DB 7.1 Analyzing and breaking down literacy narratives: Submission Preview

Augustus Johnson

Literary narratives are stories involving reading and/or writing. Stories can be about how you learned to read and write or difficulties encountered while teaching a writing course. Literary narratives have three key features. The first, it must be a “Well-told story” (1). Second, it must have “Vivid details” (1). Third, it must have “Some indication of the narrative’s significance” (1). In Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie’s narrative, “The Danger of a Single Story” all factors needed for a literary narrative are there. “The Danger of a Single Story” is about Ms. Adichie learning to read and write as a child as well as her experiences as an adult. She demonstrates the idea of a well told story immediately in her title. The title tells of a situation that needs to be address. She uses divided descriptions when she describes the characters of the books she read as a child as being “white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples” (2). As an adult, she describes an encounter with a student who told her, “that it was such a shame that Nigerian men were physical abuser like the father character in my novel. I told him that I just read a novel called “American Psycho”” (2). She demonstrates the significance of her narrative when she relates how the discovery of African writers saved her “from having a single story of what books are” (2).

Good narratives start with finding a topic that compels you about reading and writing. It could be a book, a teacher or your experiences learning to read and write. Then you must be descriptiveto bring the narrative to life. Think about where you were, or who you were with AO what you were doing when the event occurred. Finally write about what happened and how it influenced your life.

The Norton Field Guide to Writing
“The Danger of a Single Story”, Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie

Literary narratives are stories involving reading and/or writing. Stories can be about how you learned to read and write or difficulties encountered while teaching a writing course. Literary narratives have three key features. The first, it must be a “Well-told story” (1). Second, it must have “Vivid details” (1). Third, it must have “Some indication of the narrative’s significance” (1). In Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie’s narrative, “The Danger of a Single Story” all factors needed for a literary narrative are there. “The Danger of a Single Story” is about Ms. Adichie learning to read and write as a child as well as her experiences as an adult. She demonstrates the idea of a well told story immediately in her title. The title tells of a situation that needs to be address. She uses divided descriptions when she describes the characters of the books she read as a child as being “white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples” (2). As an adult, she describes an encounter with a student who told her, “that it was such a shame that Nigerian men were physical abuser like the father character in my novel. I told him that I just read a novel called “American Psycho”” (2). She demonstrates the significance of her narrative when she relates how the discovery of African writers saved her “from having a single story of what books are” (2).
Good narratives start with finding a topic that compels you about reading and writing. It could be a book, a teacher or your experiences learning to read and write. Then you must be descriptiveto bring the narrative to life. Think about where you were, or who you were with AO what you were doing when the event occurred. Finally write about what happened and how it influenced your life.
 
<ol>
<li>The Norton Field Guide to Writing</li>
<li>“The Danger of a Single Story”, Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie</li>
</ol>

Augustus Johnson

She did make good connections between her examples and thesis. You meant Nigerian?

Augustus Johnson

I like your point about how people with different backgrounds or languages face the same problems when confronting literacy. I wanted more.