one heck of a reader as she journeyed through numerous Forbes reports and Shirley MacLaine’s books. I was impressed in the TED Talk when Adichie referred our image of Africa to her image of Fide and his family. I appreciated how she was very understanding as well, as she said that if she was in our shoes she would have thought the same thing. I think that Chimamanda’s story is a little bit easier to relate to and I think it has a lot of good points that everyone should take away from it. A few important points I would like to share that grabbed my attention would be that we shouldn’t have an opinion or stance on something unless we read both stories, rather than just the single story. Finally, my favorite thing that I heard/read is what I am going to end with “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”
ReplyDeleteGabe,
DeleteYour blog depicts each story's point and compares them to eachother very well. However, I have one disagreement with your blog. You say that we should not assume based on a single story, but how should so many people know that that is only a single story. Is it really the consumers of the story's fault they have a one sided view, or is it the tellers and sellers of the story. Did you consider that we may only hear these types of stories because these stories make the most profit to these people? I also loved how you incorporated Val into your blog, adding a personal experience strengthened your point.
Gave,
DeleteYou did a very well job on getting your thoughts out clearly. I really enjoyed how you talked about Val in your blog. It makes it a lot stronger and shows that you actually understood the essay and video. I agree with your blog, but I see Catherine disagrees with something. I see what she is getting at but if you actually thought about it there is always more then one story to a situation it all depend on who is telling it. It was a good blog though and people shouldn't judge others till they know the whole story.
Your blog brought up some great points and key ideas. The quote at the end was a really good way to conclude and summarize your thoughts. Your organization throughout the paragraph was a little scattered. But other than that, your blog was a little bit of an inspiration. It made me realize that we shouldn't judge people because we aren't in their position and seeing the world with their life. It reminds me of Atticus saying you never know somebody until you take a walk in their shoes. It's hard to understand other people's lives; it's hard to even understand our own.
DeleteMr. Krause,
DeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. You really hit all the major aspects of what the two women were trying to explain. I think that by incorporating your personal experience with Valentyne really allows people to make a connection to what these two stories were about. It gives your audience a picture to place in their heads as they read which really strengthens writing. If people can make a mental picture of the sciences that are being explained it makes the reading far more enjoyable. Great blog!
Gabe,
DeleteGreat Blog! I loved how you put Val in your blog. By putting in a personal experience you greatly strengthened your argument. I've noticed you have a certain style of writing, a style in which it seems like you are reading your blog to us, or giving a speech. Using things like, "Before I get to that," and "if you will." I really like that, and always enjoin reading your blogs because of this!!
In both the talk given by Adichie and the short essay written by Tan, victimization plays a large factor in the story. And actually, the story of Tan's mother is a clear example of this "danger of a single story" that Adichie explains. Adichie is perhaps the first person I have ever heard describe a similarity between Americans and every other ethnic group, she promotes a wide view of Americans, and nit the typical stereotype that says Americans have everything, and nobody else has anything. The obvious setbacks Amy Tan experienced tend to be used as a tool for one to victimize themselves, which they somehow believe will put them in a higher social standing. In fact, Amy Tan's story could be easily viewed as her victimizing herself and her mother. While she had to endure the issues promoted by her mothers unconventional English, she had good things too. A loving mother, a smart mother, enough money to go to college, and many other good things. A story that contains "despite this..." And "despite that...." is not a story I want to hear. If viewed in this way, one would read Amy's story as how she came above these awful stereotyping to become a writer. Her story is not the whole truth, but rather one to make her accomplishments seem bigger. And while these story's exist in literature, they also exist on everyday life.
ReplyDeleteMany of us have watched a competitive talent show themed reality series on TV. I call these shows a reality series because the show is not about the talent. Rarely has a person on one of these shows not had a sob story about their late father or sightless sister. Another example of this victimization in media is the popular novel The Fault in Our Stars. The basic plot line of this movie is how a cancerous girl finds love in a equally cancerous boy. Their story is portrayed as perfect, romantic, and tragic, but only because of cancer. Their romance would have been described as foolish and naive had it not been for a deadly disease. This story, however, does not display the real effects of cancer but instead distorts the disease into a fantasy. Because of people turning their, and others, tragic lives into glamorous fabricated stories, people are wishing that they themselves have a tragic life, or somehow their story isn't worth telling.
Like Adichie says, the danger of a single story is that it leaves the book it belongs to far behind. However, the danger may not be being presented with one single story, but one single type of story. And this type of story is being promoted by the ones writing it, the ones selling it, and the ones reading it. One does not do justice to others when they use their story's to promote themselves in this way, and are actually only acting on selfishness and pride.
I would like to strongly disagree. Although victimization may play a very small role in these works, they certainly are not the central theme. The writers are not using tragedies to make their stories better or more dramatic. Everyone experiences adversity and talking about it isn't a bad thing. It is probably their way of dealing with it. The fault in our stars has helped countless people deal with cancer or the loss of a loved one. The book doesn't make the disease a fantasy in any way, and how an author would do that is beyond me. I have never heard of anyone wanting cancer so they could have a better story. We should learn something from people who tell these stories. They help us to better deal with and understand the disasters in our lives. I fell as though you missed the purpose of the works entirely. But maybe that's just me.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteCatherine, although you make a variety of nice comments about the video and essay, your blog is degraded by the statement; "the show is not about the talent." Your example, using reality television, was little "too the point" and rough. I think that you went a little overboard on the harshness about the back stories of the contestants. For a little backup, look at the story of Mat Franco, AGT Season 9 winner. He grew up with normal parents, in a normal city, and he developed his talent to win the show.
DeleteCatherine, even though our thoughts differ I really love what you did. You let your mind escape to your own personal feelings and not a lot of people can do that. Your blog had a lot of emotion behind and that's how I feel a good writer writes. Other than that, maybe open your mind to the positives, or even the message trying to get across, rather than the negatives. Even though I love what you had to say and think because no one thought of it like that, and that gives me something else to think about!
DeleteCatherine,
DeleteI always enjoy reading about somebody who disagrees with the topic. It makes it more exciting. Think that what you said can be true at times. You propose solid, concrete examples to back up your refutation of the two pieces. I think that by writing about these compositions in a opposing manner you actually opened up a few peoples eyes thinking yes maybe that is what is happening. You discussed and related the topic very well, in addition to making good claims to back up your argument. Great blog!
Catherine:
ReplyDeleteWOW! That was bold. I appreciate what you had to say, and I agree with most of it. I really did not think of these as selfish stories that promote themselves until I read your blog.I agree with your statement regarding Tan's essay. The fact that her mother spoke broken English was probably not as important as she made it, but I feel that the talk by Adichie was not selfish, but inspring. What she said can make an impact on anyone's life and the way that is done sometimes is by telling a personal experience of your own. I really think the speech was for the people of the world to be better, not to look at her in praise. Your points were logical and very strong, so very nice work. Also, thank you for doing your blog early for me and some of our other classmates, I appreciate it. Good work, Catherine.
Catherine,
DeleteThis was really deep. I was not expecting something like this to be said. It was amazing on how you thought, you totally changed it around on what people would actually think of it like myself. I agree with you with Tan's story now that I think more about it. I still think that there were inspirational things in there that make you think about life though. Also I think Adichie's speech was amazing and I do not think it was selfish at all because it was very inspirational to me personally. Good job though on your blog. It really changed my way of thinking about it.
