Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells her single story through her TED talk and how she was not as everyone had thought; Adichie was an African attending University in America and her roommate, for example, expected her to have tribal music and not know how to use a stove because media portrays Africans so poorly. As she continues to present, Adichie explains that everyone can have their own single story and there are many that are not about catastrophes and still just s important. Adichie’s story was one of people believing she was less than she actually was; my single story makes me more generic than I am. People look at me and see a white, blonde, female with blue eyes. I am middle class and my parents have been together for twenty-seven years and people know that. I was a varsity athlete for four years and everyone assumed I was popular and not the smartest. While yes, I do fit a definition of white girl as I dress a certain way, wear scrunchies, and carry my hydroflask around, I am more than people think.

I have been in honors classes my whole life, including college currently, and care a lot about my education. I also wasn’t that popular and actually had no real friends for a while. I had attending therapy in high school and felt very alone.  People also can’t see in their single story of me that I am a type 1 diabetic. Being a diabetic has changed my life and alters certain situations for me that a lot of people will never know about. For this assignment, I asked my friends what they first thought of me and I do fit their single story of me in many ways but there are many other details that impact who I am. I am by no means less than what people see me but I am less generic- to them I am a basic white girl, while in reality, I am deeper.

While people may not see the real me, but rather the single story of me that they have created, I cannot blame them as I too see people as their single story. Moving into my dorm, the first semester of freshman year here at Ramapo College, I had a single story of my roommate already laid out in my head. My roommate and I had met once prior to moving in and all I got from her was that she was too nice; she said no to nothing, she was open to everything, and she was spoiled her whole life. I was aware that she lived in a gated community in Kinnelon, New Jersey, a rather rich area. She told me about her huge house and how she had traveled the world when we first met and for some reason that bothered me. In my mind, I had a single story of her: a rich, spoiled girl who was used to getting whatever she had wanted. While moving in, her mother took complete control and I had no say in where I wanted my bed or dressers because it was her way or no way. They began hanging paintings all over our dorm, quite expensive ones actually, while I attempted to put up my printed photos of my friends. I saw my roommate as materialistic. As we began living together, I will admit that for a long time I only saw her as this single story that I had formed but in reality she was much more. My roommate is a very smart person; she came into college with over forty college credits from AP classes in high school. She is also super friendly and not materialistic at all but rather she can be very down to earth. We all question why everyone sees us in one light but we too are to blame as we see others in one way as well. The world will always have judgement but we as individuals need to dig a little deeper to discover the truth. Single stories are single for a reason; they maintain one plot with no depth or truth.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, “The Danger of a Single Story,” October 7, 2009. TED video,