In the TED talk, Novelist Chimamanda Adichie demonstrated the impressive idea that a single story can mislead our perception from a single person to a whole country or race. She used several examples from her childhood——white characters only in the novels she read and Fide’s family without any other features but poverty. After she went to America for college study, she suddenly realized that her initial imagination of Fide’s family was exactly what others have to her, an African.
Though people may not naturally bring a negative attitude after hearing such stories, the kindness they take, as Adichie says is “a kind of patronizing, well-meaning pity”. As a result, the difference between these groups is emphasized rather than the features in common. This just reminds me of the philosophical definition of “self” and “other”, while “other” just represent everything else different to the “self”, which is abject and secondary.
Adiche then elaborated another important factor of the storytelling—— the power, which is “to make it the definitive story”. The way that we tell a story can entirely change the final version of the people received. Thus, no matter telling a story or demonstrating a concept, the form to deliver the information is as important as the information itself. This point somehow also relates to McLuhan’s idea of the medium we’ve read before. The container is also important comparing to the content.
At the end of the talk, Adichie shares a lot of examples around her to describe a real Nigeria instead of what we usually hear from the public media. From where we could truly figure out the importance of thorough and accurate comprehension and for a culture and its dignity. Writing a story has never been a small thing, as the power of word could influence countries and nations impression for centuries.