In both the Ted talk and the short essay, they both talk about what their lives were like and how people portray them. In the Ted Talk, Adichie talks about the "danger of a single story" and this like Amy Tan's essay because Tan talked about her mother and how people never took her seriously because of that way she talked. Her story is an example of a single story. In Adichies speech, she talks about how when she was a young child she would always read foreign books because they were easier to find then Nigerian books. Also she talks about how everyone always thought of her as a poor African girl because Americans and others think that everyone is poor in Africa and do not know anything. The thing was they just had one picture of all Africans or anyone that looked African, but she really was not African, she was Nigerian. What struck me interesting was when Adichie said she actually only looked at a single story before. She knew this poor boy and their family and just because they were poor she thought they couldn't do anything, but little did she know the boy knew how to make wonderful baskets. This makes me think more about people now. I should not just assume things when I do not know the whole story.
ReplyDeleteTan's essay was very interesting too. She talked about how her mother spoke in "broken" English and that is why no one took her seriously. It never bothered Tan growing up because she grew up with it her whole life, but when she realized that it bothered other people and they judged people on the way they talk. Tan knew how to talk in good English and was more professional so her mother would even tell her to talk to people on the phone and act like her mother but talk in good English because Tan knew how to and people took them seriously when they spoke in correct English. Tan would always be there for her mother to talk to people when they wouldn't listen to her mother because people actually listened to Tan. In the end Tan decided to write a book that her mother could read in her English. When her mother read it she actually thought it was easy to read. I enjoyed this essay because I never realized that people actually judged people on the type of English and correctly speaking English. It makes me actually want to make sure I speak well when I'm around people like business people or doctors because I feel like they would think I actually know some things. It was a great essay Tan wrote and I would recommend people read this.
Sorry for posting so late. Did not get to wifi till late.
Kira:
DeleteI thought you did a nice job relating the two pieces. I think it would prove beneficial for you to give a stronger opinion on the Ted Talk and state why you liked/disliked it in a stronger way. I agree that talking properly is always a good thing, because people will treat you with a higher respect, if you will. I think a few more examples would strengthen the blog. Overall, nice job.
Kira you did a good job comparing the two stories. I brought on the same aspects you did, talking about their native lands and the "broken" language of Tans family. One possible thing that could have made your blog better would have been for you to possibly talk about your own personal experiences somehow relating to theirs. Overall, nice job!
DeleteKira,
DeleteIn your blog you pointed out how even Adichie believed these single story's, even though she knew of how they affected her. This depicts very well that all people are very similar, and it helps Adichie to show us she is not begging for attention for her issues, but rather wants the issue to stop for all people. Like I said in my blog, these story's can easily turn to victimization, but adding this into her story has made Adichie's story about change, not herself.
There is much similarity between both of these stories and points of view. Perhaps the biggest thing I noticed was the fact that the both pulled in a lot of personal experience and encounters into their works. Their experience helped to prove their points and communicate with people that these problems are very real for some people. Their first hand account of everything really helped to provide evidence of their reasonings and struggles. Both of their works are very well organized and flow in a logical and convincing manner.
ReplyDeleteBoth women talked about how they have been judged based on stereotypes and generalizations. People treated them different based on their language and the way they look. It is truly disturbing and heartbreaking when people are constantly judged based off of things they cannot control, especially when those things are such that they are proud of and cherish. At the same time, I am curious what people expect others to do about their looks. We are incapable of drastically changing such things as our skin color and our height. Therefore, people should never be ashamed of the way they look. As I have recently learned, there is a one in 70 trillion chances that you would be the person you are today. Scientifically, there are trillion of other ways you could have looked and acted, but you turned out to be this way. You are unique, not something to be ashamed of by any means.
Everyday, we are told "Don't waste food, there are starving children in Africa." From that, I have always assumed that all the people in Africa are extremely skinny and poor like those kids in those commercials asking you to donate money to help people in Africa. I never imagined them as people who go to work, talk with their family, or have a real life of any kind. Until watching the video, I was in the dark. The media has hypnotized us with all of its negative thoughts and images about the world. Our society is constantly over obsessed with what is wrong with the world. If we counting to generalize and be closed minded about everything around us, we will never be able to unlock the true potential that our world has to offer us. Getting past the thought of all Mexicans being aliens, could allow us to better work with and understand them. Just because Hitler was an evil dictator, does not make all Germans bad people. My family comes from Germany, but we are certainly not about to cause a mass genocide.
Every story has dozens of sides to it. Every person has a story and a particular point of view. We must remember to view things from all perspectives. We can't let groups be defined by just a few people. It's not hard to realize that everyone has more than a single story, but it's difficult to uncover those stories and the true person behind them. How will our stories be written?
Justin, you did a really good job relating the two stories. I too, brought on the same aspect as you pertaining to the nationality the two women came from. I also really enjoy how you brought in some aspects about your own family coming from Germany. I believe that strengthens your argument even more. I think one thing that would of made your blog a bit better would have been to possibly talk about each woman's individual story. Overall great job!!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJustin, I really enjoyed your blog when you talked about our uniqueness and our inability to control what we look like/who we are. You related the two sources very nicely to each other.
DeleteJustin, "Therefore, people should never be ashamed of the way they look. As I have recently learned, there is a one in 70 trillion chances that you would be the person you are today. Scientifically, there are trillion of other ways you could have looked and acted, but you turned out to be this way. You are unique, not something to be ashamed of by any means." I absolutely love that! That was a point in your blog that made me really think about almost every aspect of my life! I really did enjoy reading this. I think you nailed the comparison and their meaning! Good job!
DeleteJustin, your blog was really good. I liked how you brought in so many examples and showed us how close minded we are in America. That was one thing I pointed out in my blog. Great job comparing the two!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe stories of many women have been wrote and documented, but little do we know all of these stories are inspirational if you read them. The two stories written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Amy Tan mimic each other, but portray slightly different meanings. The stories are also very interesting.
ReplyDeleteMother Tongue, written by Amy Tan is quite different. Amy comes from a Chinese family. Amy considers her mother's English as fractured, limited, and damaged. When Amy was young, she was ashamed at her mother for knowing very little English. Amy's mother made her answer and make phone calls due to her little English. Amy believes her mothers impact on the English language has impacted her own perceptions on intelligence and life. Amy has remarkable intelligence in math, but she believes her English is not the greatest. One thing that strikes me as interesting is that after a few years, Amy differentiated her assumptions that were made about her intelligence in English so she went to school for writing. She didn't let the effects of coming from a Chinese family who struggled with the English language destroy her, the relationship with her mom, and what her heart was longing for. Amy eventually realized her mother's "broken" language actually showed who her mother's true self was.
The Dangers of a Single Story, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is about an own personal experience. Chimamanda is originally from Nigeria and started reading at age two or four. Chimamanda started writing at age seven. One thing that I found interesting was that she wrote the exact opposite of what life was like for herself. She wrote about white, blue eyed people, who loved snow, fruits, and greatly cared about the weather. This is not what life was like in Nigeria. They didn't have snow, white people, fruits, and they didn't care about the weather. Until she discovered African books, she thought all stories had to be foreign. After reading these books, she finally realized that a girl with colored skin can live in the future and have a purpose. Chimamanda tells us that although it took her long to find it, it takes so many stories and adventures to find your own self and to realize what you were made for, no matter where you come from.
