The metaphor of the single-story refers to label that develops from judging people from one point of view. For instance, while poverty is a major problem in Africa, one cannot use it to define the whole continent. Individuals tend to overlook the positive aspects and choose to characterize the continent by one of the problems it faces. In most cases, individuals are reluctant to finding the truth about something they are not familiar with. Instead, they prefer to rely on second-hand information passed down from previous generations. The culture of relying on stories told about a particular people or place has led to the single-story perspective. Hence, the single-story perspective has become a major obstacle to the realization of the truth. In many instances, a person will advance his or her views based on the things they heard or read about certain people or place. Unfortunately, such notions may be inadequate or even unreliable leading to a false perspective about the people or place in question.
Growing up, I read stories with white princes and princesses with blue eyes and long blond hair. The plots of the stories had girls looking forward to getting married to rich and influential men. On the other hand, men dreamt of marrying the most beautiful and humble girls. Fundamentally, the stories created a particular perspective of what makes a girl beautiful. Among girls, physical characteristics such as the color of the eyes and the length of the hair were emphasized in order to promote a certain look as the most ideal. In the stories, the humble and soft-spoken girl would be the one to get married to the prince. In contrast, the stories tended to worry less about men’s appearances but rather underscored their wealth and socio-economic status. As Adichie describes, such stories were telling a single story in different versions. They were informing readers that a girl should appear and behave in a certain way for them to achieve what is presented as the ultimate goal of their lives, which in many stories was the wife of a wealthy and respectable man.
