Weekly writing - The single story

Watching the TED talk for Chimamanda Adichie changed my perspective on how I view the value of a story. I read many books and had a very active imagination, as most children do. From the short stories and novels that I read, I created the scenes in my mind but never thought about it in the context that children from other countries read our stories and picture a different scene than that of reality.
I grew up in a very southern home; I did not have a defined impression of the world based off what I read in storybooks. As I read and grew, I was very inquisitive with my parents and teachers, my dad used to say I asked too many questions for a little girl. I always wanted to know more about what I read in stories however I did not take stories that I read for face value. The definition of a stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Adichie speaks to stereotypes saying that they are incomplete. Assuming that all children read and create this ideal image of America or any other country is creating a stereotype in its self.
Adichie even speaks to this herself; her family hired their houseboy, Fide, and explained the only thing her mother told her was that his family was poor. It did not occur to her that they could make things. She speaks to many single stories herself throughout her TED talk. Each one of us at some point in our lives creates stereotypes. The thing we as a society need to think about is why we consistently think in terms of