Tan and Adichie's storylines mimic each other. They both present personal struggles faced living in and coming from a foreign country. When these two writers were young, they considered English as the main goal. Tan in a somewhat bad way, Adichie in a good way. Tan's essay can actually be considered as a "danger of a single story". Although they both faced struggles and difficulties coming from a foreign land, it made them stronger and better people overall in the long run. It made them push harder to see where life was taking them, which is now what they are famous for as a writers and novelists. The personal experiences of Tan and Adichie tell us no matter where we come from there are bumps in the road, but good things will come out of it and that we all truly matter.
Allie,
DeleteThe connections you presented in your blog were interesting. I really enjoyed that you looked at Amy Tan's story of her mother as another example of how a single story is dangerous. I do think that the point made about struggles near the end of the post could have been explained a little more, but other than that the blog was great
Allie,
DeleteI like how you pulled in that Tan's story can be considered a single story. That is a very good observation, but I feel you could have possibly elaborated on that a little bit more to develop that point.Your blog is very well done, good job!
Adichie and Tan
ReplyDeleteIn Adichie's speech and Tan's short story, they talked about how their past effected their future. It was all about how their life as it was starting shaped them into the person that they are today. I think that giving us examples of what they went through makes it more emotional and connect themselves to what they are saying. They both established their ethos by talking about their books and the adversities they encountered in their learning process. Adichie established pathos more strongly than Tan by talking about her friend who she thought of as being poor. That was the one thing that I felt truly got her speech going. It captured my attention.
I found both of these really interesting because of how they talked about their message. They had a profound way of telling their stories. Adichie had a more interesting story to me than Tan. I thought she had a great way of telling us how we see things as a close minded way. Our perspective on things changes when we look from all angles. I find myself thinking of Africa as a poor uneducated country, she proves that it is not like that everywhere. She had a good sense of humor and made me laugh. I think that she is stereotyping us as Americans to think that Africa is poor and things like that, which contradicts the point that she was trying to make. I think that we as Americans can be very close minded and I think that that was the point of her speech.
In Tan's short story I think that she is trying to prove that just because you do not use big vocabulary like Shakespeare you can write something great. I also think that an underlying message that she had was to never give up. Her teachers told her that her language wasn't good enough for writing and that she should stick to math and science. In a way I think that this was one of the similarities between Tan and Adichie's stories, just because they were in horrible situations they were determined to be better. These also make me think of Superman and Me. Sherman Alexie went through many of these struggles that they did and him and Adichie but are making efforts to improve education for children who do not normally get the opportunity that they did.
I think that by writing these pieces or saying all that they had to say they are raising awareness for these people. I do not think they were looking for sympathy, rather that they are looking for a change in education. They wanted to prove us close minded Americans wrong in a stubble way.
Makenzie,
DeleteI found it interesting that you related the works to Superman and Me, I do not know if I would have really thought about that unless you mentioned it in you post. I think you did a great job this week, but I feel that you could have said a little more about Tan's essay. It kind of felt like you were pushing it to the side after mentioning that you found Adichie's story more interesting.
Makenzie,
DeleteYou made some great points, but I don't think you discussed Tan's essay enough. I believe that your argument would be strengthened if you talked about her essay a little more.
The women who wrote this article and rad this speech, Amy Tan and Chimamanda Adichi, are two very beautiful speakers, thinkers, and writers with different ethnicity backgrounds. These women have a strong feelings as to what the English language encompasses. The idea that the authors are trying to inspire us to remember to not forget " the danger of a single story". For a foreigner to be claimed as incoherent or unworthy due to their "broken" English is not fair, and it is what these writers are trying to get across.
ReplyDeleteThese women have a purpose for their writing, and that is too get perfect English speaking people to stop downgrading people who cannot speak it perfectly. Actually, it is more than this. These essays were to stop judging, downgrading, or hurting anyone who does not have the "perfect American background". Amy Tan goes into detail about this because she talks about her mother who could not receive the information as to if she had cancer or not because of she spoke her English. Her Chinese mother, who was gravely ill, could not get information about her own health because she was not like regular Americans. Amy Tan also gets into about how she loves to write, and. How she finds the beauty behind the American language, but she describes how it is hard for Chinese women to be accepted into the American society as a writer. I got a feeling from Amy that she feels as if, just because she is not American, means she is not good enough to be in our country.
Chimamanda Adchi describes her feelings in a very similar way, and that is she wants to be heard, and she wants her people to be heard. She wants the individuality of every ethnic group to be heard. Her writings are realistic, and she does this because she believes that anyone, no matter how you speak, what the color your skin is, or where your roots are grown in everyone has a special reason to be here. She also talks about the beauty behind people, and how she wants to be welcomed as person rather than someone she is not.
These women are not exactly critiquing one certain group of people, even thought it may come out like that, but they are referring to people as a whole. They want to make a change about how people treat others on first glance. Why judge a person based off of first glances? Why not respect someone who does not have a perfect language like you? These are what these women are displaying. They are displaying that a little thing like a judging a person off a language can lead to judging more and worse things.
Really, I really liked how you pointed out that these two people are not speaking about just their ethnic background, they are talking about every background and the struggles that they go through in America. Great blog!
DeleteReilly,
DeleteAlthough you did bring up some good points, I feel as though they were not fully developed. I wish you would have gone into more detail by using more examples than you did. Overall, it was a good blog.
The essay "Mother Tongue" and the TedTalk "The Danger of a Single Story" relate in a variety of ways which highlight thoughts and opinions about numerous topics. I believe that they were constructed both similarly and differently. The biggest agreement between the two sources was the portrayal of viewpoints about different ethnicities. Very alike, both ladies thought that we see too many "single stories." We are presented with an idea about a group or race of people, and believe that it relates to every individual within that circle. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is very passionate about this topic. When she came to college in the United States, her roommate automatically assumed that she, like all other Nigerians, was very poor and wondered how she mastered the English language. Adichie was very astonished. Later, when she traveled to Mexico, she wondered how Latino factory workers were so happy during labor hours. She realized that she thought of them as a "single story" ethnicity, and was ashamed of herself for thinking that they all hated everyday life. The author of "Mother Tongue" also has experience with assumptions. When she was in school, she thought that since her Asian friend got a good grade, all Asians were smart in math. Single stories rob people of dignity and emphasize cultural differences, instead of discovering similarities.
ReplyDeleteAnother construction that I found alike between the two messages was the stress of personal opinion and experience. Each composition came from its own unique background and each individual thought portrayed emotion from the author. The duo is very passionate about their language, which is fitting for their professions. Like in Tan's scenario, it doesn't matter whether it is "unbroken" English or correct. As long as it is pleasing someone and has a deep, thought provoking meaning, both authors find it alright.
