The Powers of a Story

This month I have been reading a couple of the short stories in Chimamanda Adichie's collection, The Thing Around Your Neck. She stated in a quote "How stories are told, who tells them, when they're told, how many stories are told are really dependent on power." This quote means that power has a significant influence on how, when, and how often stories are told. In one of Adichie's short stories, "The Headstrong Historian, "Ayaju wants her son to "learn the ways of these foreigners, since the people ruled over others not because they were better people but because they had better guns." Due to the fact that the foreigners have weapons, they are more powerful. Ayaju sends her son to school to keep her family safe from these foreigners. In another one of her stories, "A Private Experience," the main character, Chika, wrongfully assumes that a Hausa Muslim is poor and lacks an education. After spending time with her during a riot Chika realizes that the woman is nothing like she had assumed and keeps Chika safe throughout the riot even though she knew Chika was not a Muslim. Chika notices that influence from the radio and the people around her caused her to make these assumptions about the woman. The last short story from her collection that I read was "The American Embassy." This short story begins with a woman in line to get her visa. Throughout the story she gets flashbacks about her son's death. When her interview starts, the interviewer asks her how her son was murdered. She ends up refusing to tell the interviewer how her son was killed because she does not want to lose her identity as a mother and that she was worried that if her story becomes public she will have to face the reality everywhere she goes. After a few class discussion on a "single story" I have begun to understand that for stories to be better heard and believed, one has to be in the position of power.