The Very Hungry Caterpillar...but what does it eat in a different biome?

 The danger of a single story is that the reader is limited because not all perspectives are included, just the perspective of one single person. If the readers begin to identify with characteristics of the story and understand one person's perspective they form their own understanding, they perceive their own conceptions. These personal conceptions and understandings structure the foundation upon which our prejudices are built. This foundation is made stronger each time our conceptions are confirmed. Therefore our prejudice becomes greater than before and we become confident and defensive; we feel the need to defend and stand up for what we believe.

This idea relates to self-justification, once one person makes a decision and there is no turning back the person has to justify their decision. The person may buy a new and expensive running shoe on a whim and afterwords encourage all of their friends to buy the shoe. The person may convince their friends with such expressions: “these Five Finger shoes have great Vibram soles,” “I think it’s time you got a new pair of shoes,” “running feels so great in these shoes, you should get a pair too,” etc. The person wants their friends to buy the shoes to justify that they made a good investment and inevitably a good decision. This person is only sharing their bias with their friends to encourage them to buy the same shoes, but what about other perspectives or reviews on the shoes. Did the person who bought the shoes on a whim do research before making payment? Did the person look into other perspectives before making the decision? If the answer to these questions are no, then the person will become much stronger in their claims and bias because the person feels the need to defend their decision. Self-justification becomes stronger when an irrational decision is made involving money because that decision can most likely not be taken back. Since the decision was irrational, the person did not justify their reasons for purchasing the shoes before investing their money. The person should have taken into account different perspectives and weighed their options before their decision was made—like one story by one author can only tell one self-perspective.

In order to have a greater understanding of a concept you must read more books by a variety of different authors. Forming one understanding from one story is the same has making a justification after an irrational decision and being ignorant to the fact that your decision has flaws. These flaws to ones’ ignorance can be defined as cognitive dissonance- when one knows the good and the bad of a topic but justifies why it is okay to be bad. For example, smoking is bad for your health but I smoke 2 packs a day. The person knows smoking is harmful to their health but does it anyway. The children reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, would read about all different types of food and the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly. The book would include many common foods such as apples, blueberries, pears, etc. This book by Eric Carle reminded me about the book Ms. Adichie talked about referring to apples, winter, and grapes. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is educational to a student because it informs the student of how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly and also is intriguing to the student because of all the food it ate. The book Ms. Adichie talked about informed the student about an every day life which would be beneficial to the student because the reader would be able to identify with the character in the book. But what about the students who are not raised in a culture where apples and winter and grapes are an everyday childhood experience? The author knows apples and winter is something experienced in America but not in Africa, yet these books are supposed to educate all children. Ms. Adichie explains that the books she read as a child were Americanized and not applicable to her understanding because of the differences between the two cultures. Ms. Adichie explained that the fruit she ate were mangoes and that she only experienced wet and dry seasons, not snow during the winter season. The flaws in the American story are clear to Ms. Adichie but not to the American author who wrote a story from their perspective. This one single story is not true for all children, this story has flaws which the author could admit to the readers or the author could justify the story written. It is important for a one person to not close their mind to one perspective, to one decision, to one short story.