Another situation presented is about personal judgment. Both authors pave us a clear road as to why we should stop criticizing others, and instead, consider their backgrounds. Each person has taken a difficult path to reach their achievements, so we should consider ever individual's adversities and help them with troubles. I personally appreciated and was astonished at the achievements of both of these ladies and their families. Adichie proved that Nigeria was indeed a nation that could produce equivalent, if not smarter, people than many other countries. Tan showed that her mother, although her English was broken, appreciated her daughters writing efforts for her. She also moved on to read difficult, complex novels of modern society. The unique stories and backgrounds of both authors show that we can find happiness in our lives if we view everyone in society as equal peoples.
People throughout the world are entitled to their own opinion, and the essay Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, as well as the speech given by Chimamanda Adichie show just how media and blind perceptions influence their opinions. In the essay Mother Tongue, Amy Tan tells her story of growing up with English. Tan was never really good in English class, she had better scores in math and science, which followed the typical stereotype for an American of Chinese dissent. Tan presents that she was always pushed away from English, whether it be by her family's "broken" English or by her professors who saw her potential as an engineer or Doctor. She brings up the point that people do not look at you as a regular American due to race, Tan is looked at as what the media presents as an "Asian." Regardless of how much English impaired her, she was able to learn it, and eventually become a writer, breaking the stereotype. In Chimamanda Adichie's speech, a "single story" is the main focus. A single story, wether it be good or bad, is only one perception of a person or topic. Chimamanda Adichie believes that a single story is dangerous because people become opinionated on only part of a person's story. The anecdotes she discuss show just how easy it is to look at only a single story. Adichie is originally from Nigeria and even though life was not easy for her, she was still able to speak and read English well. Adichie traveled to America to attend college and at this time of her life, she realized people only knew about the negatives of Nigeria, and even Africa as a whole. She was baffled by her roommates expectations, and her surprise when she discovered Adichie new American literature, music, and other pop cultures. This anecdote backs that argument of how people only look at one part of a story. She also talks about how she is guilty of only reading a single story. The second anecdote used was her trip to Mexico. She talks about how she read and looked up information on Mexican immigration, but did not look up other information on Mexican culture, heritage, customs, and other parts of their story. As a result, Adichie says she was ashamed of herself when she saw Mexicans as equals, rather than sneaky, or free loaders of American generosity. The two examples presented in the speech show how it is important to know both positive and negative information before forming a stereotype. The two works have similar arguments. The two pieces both show how society hinders them because they are a part of a stereotype. Both of the works also show how the authors were able to realize they were perceived as a stereotype, but only half of it as mentioned in Adichie's speech.
ReplyDeleteThese works really interest me as I myself am guilty of forming half of a stereotype. Both of the works point out that the media only presents what they think is interesting, not the total story. American citizens need to look beyond the media before judging an individual or a country. I also find it interesting that both authors were able to surpass the expectations and become writers, and are using their success to raise awareness of what our country is doing to people of different dissent.
Chimamanda Adichie and Amy Tan are two very empowering women that do not just want to prove the power of women, and state their feminist opinions. They both provide two powerful pieces that make a statement that are not just about themselves. They incorporate personal stories into their pieces that help prove their point, but do not propose sob stories hoping to gain support from Ellen DeGeneres and the rest of the country. Instead, they talk about racial issues that do not just happen in the United States. These two women both have descents from a foreign country, and share their views on how other people have viewed them. At first when I was watching Adichie's Ted Talk, I thought she was a bit hypocritical. She started out well by sharing how early and well she read, but they were stories not from her country. So her perspective about these places were put in her head by these stories. When she started reading the stories about her country, I felt as though she was criticizing how white people criticized her country. It felt a bit hypocritical, until she backed her point up by stating everyone has done it. Everyone has let society's perspective on something into their mind by only viewing that certain something by what society has viewed it as. Just like her roommate, who thought because she came from Africa, she would need help with everything, and that she struggled with her home life. It was not her roommates fault for assuming this because society got in her head about the life styles in Africa. Just as society, the news, and media got into Adichie's mind about her trip to Mexico, thinking she was going to see filthy immigrants. Amy Tan's essay was more of personal experience story. This made me think of our new exchange students and how they are adapting. I had the opportunity to be close with Vicky because she was on the cheerleading squad. When she first came we were very excited getting to know her, but when it was time to get to business and learn the cheers, it became frustrating because Vicky does not know complete English. She thought we were saying Christmas instead of Crusaders. So at first, it was hard to get her to adapt, but now that she understands the concept of cheerleading, she is doing very well. We even taught her how to stunt. So I understand where Amy is coming from when she speaks of her mother's difficulty. I feel as though the only thing you can do for someone like that, is to have patience. Out of the two pieces, I believe that Chimamanda Adichie's talk had a greater impact on me because she put more of a life lesson. She taught me to understand and take a step back to look at a different perspective of a situation. I feel that we can bring greater peace in our world if we take different point of views instead of the most popular point of view, especially the negative ones.
ReplyDeleteMorgan,
DeleteI really enjoyed how you brought Vicky into your blog! What a fitting example to use. I do not agree with how you thought the talk was hypocritical, but I also see that you changed your mind. Overall, I think you used great examples and made this a well thought out blog.
Morgan,
DeleteLike Kara said, I really liked how you mentioned Vicky, and I wish I would have brought up my pal Bobino. I also like how you stated that they are not looking for sympathy, and are not writing "sob stories." I would have liked you to make a suggestion or two on how we could take different points of view, but overall good blog!
Morgan,
DeleteI thought your blog was very well thought out, but I disagree with your idea on the books that Aidchie read in her childhood. I think that is a prime example of how stereotypes effect everyone in the world. She probably thought we were all like the little kids in the books she read, just like when I was little I always thought everyone in Africa was either poor or a lion. I do like that you come back and talk about how she backed up her evidence. I love that your brought Vicky into it. Like on Friday at Brockway when she was trying to figure out what you looked like, and Allegra knew exactly what she was talking about without giving it a second thought. Allegra has developed a kind a different language with Vicky that only they share. I really liked your blog.
After watching Adichie's speech and reading Tan's piece, it became clear that the two described one another. Tan's mother was an obvious example of the typical stereotype of the Chinese people, specifically Chinese Americans. This stereotype did not surprise me, as Americans have a sort of resentment to people who do not share the same ethnicity. In the TedTalk, Adichie explains the issue of the "single story." The "single story" is what creates separation and points out differences, rather than highlights similarities. Adichie centers her whole talk on how dangerous having a one-sided point of view can be to a population. One of the most important things that is pointed out is that stereotypes often heard throughout the world push people apart rather than draw them closer together. Only negative things are emphasized and talked about, while the good things are just blown over. One story is made to be all stories.
ReplyDeleteTan and Adichie both used personal experiences to support their cause, which really caused me to open my eyes towards the cruelty of this world. Tan describes her mother's constant judgment from others about her pronunciation of the English language. She describes the generalizing of her race of high IQ's and math scores. That Asians can do math and science better than anyone else, so teachers steer them towards those career paths. Tan went against the odds and became an English major, which is completely unheard of. With this, she disassociates the stereotype, which is what all people should have in mind to begin with.
