( B ) Design five reading comprehension questions based on the following passage. Include three multiple-choice questions and two competency-based questions.Provide the correct answer for each question.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, as a storyteller, emphasizes the danger of the single story through personal anecdotes. Growing up in Nigeria, her early reading material consisted mainly of British and American children’s books. Consequently, her early writing featured white, blue-eyed characters who played in the snow and talked about the weather, despite her Nigerian context where such experiences were absent. This illustrated how impressionable children are to stories, leading her to believe that books inherently had to be about foreign experiences.
However, this perception changed when she discovered African literature by authors like Chinua Achebe. This revelation reshaped her understanding of storytelling, showing her that people like her could also exist in literature. It saved her from having a single story of what books could be.
Adichie’s awareness of the single story extended beyond literature to real-life experiences. She recalls the story of their houseboy, Fide, whose family was described only as poor. This limited perspective led her to see them solely through the lens of poverty. However, her assumptions were challenged when she saw a beautifully crafted basket made by Fide’s brother. This moment revealed a hidden dimension of their lives, showing her that people are always more than a single narrative.
Her understanding deepened further when she moved to the U.S. for university. There, she encountered another single story— this time about Africa. Her American roommate assumed Africa was a place of catastrophe, filled with pitiable and incomprehensible people. This singular narrative ignored the continent’s complexity, diversity, and normalcy. Adichie traced the roots of this misrepresentation back to Western literature, citing a 1561 account that depicted Africans as monstrous beings. Such historical portrayals laid the foundation for enduring negative stereotypes.
Recognizing the dangers of a single story, Adichie also reflects on her own biases. She acknowledges that she, too, once held a single story about Mexicans, shaped by the narratives in U.S. media. This self-awareness underscores how easily people, regardless of background, can fall into the trap of oversimplification. The repetition of a single narrative reduces a group to a single characteristic, stripping them of their complexity and humanity.
The concept of "nkali," an Igbo word meaning “to be greater than another,” highlights how power determines which stories are told, how they are framed, and whose voices are amplified. Those with the power to control narratives can dictate how entire groups are perceived, often reinforcing imbalances and dispossessing people of their agency.
However, Adichie clarifies that stereotypes are not necessarily false but incomplete. They flatten experiences, making one perspective the only perspective. To challenge this, she urges people to engage with multiple narratives. Only by listening to a diversity of voices can we avoid robbing others of dignity and recognize our shared humanity. This idea of "a balance of stories" is crucial in shaping a more just and accurate understanding of the world.
To illustrate this, Adichie highlights the richness of Nigerian society—its thriving publishing industry, engaged readership, influential media personalities, medical advancements, vibrant music scene, legal activism, booming Nollywood film industry, and ambitious entrepreneurs. These examples counter the limited and often negative portrayal of Nigeria, revealing a dynamic and multifaceted reality.
Ultimately, Adichie emphasizes that stories hold immense power—they can dispossess and malign, but they can also empower and humanize. Rejecting the single story allows us to reclaim a broader, more truthful vision of the world. By embracing the diversity of experiences, we restore complexity and, in Adichie’s words, regain a kind of paradise.
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