Adichie, “The Danger of the Single Story

Instructions First, read “Writing a Literacy Narrative” from the Norton Field Guide to Writing. For this assignment, you will compose a 1000 word narrative essay in MLA format that articulates how your opinions, your attitude, or your identity might have been shaped by a personal experience you have had with literacy. As you brainstorm a topic, the word “literacy” may be defined loosely; rather than just reading and writing, it might also mean speaking, communication, learning a language, composing digitally, and so on. As you write, be sure to choose one method of organization to help your audience follow the story, such as using chronological order. Also, you must incorporate and properly cite the views of at least one of the following authors in direct quote s and/or paraphrases: Choose one; Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site. Adichie, “The Danger of the Single Story (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site Lehna, “The LookPreview the document” You should use these textual examples to help support your opinions, compare/contrast experiences, and/or show how the authors helped you realize the significance of your own experiences. While these outside sources are necessary to add context, your experiences should still be the dominant part of the narrative. ***Note: Alluding to a text is a great way to “put in your oar.” For example, please review this student sample: I can connect to Adichie as she describes her struggle of overcoming the single-mindedness of our society and how “the single story creates stereotypes” (00:12:57-00:13:02). When I listened to her speech, I realized how Disney fairy tales, which I love, leave out young readers who aren’t tragically orphaned European girls living near forests with beautiful singing voices who can talk with animals and want to marry princes. These stories shaped my way of thinking into a very narrow viewpoint on life goals and a woman’s role in society. Rather than writing in broad and general terms, focus on a few key impressionable moments; explain how these moments are related, why they’re memorable, and how they affected your development as reader or writer. You may need to provide context—why, where, and when are you writing this narrative: How old were you in that moment? What grade were you in? Who did you share your writing with? Parents? Siblings? Grandparents? Friends? Teachers? If these moments center around key figures, introduce the person or people who influenced you as reader or writer. Who were they? In what way did they influence you? Why are they memorable to you? You may want to include dialogue to illustrate one of your conversations with them. Provide transitions to connect your ideas and help the reader follow your story. In a narrative you may go back and forth between past and present and you may also talk about moments in your life separated in time, so it is important to show your reader, using transitions, how those moments are related. Before you submit the essay, check for the following: Does my literacy narrative have a theme? Does it use plot to tell a story? Is it cohesive? (Does it stay on topic?) Is it coherent? (Does it make sense to someone who has not had the same experiences I have had?) Did I use enough specific examples and details to make the experience personal and not general? Is it clear? (Did I explain terminology, events, or examples thoroughly? Is it appropriate for my audience? (Did I use thoughtful diction and appropriate language for an academic audience?) Did I give it a title? Did I write clear opening and closing paragraphs?