Adichie uses the example of when her roommate in college asked what music she listened to, if she knew how to use a stove, and asked how she knew to speak English so well. Personally, this does not surprise me in the least bit. Americans only know of Nigeria as a poverty-stricken place with starving children and diseases infecting the population. What we do not know is the good achievements of this country, as Adichie points out, such as the heart surgeries that take place in their hospitals, their contemporary music, and their ability to go to court and challenge laws. Only, we are never informed of these things. Generalizing and assumption are two of the biggest problems that this world faces. We assume that because someone is white that they must be rich, that someone is black so they must be a criminal, that someone is Asian so they are good at math. Adichie and Tan both emphasize the importance of gathering all information, or in this case stories, before stereotyping people. Essentially, the two authors mimic each other as they were both victims of generalization. I admire the courage of these women to speak and write about this topic, as it is often avoided. As stated by Adichie and Tan, it is important that all the stories of a person are known, because there is never just one.
Kara,
DeleteYou did a great job of comparing Tan and Adichie's views. I agree with your points, but one may challenge you in saying that some stereotypes are actually positive. For example, saying that Asians are good at math is a positive statement, but the effect of such a statement can be negative.
After first reading Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue" essay, and then watching the video of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's speech on "the danger of a single story" I realized that these two works are very similar, and related. Tan and Adichie both put most of their focus towards stereotypes, and the problems with them. Tan explains how she fit the normal stereotype of a Chiness American. She was able to receive A's in science and math classes and score very high on achievement tests with math and science. Also, she fit the norm for a Chinese American in English classes getting mostly B's and scoring decent on achievement tests. Tan's teachers steered her away from English and literature, and led her to math and science, like all the other Chinese Americans in the United States. Adichie explains how when she was little and would write stories, all the characters followed the same stereotypes of the American stories she read. She also tells us a story about her college roommate did not expect her to be able to talk well, or use basic appliances. Her roommate fell to the stereotype that all people from Africa were under great poverty, starving, and full of diseases such as AIDS. These different examples, show how these two works are related. Both Tan and Adichie used personal experiences they encountered during their lives to explain their stories, and to powerfully get their points across. Also, both Tan and Adichie overcame the lasting stereotypes people of their race had, and became very successful in doing so.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am very pleased with the topic of this weeks blog. I, like Tan and Adichie, have had personal experiences with these problems. A couple of weeks ago my friends and I went out to eat a restaurant where my one friend worked. Shortly after we ordered our food the doors to the kitchen opened and it was a Chinese American lady, the cook at the restaurant we were at. She simply asked us if we wanted different dressings with our meals, but none of us could understand what she was saying except for my friend that works with her on a daily basis. Although she was speaking English, it was just like the different types of English Tan described, the kind other people were not use to when her mother spoke to them. Now that I look back at this a couple of weeks later I feel I have fallen victim to exactly what Tan explained. I was like the people at the hospital, and did not take the cook seriously until my friend explained what she asked, just like when Tan explained what her mother wanted to the doctors. I have also fallen victim to what Adichie says, and have always looked at children in Africa as being very poor, skinny, hungry, and suffering from disease. After reading the essay by Tan, and watching the speech by Adichie, I have a completely different look on people such as Tan's mom, and in Africa.
Frank,
DeleteGreat blog! I really like that you included an example of the issues addressed by Adichie and Tan. To strengthen your argument, I would suggest including your proposal of how you expect your audience to help with the issue.
Hey nice blog frank. Your example was great. Sadly, I think most of us have fallen victim to both Tan's story and Adichie's story.
DeleteFrank,
DeleteIn you blog I loved the mentioning of how you have fallen victim Adichie's argument. To help with your argument I would include more about what your friend thinks about the cook at the restaurant.
Frank,
DeleteYou immediately bring the point up about how each story brings up the problem of stereotypical people. I agree that is a big part of both of these stories. I enjoy how you brought up the point of her teachers steering her Away from literature. I did not put that in my blog but it clearly displays an example of what your argument is based upon.
Tan and Adichie's works clarified a rather large issue with the narrow mindedness of today's world. The points of Adichie and Tan carry a major similarity. Both Tan and Adichie make a point of the ignorance of society. Knowledge is a product of research and contemplation. As a society, many of us refuse to acknowledge that fact. We examine the thought right in front of us and decide then and there whether we agree or not. We do not search for the other side of the story, but rather simply accept the views of another unknowingly. Adichie warns us against the danger of a single story. She says single stories lead us to stereotypes and incomplete or underdeveloped views. She provided numerous examples of stereotypes formed by a single story such as the thought that all Mexicans are immigrants or that all Africans are poor. Her points on such dangers truly resonated with me. In Tan's essay, she speaks of her mother and her struggle with language. She speaks English as a second language with Chinese as her first. Tan tells the story of her mother's broken English and the challenges that resulted from that barrier. Her mother received disrespect from others because of her less than perfect English. Tan's story shows us another side of things, the successful side. Instead of speaking only of the limitations of subpar English, she tells the story of how she overcame them. From a different point of view, everything changes. There is always another side of the story, we need only find it. We should not be limiting our knowledge by only viewing one side.
ReplyDeleteSociety is filled with and built upon argument, but yet many of us are arguing for a cause of which we are not fully aware. We fail to completely research and understand a topic before stating our opinion on the matter. We are so quick to oppose or to agree instead of looking for the other side of the story, another point of view. The result of such narrow mindedness is a closed minded society that thinks only in black and white. We have made knowledge about agreeing or disagreeing rather than researching and contemplating. The impact of a society relying on single stories is as dangerous as Adichie says. With only one story, we will build a society of underdeveloped argument and incomplete thought, a society filled with memorized notions of others' views with no individual thought. Both Tan and Adichie's works are a call to save society from such a fate.
Jenna,
DeleteYou made many great points in your blog. However, I have to disagree with your statement about needing to complete research and find all the facts about an argument. It is incredibly important to know the facts before you create an argument, but I do believe that the opinions of others also matter. Sometimes there is no right or wrong answer and we can only decide which way to think by examining the views of others.
After reading and listening to the stories of Adichie and Tan what I have taken from these two compositions is that we cannot be closed minded individuals. We cannot fall into the stereotypical nature that comes from only listening to one side of a story or looking at something as only a two dimensional figure instead of a three dimensional figure. I believe that these two stories have a similar foundation that relates the same point, but it does so in a unique way that makes each entry have its own differences. We see that both of these people are from different ethnicities. Each of these individuals come from groups who have statistically not been known for writing and language. Why have they become exceptional writers? They wanted to be different. Tan related that all through school she was told become and engineer you are not good a writing. So, she did just the opposite of what the people told her. She challenged the ideas of what everyone has pictured in their minds what people of Asian dissent should be. She broke out of the conformity that has fallen upon her. In her writing she relates to where she came from. Her mother spoke what she termed "broken English." She did not want to call it this because she grew up listening to her mother speak this style of language. It's was unique to her mother and was interpreted differently by each person she spoke to.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, Adichie, she grew up reading the literature from America and Britain. In these books were people that had no connections to her. She wondered why the people did what they did. Her culture compared to the cultures in the books had no relevance. So that was when she sought to seek out African writers. These were the people that saved her love for writing and language. Without them she would not have been able to look at writing from her own perspective, rather, the perspective of other people. She talks about how people who only receive one side of the story paint an image in their head and believe only that is true. They become stereotypes of what they think is true. She says this to describe how people perceive Africa. As a nation that is dirt poor and has little influence on anything.
Both stories have the same reasoning behind them and that is, you must first obtain both sides of a story and learn to appreciate the small things in life before you can begin to judge and have a close minded perspective on life. We can learn from these two and work to better ourselves in all aspects including the aspect of appreciation and acceptance.
I completely agree Dan. We are generally close minded and judge many people by the way they look, sound, or where they come from. People need to learn how to look past the differences in people and accept people for who they are.
DeleteDan,
DeleteI think you make some really good points in your blog this week. You seemed to take a slightly different approach and interpreted the pieces differently. You picked out different defining points that really speak to the message you were going for, good job!
Dan,
DeleteI agree in entirety about your blog, how people tend to be close minded. How we need to look at things in three dimensions instead of two.
Dan,
DeleteYour first couple sentences contain deep meaning and I really had to critically analyze them in order to understand them, which is a good thing; for example, when you stated that the stories have a similar foundation that relates to the same point, but each also consists of distinctive differences.
You then tied it all together by providing an account of how we can apply these lessons of appreciation and acceptance to our lives. Just to note, I discussed open-minded and close-minded natures in my blog, so we seemed to connect there.
Both stories by Tan and Adichie are very interesting and eye opening. Tan talks about her mother being disrespected and even completely ignored just because of the "broken" English that she spoke. This actually makes me think of being on the phone with some company and the person you're talking to is foreign and nearly impossible to understand. I always get pretty angered over that, so I can see why people were getting annoyed with Tan's mother. But we don't know their story and what they are going through, and like Tan said we don't know their actual passion they have when they speak. Using our new students as an example, some of them may speak English in a different way then we do, but we shouldn't judge because it takes a lot of guts to leave their home and travel the world, and we have no idea what they're going through by leaving their homes.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the Ted Talks video by Adichie. Adichie points out that most people only have on conception about foreign countries, because single stories are being told about particular countries. First, Adichie talks about how she grew up reading and writing but only thought that white peoples could be written about because that is all she had ever read. But then she found African books, and it changed her way of thinking. Adichie belonged to a middle class African family, both of her parents had jobs. She came to United States and her roommate felt sorry for her and asked her all kinds of questions. Her roommate only new a single story about Africa: that it was poor and unhealthy. She never knew that people in Africa could work, eat, drive cars, and partake in other normal activities that Americans do everyday. Adichie also mentioned how Africa has been conceived as a country to many Americans. When help is needed in a certain country of Africa, money is not collected for that area, it's simply collected for "Africa". Creating the conception that many of Americans have of all of Africa being poor and starving, but much of Africa is normal, and similar to America.
Both of these stories show how much people can judge other people when they don't actually even know the truth.
Ben,
DeleteI enjoyed reading your blog because it was concise and straight to the point, as expected. One thing I related to from your piece was when you brought up the idea of a business speaking to a foreigner on the phone. Because I am a big fan of Chinese food, I order out a lot and therefore talk to Chinese Americans on the phone. I will admit it, sometimes I find myself getting angry or even laughing at their tone of voice. Encountering Tan and Adichie's work has made me realize how terrible that is, and I will do so no more.
As for your explanation of Adichie's speech, I think the anecdote you put in about the roommate strengthened your blog because it provided a definitive example. Had the roommate known that Africans are just as capable of doing thing as Americans are, her outlook would have been a lot different. However, she was chained by the single story.
Ben,
DeleteI like your point about being in the phone with a foreign person and how frustrating it can be because they is very relatable to what Tan's mom was experiencing. Although it's important to back up her story and explain how we do not know her story and you did that very well.
Your points about Adichie and her story were very similar to mine and I related to this part of your blog.
Chest, I enjoyed reading your blog because you tell it how it is. I can relate to the business as well as Jared because I was once at a Chinese buffet and the guy at the register could not speak good enough English to give defections to the restaurant so he handed me the phone and asked me to. People should be able to speak the language of there job.
DeleteThe stories presented by Tan and Adichie are very similar. Tan's essay, Mother Tongue, really connects with Adichie's stories from her presentation. Tan discussed the issues of how many people would treat her mother differently because of the language barrier. However, no one took the time to realize that Tan's mother could speak English well enough to be understood by anyone. Tan and her mother were victims of the "single story." They were treated differently because many people either assumed they could not speak English, or refused to even give them a chance to communicate. Adichie shared the issues that she faced from the dangerous single story. Her roommate naturally assumed that Adichie would be poor, illiterate, and have any other trait that belonged to the stereotypical picture of an African. However, Adichie was incredibly smart and grew up speaking English, since it is the national language of Nigeria. Before Adichie and her roommate even met, Adichie was judged and grouped with the most common image of Africans living in poverty. Both Tan and Adichie were forced to encounter a society that only heard a single story.
ReplyDeleteIn Tan's essay, I found it interesting that her mother needed her help to call and argue with people because they wouldn't take her English seriously. I also enjoyed that her mother read each story that Tan wrote. Tan stated that she worked hard to make her stories appeal to everyone, whether or not they spoke perfect English. Adichie captured my attention in several ways. I enjoyed how she communicated her point to the audience through the different experiences she had with the single story. She admitted to making the same mistake herself, and was understanding that it's hard to not believe the single story that you have been told. I thought her calm tone made her point more accepting. She never appeared angry when presenting her argument, only hopeful that we will all start looking to find the positive story, not just the negative story.
The stories of these two women and the stories they share are so inspirational. Adichie and Tan both come from different paths of life than many of us are not used to, and they use that to encourage others and let their voices be heard. Tan's argument is based off of how many view people speaking "broken" English. Her essay was very personal, because it centered around her experiences with her mother whose native language is not English. She also touched on the realization herself that she was embarrassed or even looked down on her mother for being foolish and not speaking complete full English, but then she realized how amazing her mother is and how it does not matter how she speaks. Adichie's story was also very heartfelt and personal. She grew up in Nigeria and her talk centered around how many people see the world as a single story. Many people only see one perspective of the world. She says that it is often one that is incorrect because people stereotype a country or family and can not get past their preconceived opinion of them.
ReplyDeleteThe similarities in their pieces was how other people view something or someone. Tan went on about how she used to have to call different companies or establishments pretending to be her mother because many people would take advantage of her mother because of the way she spoke. Adichie also shared that when she attended college in the United States her roommate figured she would not know how to use a stove and pitied her for being from Nigeria. Adichie and Tan's arguments go extremely well together because both women are minorities and know what it is like to be discriminated against or treated poorly by others.
Both of these women's arguments were very interesting to me, because as a white female from a good family, a safe town, and a proper education, I seldom think of women such as Tan and Adichie going through situations such as these. Adichie's books she had as a child and the way she described a single story point of view made me really think of what my view of the world is. I believe I am guilty of viewing things with a single story because we are pretty sheltered here in St. Marys. I am also guilty of not taking people seriously that speak "broken" English. It is easy to write them off as foolish because of their language skills and that is a terrible thing to do. It is hard to step back and look at how you view things or how you think about other, but this is exactly what these works have made me do.
Rachel,
DeleteI am so glad you brought up St. Marys! We all stereotype in this small town, so badly. We all have kind of grown accustomed to the fact that when someone does speak in "broken" English we simply make fun because we are not shown the world outside of St. Marys.
"When we reject the single story, when we realize there's never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise," proposed Adichie at the conclusion of her sermon. I believe this one statement essentially embodies the purpose of both Mother Tongue and the Ted Talk. Tan and Adichie call us to be open-minded and objective and to not be chained by the power of false perception and unjust language. Only then will we be able to experience Chimamanda's meaning of "paradise," which through my intuition, connotes the idea of treating all persons equally and respecting the dignity of all beings.
ReplyDeleteAmy Tan, in her essay, seeks to raise awareness for the problems and mistreatment of Asian Americans in today's society. She finds a way to effectively balance an assertive tone with that of an emotional appeal, which strengthens her argument because it makes it easy for one to imagine what life is like for a foreigner. One can imagine how difficult it would be to leave a native country, move on to a new life, learn a different language, and try to become socially accepted all at once. In addition, Tan ties in the rhetorical devices of oxymoron and anecdote to enhance the claim. "And sure enough, the following week, there we were in front of this astonished stockbroker, and I was sitting there red-faced and quiet, and my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English." You would not normally call broken English "impeccable" since it refers to high standards. However, Tan writes in this way to show how her mother's speech, despite it being broken, was so perfect and vigorous too.
Another aspect of Tan's piece that resonated with me was her interpretation of the differences between math and English. Personally, I always did and always will like math more than English because of the various reasons she described. With mathematics, there is one definitive answer. With English, the answers depend on too many contexts and circumstances. I often find that I am second-guessing myself and simply too indecisive when I read language comprehension questions.
As for Adichie's presentation, she begins by describing her childhood in which she was a very tasteful and artistic girl who developed a love for books. There was only one problem. All her characters that she created were the same. Only when she discovered African stories and other forms of literature did she become aware that there is so much more out there in this vast universe. Adichie then related this to the serious issues associated with a single story and its effect. She went as far as calling it "dehumanizing" and there is some truth to that. When you provide a single account and leave out other factual information, you take control of the mind because that is the only thing it can believe. I found this to be interesting because encountered a situation like this while reading Animal Farm. For instance, Squealer was able to manipulate the others into the idea that everything he said was one hundred percent true because his ideas were the ONLY ideas. He took advantage of the power of rhetoric and language.
Both pieces challenge us to reflect on our treatment of others: not to be judgmental, not to be discriminatory, but rather, to be open-minded, and to be understanding. We are called to nurture the inalienable rights of all humankind, regardless of race, skin color, ethnicity, sex, etc. For once, both authors hope, we will have the courage to throw away biased and preconceived notions and respectfully listen to others, hearing both sides of the story.
The essay Mother Tongue written by writer Amy Tan shares many of the same powerful messages that Chimamanda Adichie delivered in her strong speech. What I immediately took away from these two stories is how both Tan and Adichie use their own personal experiences to get the point across of what they are trying to explain. In my eyes, hearing and reading of personal experiences helps me understand and relate to the piece much better. As I began reading Tan's essay, I was extremely fascinated about the topic and how people have their own style of language even when speaking the same language. It made me think of my own family and how others may be confused or puzzled about certain words or phrases my mother uses. I understand it may not be as "broken" as Tan's mother, but I realized that to me it makes perfect sense because I hear it constantly but it may sound foreign to any one else. It really fascinated me because I never thought about it in this perspective, and it opened my eyes to how language is used. Overall, what I really took away from this essay was that we do truly have our own style of language, and it shapes who we are and how we see the world. Each person sees things in a different way, and knowing and understanding our own mothers tongue no matter how different it is shows where we came from. Therefore, people see things in a different light, and the people who heard how Tan's mother spoke English were confused but to Tan it's all she ever knew. My last statement regarding Tan's essay ties into my first point about the story of Chimamanda Adichie. She talks of her roommate when she was in the United States and how she only knew Nigeria through popular images. She saw Nigeria as a country trying to fight poverty and fighting senseless wars as she states. Although Adichie understands that she too would have thought the same thing if she had known grown up in Nigeria. She begins to understand that her roommates view on her were very similar to the views she had on Fide. She was told that Fide and his family was very poor and that's all she knew about his family. That is why she was very surprised when she saw the basket Fide's brother had made because she had only knew one side of the story. Both Tan's and Adichie's story differ, but they share many of the same things I took away from reading and listening to both of these. These two stories both taught me not to quickly jump to conclusions and judge people. It is very easy to not show respect to people who are not like us, but sometimes all we know is "the single story" which says in the title can be dangerous. These two stories made me take a step back and truly think about the perspective we have on things and how we think about other people.
ReplyDeleteBrad,
DeleteI like that you mention the personal relationship each woman has with the story she is telling, and I like how you relate that back to yourself and your own family. I would have never looked at these sorties in that way, but now that I do I feel as if I understand them more. Overall,Chou blood is well thought out and equally well written.
Both of these pieces, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and the TedTalk "The Danger of a Single Story" by Chimamanda Adichie, are very similar. They are both very interesting. Both of these stories come point of view from someone who has immigrated to the United States. In Amy's piece she talks about how people have a "mother tongue," how an individual learns to communicate, and how others interpret their communication. In Adichie's story she spoke about how stereotypical stories can form a bias about something or a group/race of people. Both of these bring to mind how people form opinions on things they know nothing about. Throughout Tan's essay she constantly writes about how she had to do certain things for her mother, how she would need to pretend to be her mother because she could speak perfect English when in comparison her mother spoke very broken English. This closely relates to Adichie's views on how from a single story you can form the wrong ideas about a person. If Tan would have never talked on the phone to a stockbroker for her mother at the age of fifteen, her mother may not gotten the check she needed. People would not treat Tan's mother seriously when she spoke to people because they simply could not understand her, but Tan herself could understand her as if as if she was speaking perfect English. This single view of Tan's mother makes people degrade her and treat her unjustly. Personally I found Adichie's story to be far more convincing and to be far more relatable to the average person, due to her arguments. Anybody who has been out of the country or even to a rather large city can attest to stereotypes about certain people are not necessarily always true. Compared to Tan's where you most likely will look at her piece at her point of view, in Adichie's you just need to have been out in the world and to have seen how things are not always what seem.
ReplyDeleteHefter,
DeleteYour blog related the to pieces to each other very well. It also backed up the views of the pieces very well. The blog was good.
These two pieces of art are to parallels that enhance the points of the others. They both talk about the importance of diversity. The speech focuses of stereotypes, and how we judge people by appearances. This is especially true with minorities and other ethnic groups. The speeches main topic is to warn us about thinking about other people as a race or from a certain county, rather than an individual who is completely unique and irreplaceable. The speech really connected with me, it challenged a lot of my views about foreign people. It made me rethink about almost all of my view of Mexico, Africa, and other poor places. The essay gives us a perfect example of this, a Chinese women who speaks "bad" English. This is pretty normal, but her daughter notices something very different about her language. It is a unique way that only she specks, making her completely unique. Her daughter understands her with perfect clarity. The way that she spoke changed how she thought about how the world. She then used statics about how many Chinese child are good at math rather than Language Arts. She connected it to the way her mother spoke and how it made writing difficult. This make me truly think. How much can this affect other ethnic groups, including Americans. In our school most students struggle learning a new language. I wonder if this is because of the way we speak and our attitude to the rest of the world. I personally struggled learning Spanish, and I wonder if it has something to do with the attitude of most Americans that I will never use it, so why bother. The speech addressed this attitude of most Americans. The people of America are greatly influenced my the media and it made people seem one sided. This makes Americans think that Africans are all starving and poor, and all Asians are good at math.
ReplyDeleteMitchell,
DeleteI like the point you brought up about judging people by how they look, based on their ethnic group. I feel that many kids our age look at Spanish in the way you described, not in a way that you can learn something about the culture. The media of today affects how everyone perceives our world. Is that good or bad?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a storyteller, grew up in a middle class Nigerian family. She expressed the occasional struggle the family endured, rationing milk and living off bread. As a little girl, Chimamanda would read stories of American and British literature, then writing stories similar to what she read. So, she would write stories of white children but never children with dark skin, but she realized she was only shown and showing one side of the story. She told a story of when she went to Mexico, while she was living in America. Mexican immigrants coming to America was a popular block in the news at the time she went to Mexico. She walked the streets seeing people laughing and going to work to carry on their day. Chimamanda felt complete shame of herself for believing in what she was told on the news, that Mexicans were simply that, an object of immigrants. She continues with the thought of a single story, which can make you believe anything, because you are only seeing one side of the story. She expressed the Mexican immigrant situation as a single story, “show of people of one thing and only one thing over and over again, and that is what they become.” Chimamanda brought light to a tension point of today’s world, stereotypes. Stereotypes fall into every race, religion, and person. A stereotype is a single story; you only hear the bad about Mexico, not so much on the good. Chimamanda felt people only looked at one bad of her country and created their opinions there.
ReplyDeleteAmy Tan described a love for language, but not a typical one. Her definition of the English language is broad, from her mother’s Chinese-English to how Amy speaks to people are different. But just because these two are different does not mean they are wrong. She went to school for English, despite the stereotype of being an engineer. Amy Tan’s book, The Joy Luck Club; her mother, who’s English was “broken”, said it was “so easy to read.”
These two women described a sense that our world, as we know it, is full of stereotypes. Stereotypes like saying Mexicans are all immigrants, to Americans being psycho, to Chinese people not being able to speak English. These two women showed me that all part of the world are stereotyped and all people are stereotyped. Our news, media, politics, and conversations are generally all single stories. For instance, with the news, it is our job as human beings to make sure the information we received shows the side of the immigrants and the guards.
Elise,
DeleteI agree with how Adichie grew up and the morals that were taught to her from this which led her to her writing career and to figure the true way of people and the individuality within someone.
Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and the TedTalk "The Danger of a Single Story" by Chimamanda Adichie are both representing the same message. Both authors are stating that appearances should not be all about people and that the image of a person does not necessarily tell you about the personality of a person. The color of someone's skin or there ethnicity does not make them a bad person. Chimamanda stated in her TedTalk that she grew up in a small rural black family. During her carrier she began reading many forms of literature like British and American, she then began to write in this form. Her primary topic to write about was the Mexican immigrants that were trying to enter the United States. She wrote her stories based off the literature of other people but did not actually receive factual evidence to support her topic. She then later visited Mexico and realized how wrong she was. She then talked about how disappointed she was in herself because she was writing dishonesty and downgrading the people of the area.
ReplyDeleteAmy Tan's writing really becomes evident to me. All people have a unique way of talking that no one else can cherish. She wrote about how her mothers language was broken because most people could not understand her but she could. This is because she was used to hearing the interesting language. In her story she noted that her mother spoke English and Spanish. Most likely she spoke Spanglish which is I little bit of both, this would cause it to be hard for her to be fully understood. I personally believe I have my own way of speaking. The tones I use and the figures of speech along with the constant swearing and cussing makes my language unique to me.
Both of these ladies were looking to make the point that people should not be judged because they are different. The differences in people make them special in there own individual way and that others need to except them for the way that they are because that's who they want to be.
Doug,
DeleteI really enjoy how you said ever one has a unique language. I also like how you brought up your personal language. It was a nice blog
Doug, You said that nobody should be judged for being different, but what is different. The only thing that is the same about everyone is the fact that they are different.
DeleteThe human brain is magnificent at filling in all the gaps when very little information is presented to it. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about her house boy in Nigeria, whose name I can not quite decipher, and how she created a single story from her mothers little information about the house boy. Her brain filled in the spacious gaps when presented with the vague description of "poor." Adichie was unknowingly, at the time, stereotyping her then house boy. Similarly, my mother grew up in the Deep South, but has been living in Pennsylvania for over twenty years. When people hear her talk, they immediately refer to their single story they know about the south. They always want to hear my mom say "ya'll," or they want her to talk about how she could have ever possibly came up north. People are great at assuming things, even when what the person is assuming is totally incorrect. The single stories that these people develop from their assuming, and gap filling, are never the full picture. Mother tongue also speaks of a single story instance involving Asians and Chinese people. Most people just like to assume that Asians are solely capable at math, and are only okay at the other subjects. Amy Tan destroys this stereotype in the first few sentences of her essay. Just by being able to write the essay sets Tan apart from the norm that most people have associated with Asians. By simply taking a new approach on the subject Tan changes a single story that people believe about Asians. This essay, and this video only highlight a small aspect of the entire spectrum of the stereotypes. People everywhere developed their own sense of entitlement by believing the things that they want, but without even knowing it, their beliefs that they are so proud in, could be very far fetched, and nothing like the actual real truth. In the end, societal ideas and social constructs of people of different race, gender, sexuality, etc, are never the full picture, they are never telling the whole story of the people involved.
ReplyDeleteEmily, You are good at writing these blogs. Now that I read your writing, I realize that the key word of the two presentations is stereotype. Stereotypes ar all incomplete, and you emphasize that here.
DeleteTan and Adichie's arguments were similar because they both delt with people jumping to conclusions before they got the whole picture on something. Adichie spoke about Americans judging Nigerians and African Americans in general before they have a grasp on their culture. Tan talks about the bad English her mother had, and the way that it impacted her and her mother's life. I think that Tan's stories are more relatable, but I like Adichie's talk better. I thought it was neat that Adichie made the statement back to the man about American Psychopaths. I also thought that it was unbelievable that they could have more than five thousand people applying for a single job in Africa. These stories can easily be related to my life or anyone else's.
ReplyDeleteA common saying is "don't judge a book by its cover," but I think that a majority of people do. Many times I will catch myself judging someone for what they do, and then I realize their situation and why they are the way they are. It is unfair to judge people because most of the time you have no idea what is going on in their minds or in their families.
I always see people giving kids a hard time for not doing their homework or whatever else is an easy thing to rip on someone for. That is not the way to go about things at all in my opinion. You have to figure out why there is a problem and you have to fix it. Most of the time when you judge people it only makes their situation worse.
Another thing that goes hand in hand with making a judgement on a single story is the news. When I was little I would always watch the news, and I soon realized it was very one-sided. They were feeding their audience the single story that would interest people the most instead of giving people the whole story.
I would be willing to bet that most people judge more than one person a day. That is not good, but it happens. It is best to keep your opinions to yourself. An American Proverb once said, "Don't judge someone unless you have walked a mile in their shoes."